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Milford Sound

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A gazette is an official journal , a newspaper of record , or simply a newspaper .

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58-596: Milford Sound ( Māori : Piopiotahi , officially gazetted as Milford Sound / Piopiotahi ) is a fiord in the south west of New Zealand's South Island within Fiordland National Park , Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) Marine Reserve , and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site. It has been judged the world's top travel destination in an international survey (the 2008 Travelers' Choice Destinations Awards by TripAdvisor) and

116-636: A government gazette . For some governments, publishing information in a gazette was or is a legal necessity by which official documents come into force and enter the public domain . Such is the case for documents published in Royal Thai Government Gazette (est. 1858), and in The Gazette of India (est. 1950). The government of the United Kingdom requires government gazettes of its member countries. Publication of

174-700: A monophyletic origin. A 2021 genetic study found that pinnipeds are more closely related to musteloids. Pinnipeds split from other caniforms 50 million years ago ( mya ) during the Eocene . The earliest fossils of pinnipeds date back to the Late Oligocene . Fossil animals representing basal lineages include Puijila , of the Early Miocene in Arctic Canada. It resembled a modern otter, but shows evidence of quadrupedal swimming—retaining

232-436: A depth of 10 metres (33 ft). Due to a natural phenomenon called ' deep water emergence ,' deep-water animals such as black coral can be viewed in the shallow waters surrounding the observatory. A dark surface layer of fresh water, stained brown by tannins from the surrounding forest, along with cold water temperatures allow the black corals to grow close to the surface throughout Milford Sound and Fiordland. Milford Sound

290-553: A few days at most once the rain stops. With a mean annual rainfall of 6,412 mm (252 in) each year, a high level even for the West Coast , Milford Sound is known as the wettest inhabited place in New Zealand and one of the wettest in the world. Rainfall can reach 250 mm (10 in) during 24 hours. The rainfall creates dozens of temporary waterfalls (as well as several major, more permanent ones) cascading down

348-399: A few hours around midday, leading to congestion on the roads and at the tourist facilities during the main season. The peak-time demand is also why a large number of tour boats are active in the sound at much the same time. Over the years, various options for shortening the distance to Milford Sound from Queenstown have been mooted, including a gondola route, a new tunnel from Queenstown, or

406-615: A few, such as the leopard seal , feed on large vertebrates, such as penguins and other seals. Walruses are specialized for feeding on bottom-dwelling mollusks . Male pinnipeds typically mate with more than one female ( polygyny ), though the degree of polygyny varies with the species. The males of land-breeding species tend to mate with a greater number of females than those of ice breeding species . Male pinniped strategies for reproductive success vary between defending females, defending territories that attract females and performing ritual displays or lek mating . Pups are typically born in

464-506: A form of aquatic locomotion that led to those employed by modern pinnipeds. Potamotherium , which lived in the same period in Europe, was similar to Puijila but more aquatic. The braincase of Potamotherium shows evidence that it used its whiskers to hunt, like modern seals. Both Puijila and Potamotherium fossils have been found in lake deposits, suggesting that seal ancestors were originally adapted for fresh water. Enaliarctos ,

522-419: A fossil species of late Oligocene /early Miocene (24–22 mya) California , closely resembled modern pinnipeds; it was adapted to an aquatic life with flippers and a flexible spine. Its teeth were more like land predators in that they were more adapted for shearing . Its hind-flippers may have allowed it to walk on land, and it probably did not leave coastal areas as much as its modern relatives. Enaliarctos

580-466: A gazette"; especially where gazette refers to a public journal or a newspaper of record. For example, " Lake Nakuru was gazetted as a bird sanctuary in 1960 and upgraded to National Park status in 1968." British Army personnel decorations, promotions, and officer commissions are gazetted in the London Gazette , the "Official Newspaper of Record for the United Kingdom". Gazettal (a noun)

638-686: A large amount of local marine knowledge including tidal patterns and fish feeding patterns over generations before European arrival. The fiord remained undiscovered by Europeans until Captain John Grono discovered it c.  1812 and named it Milford Haven after his homeland in Wales. Captain John Lort Stokes later renamed Milford Haven as Milford Sound. Following the passage of the Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998 ,

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696-586: A layer of fat, or blubber , under the skin to keep warm in cold water, and, other than the walrus, all species are covered in fur. Although pinnipeds are widespread, most species prefer the colder waters of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. They spend most of their lives in water, but come ashore to mate, give birth, molt or to avoid ocean predators, such as sharks and orcas . Seals mainly live in marine environments but can also be found in fresh water. They feed largely on fish and marine invertebrates ;

754-480: A monorail from near Lake Wakatipu to Te Anau Downs. All would reduce the current round-trip duration (which has to travel via Te Anau ), thus allowing tourism to be spread out over more of the day. While a gondola is considered out of the running after the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) declined approval for environmental reasons, the tunnel and the monorail proposals have applied to

812-403: A result of Milford Sound's high rainfall and the density of salt water, the surface of Milford Sound is a layer of freshwater containing tannins from the surrounding rainforest. This filters much of the sunlight which enters the water, allowing for a variety of Black coral to be found at depths of as shallow as 10 metres (33 ft), significantly closer to the surface than usual. Milford Sound

870-463: A single piopio flew to the fiord in mourning following Māui's death. The name Piopiotahi refers to this bird, with tahi meaning 'one' in Māori. The fiord was given its European name in 1823, when the sealer John Grono named it Milford Sound after Milford Haven in his birthplace of Wales . The Cleddau River , which flows into the fiord, was also named for its Welsh namesake . As a fiord, Milford Sound

928-503: Is acclaimed as New Zealand's most famous tourist destination. Rudyard Kipling called it the eighth Wonder of the World . The fiord is most commonly accessed via road ( State Highway 94 ) by tour coach, with the road terminating at a small village also called Milford Sound . Milford Sound / Piopiotahi is one of roughly 90 places to have been given a dual name as part of a 1998 Treaty of Waitangi settlement with Ngāi Tahu , recognising

986-562: Is also a destination for cruise ships . By road, Milford Sound is 291 km (181 mi) from Queenstown and 278 km (173 mi) from Invercargill (about four hours' drive), with most of the tour buses to the sound departing from Queenstown. Some tourists also arrive from the smaller tourism centre of Te Anau , 121 km (75 mi) away. There are also scenic flights by light aircraft and helicopter tours to and from Milford Sound Airport . The drive to Milford Sound itself passes through unspoiled mountain landscapes before entering

1044-402: Is because of their massive ankle bones and flatter heels. In water, true seals rely on the side-to-side motion of their hind-flippers and lower body to move forward. The phocid's skull has thickened mastoids , puffed up entotympanic bones , nasal bones with a pointed tip in the back and a non-existent supraorbital foramen. The hip has a more converse ilium . A 2006 molecular study supports

1102-629: Is otherwise only limited accommodation at the sound, and only a very small percentage of tourists stay more than the day. Tourists usually stay in Te Anau or Queenstown. The Milford Discovery Centre & Underwater Observatory is located in Harrisons Cove on the north side of the fiord. Situated within the Piopiotahi Marine Reserve, the underwater observatory allows visitors to view the fiord's unique marine environment at

1160-458: Is the act of gazetting; for example, "the gazettal of the bird sanctuary". This newspaper-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Pinniped This is an accepted version of this page Pinnipeds (pronounced / ˈ p ɪ n ɪ ˌ p ɛ d z / ), commonly known as seals , are a widely distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous , fin -footed, semiaquatic , mostly marine mammals . They comprise

1218-835: The Edinburgh Gazette , the official government newspaper in Scotland, began in 1699. The Dublin Gazette of Ireland followed in 1705, but ceased when the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom in 1922; the Iris Oifigiúil (Irish: Official Gazette ) replaced it. The Belfast Gazette of Northern Ireland published its first issue in 1921. Chiefly in British English, the transitive verb to gazette means "to announce or publish in

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1276-745: The Caribbean monk seal have become extinct in the past century, while the Mediterranean monk seal and Hawaiian monk seal are ranked as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature . Besides hunting, pinnipeds also face threats from accidental trapping , marine pollution , climate change and conflicts with local people. The name "pinniped" derives from the Latin words pinna ' fin ' and pes, pedis ' foot ' . The common name "seal" originates from

1334-990: The Old English word seolh , which is in turn derived from the Proto-Germanic * selkhaz . Bearded seal Hooded seal Ringed seal Baikal seal Caspian seal Spotted seal Harbor seal Grey seal Ribbon seal Harp seal Weddell seal Leopard seal Crabeater seal Ross seal Southern elephant seal Northern elephant seal Mediterranean monk seal Hawaiian monk seal Northern fur seal Steller sea lion California sea lion Galápagos sea lion South American sea lion Australian sea lion New Zealand sea lion Brown fur seal Subantarctic fur seal Antarctic fur seal Guadalupe fur seal Juan Fernández fur seal Antipodean fur seal Galápagos fur seal South American fur seal   Walrus The German naturalist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger

1392-465: The extant families Odobenidae (whose only living member is the walrus ), Otariidae (the eared seals: sea lions and fur seals ), and Phocidae (the earless seals, or true seals), with 34 extant species and more than 50 extinct species described from fossils . While seals were historically thought to have descended from two ancestral lines, molecular evidence supports them as a monophyletic group (descended from one ancestor). Pinnipeds belong to

1450-662: The nasal bones , with a large and flattened supraorbital foramen . An extra spine splits the supraspinatous fossa and bronchi that are divided in the front. Otariids consist of two types: sea lions and fur seals ; the latter typically being smaller, with pointier snouts, longer fore-flippers and heavier fur coats . Five genera and seven species (one now extinct) of sea lion are known to exist, while two genera and nine species of fur seal exist. While sea lions and fur seals have historically been considered separate subfamilies (Otariinae and Arctocephalinae respectively), genetic and molecular evidence has refuted this, indicating that

1508-550: The northern fur seal is basal to other otariids and the Australian sea lion and New Zealand sea lion are more closely related to Arctocephalus than to other sea lions. Odobenidae has only one living member: the walrus . This animal is noticeable from its larger size (exceeded only by the elephant seals ), nearly hairless skin, flattened snout and long upper canines , known as tusks . Like otariids, walruses can walk on land with their hind limbs. When moving in water,

1566-551: The orbital wall . The extinct family Desmatophocidae lived 23–10 mya in the North Pacific. They had long skulls that with large orbits, interlocked zygomatic bones and rounded molars and premolars . They also were sexually dimorphic and may have been capable of swimming with both or either pair of flippers. They are grouped with modern pinnipeds, but there is debate as to whether they are more closely related to phocids or to otariids and walruses. The ancestors of

1624-542: The suborder Caniformia of the order Carnivora ; their closest living relatives are musteloids ( weasels , raccoons , skunks and red pandas ), having diverged about 50 million years ago. Seals range in size from the 1 m (3 ft 3 in) and 45 kg (100 lb) Baikal seal to the 5 m (16 ft) and 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) southern elephant seal . Several species exhibit sexual dimorphism . They have streamlined bodies and four limbs that are modified into flippers . Though not as fast in

1682-485: The 1 m (3 ft 3 in) and 45 kg (100 lb) Baikal seal to the 5 m (16 ft) and 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) southern elephant seal . Overall, they tend to be larger than other carnivores. Several species have male-biased sexual dimorphism that depends on how polygynous a species is: highly polygynous species like elephant seals are extremely sexually dimorphic, while less polygynous species have males and females that are closer in size, or, in

1740-462: The 1.2 km (0.75 mi) Homer Tunnel which emerges into rain-forest-carpeted canyons that descend to the sound. The winding mountain road, while of high standards, is very prone to avalanches and closures during the winter half of the year. The long distance to the sound means that tourist operators from Queenstown all depart very early in the day, arriving back only late in the evening. This ensures that most tourists visit Milford Sound within

1798-518: The British penny dreadful and the American dime novel .) This loanword, with its various corruptions , persists in numerous modern languages ( Slavic languages , Turkic languages ). In England , with the 1700 founding of The Oxford Gazette (which became the London Gazette ), the word gazette came to indicate a public journal of the government; today, such a journal is sometimes called

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1856-464: The DOC for concessions for land access. There are a variety of plane charter companies that fly to Milford Sound. Most of the companies fly out of Queenstown International Airport . On 8 February 2004, a spill of 13,000 litres (3,400 US gal) of diesel fuel was discovered, resulting in a 2-kilometre spill which closed the fiord for two days while intensive cleanup activities were completed. A hose

1914-710: The North Atlantic, and likely reached the Pacific via the Central American Seaway . Phocines mainly stayed in the Northern Hemisphere, while the monachines diversified southward. The lineages of Otariidae and Odobenidae split around 20 mya. The earliest fossil records of otariids are in North Pacific and dated to around 11 mya. Early fossil genera include Pithanotaria and Thalassoleon . The Callorhinus lineage split

1972-543: The Otarioidea and Phocidea diverged around 25 mya. Phocids are known to have existed for at least 15 million years, and molecular evidence supports a divergence of the Monachinae and Phocinae lineages around this time. The fossil genera Monotherium and Leptophoca of southeastern North America represent the earliest members of Monachinae and Phocinae respectively. Both lineages may have originated in

2030-455: The body. Seals are unique among carnivorans in that their orbital walls are mostly shaped by the maxilla and are not contained by certain facial bones. Compared to land carnivores, pinnipeds have fewer teeth, which are pointed and cone-shaped. They are adapted for holding onto slippery prey rather than shearing meat like the carnassials of other carnivorans. The walrus has unique tusks which are long upper canines. Pinnipeds range in size from

2088-399: The case of Antarctic seals, females are moderately bigger. Males of sexually dimorphic species also tend to have secondary sex characteristics , such as larger or more prominent heads, necks, chests, crests , noses/ proboscises and canine teeth as well as thicker fur and manes. Though more polygynous species tend to be sexually dimorphic, some evidence suggests that size differences between

2146-415: The cliff faces, some reaching a thousand metres in length. Smaller falls from such heights may never reach the bottom of the sound, drifting away in the wind. Accumulated rainwater can, at times, cause portions of the rain forest to lose their grip on the sheer cliff faces, resulting in tree avalanches into the fiord. The regrowth of the rainforest after these avalanches can be seen in several locations along

2204-498: The complex songs of Weddell seals . The meat, blubber and skin of pinnipeds have traditionally been used by indigenous peoples of the Arctic . Seals have been depicted in various cultures worldwide. They are commonly kept in captivity and are even sometimes trained to perform tricks and tasks. Once relentlessly hunted by commercial industries for their products, seals are now protected by international law. The Japanese sea lion and

2262-467: The division of phocids into two monophyletic subfamilies: Monachinae, which consists of elephant seals, monk seals and Antarctic seals ; and Phocinae, which consists of all the rest. One popular hypothesis suggested that pinnipeds are diphyletic (descended from two ancestral lines), with walruses and otariids sharing a recent common ancestor with bears ; and phocids sharing one with Musteloidea . However, morphological and molecular evidence support

2320-550: The earliest, followed by the Eumetopias / Zalophus lineage and then the rest, which colonized the Southern Hemisphere. The earliest fossils of Odobenidae— Prototaria of Japan and Proneotherium of Oregon—date to 18–16 mya. These primitive walruses had normal sized canines and fed on fish instead of mollusks. Later taxa like Gomphotaria , Pontolis and Dusignathus had longer canines on both

2378-519: The name The Gazette . Gazette is a loanword from the French language, which is, in turn, a 16th-century permutation of the Italian gazzetta , which is the name of a particular Venetian coin. Gazzetta became an epithet for newspaper during the early and middle 16th century, when the first Venetian newspapers cost one gazzetta. (Compare with other vernacularisms from publishing lingo, such as

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2436-468: The name of the fiord was officially altered to Milford Sound / Piopiotahi. While Fiordland as such remained one of the least-explored areas of New Zealand up to the 20th century, Milford Sound's natural beauty soon attracted national and international renown, and led to the discovery of the McKinnon Pass in 1888, soon to become a part of the new Milford Track , an early walking tourism trail. In

2494-433: The peaks are The Elephant at 1,517 metres (4,977 ft), said to resemble an elephant 's head, and The Lion, 1,302 metres (4,272 ft), in the shape of a crouching lion . Milford Sound sports two permanent waterfalls, Lady Bowen Falls and Stirling Falls . After heavy rain temporary waterfalls can be seen running down the steep sided rock faces that line the fiord. They are fed by rainwater-drenched moss and will last

2552-649: The same year, the low watershed saddle between the Hollyford River and the Cleddau River was discovered, where the Homer Tunnel was to be developed about sixty years later to provide road access. As of the 2006 census, just 120 people lived in Milford Sound, most of them working in tourism or conservation. Milford Sound attracts between 550,000 and 1 million visitors per year. This makes

2610-494: The significance of the fiord to both Māori and Pākehā New Zealanders. This name consists of both the Māori name and the former European name used together as a single name, instead of as interchangeable alternate names. In te reo Māori , the fiord is known as Piopiotahi after the now extinct piopio , a thrush-like bird that used to inhabit New Zealand. According to the Māori legend of Māui trying to win immortality for mankind,

2668-527: The sound one of New Zealand's most-visited tourist spots even with its remote location and long journey times from the nearest population centres. Many tourists take one of the boat tours which usually last one to two hours. They are offered by several companies, departing from the Milford Sound Visitors' Centre. Tramping , canoeing , and some other water sports are possible. A small number of companies also provide overnight boat trips. There

2726-530: The sound. Milford Sound is home to a variety of marine mammals, including seals and the southernmost wild population of bottlenose dolphins . Whales , especially the humpback and southern right whales , are increasingly observed due to the recoveries of each species. Penguins are also common within the sound, which is a breeding site for the Fiordland penguin and has subsequently been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International . As

2784-429: The spring and summer months and females bear almost all the responsibility for raising them. Mothers of some species fast and nurse their young for a relatively short period of time while others take foraging trips at sea between nursing bouts. Walruses are known to nurse their young while at sea. Seals produce a number of vocalizations , notably the barks of California sea lions , the gong -like calls of walruses and

2842-406: The superfamily Phocoidea. There are 34 extant species of pinnipeds, and more than 50 fossil species of pinnipedimorphs. Otariids are also known as eared seals due to their pinnae . These animals swim mainly using their well-developed fore-flippers. They can also "walk" on land by shifting their hind-flippers forward under the body. The front end of an otariid's frontal bone protrudes between

2900-762: The upper and lower jaw. The familiar long upper tusks developed in the genera Valenictus and Odobenus . The lineage of the modern walrus may have spread from the North Pacific to the North Atlantic through the Caribbean and Central American Seaway 8–5 mya, and then back to the North Pacific via the Arctic 1 mya, or to the Arctic and subsequently the North Atlantic during the Pleistocene . Pinnipeds have streamlined, spindle-shaped bodies with small or non-existent ear flaps, rounded heads, short muzzles, flexible necks, limbs modified into flippers and small tails. The mammary glands and genitals can withdraw into

2958-445: The walrus relies on its hind limbs for locomotion, while its forelimbs are used for steering. Also, it has no outer ears. The epipterygoid of the jaw is well developed and the back of the nasal bones are horizontal. In the feet, the calcaneuses protrude in the middle. Phocids are known as true or "earless" seals. These animals lack outer ears and cannot position their hind-flippers to move on land, making them more cumbersome. This

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3016-704: The water as dolphins , seals are more flexible and agile. Otariids primarily use their front limbs to propel themselves through the water, while phocids and walruses primarily use their hind limbs for this purpose. Otariids and walruses have hind limbs that can be pulled under the body and used as legs on land. By comparison, terrestrial locomotion by phocids is more cumbersome. Otariids have visible external ears, while phocids and walruses lack these. Pinnipeds have well-developed senses—their eyesight and hearing are adapted for both air and water, and they have an advanced tactile system in their whiskers or vibrissae. Some species are well adapted for diving to great depths. They have

3074-534: The world. In 1989, Annalisa Berta and colleagues proposed the unranked clade Pinnipedimorpha to contain the fossil genus Enaliarctos and modern seals as a sister group . Pinnipeds belong to the order Carnivora and the suborder Caniformia (known as dog-like carnivorans). Of the three extant families, the Otariidae and Odobenidae are grouped in the superfamily Otarioidea, while the Phocidae belong to

3132-451: Was apparently used to displace the fuel from the tanks of one of the tour vessels, and various government officials claimed it appeared to be an act of ecoterrorism motivated by rising numbers of tourists to the park, though more details did not become known. Gazetted In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name Gazette since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers bear

3190-530: Was formed by a process of glaciation over millions of years. The village at the end of the fiord is also known as Milford Sound . Milford Sound runs 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) inland from the Tasman Sea at Dale Point (also named after a location close to Milford Haven in Wales)—the mouth of the fiord—and is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) or more on either side. Among

3248-406: Was initially overlooked by European explorers because its narrow entry did not appear to lead into such large interior bays. Sailing ship captains such as James Cook , who bypassed Milford Sound on his journeys for just this reason, also feared venturing too close to the steep mountainsides, afraid that wind conditions would prevent escape. The fiord was a playground for local Māori who had acquired

3306-495: Was likely more of a fore-flipper swimmer, but could probably swim with either pair. One species, Enaliarctos emlongi , exhibited notable sexual dimorphism , suggesting that this physical characteristic may have been an important driver of pinniped evolution. A closer relative of extant pinnipeds was Pteronarctos , which lived in Oregon 19–15 mya. As in modern seals, the maxilla or upper jaw bone of Pteroarctos intersects with

3364-527: Was the first to recognize the pinnipeds as a distinct taxonomic unit; in 1811 he gave the name Pinnipedia to both a family and an order . American zoologist Joel Asaph Allen reviewed the world's pinnipeds in an 1880 monograph , History of North American pinnipeds, a monograph of the walruses, sea-lions, sea-bears and seals of North America . In this publication, he traced the history of names, gave keys to families and genera, described North American species and provided synopses of species in other parts of

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