The Night- Te Po
The night reveals some of New Zealand's most distinctive and precious animals. Rarely seen in the wild, these animals inhabit the secret world of the night. From giant insects to flightless birds and unique frogs, New Zealand's nocturnal species highlight the adaptations of its natural treasures. This adaptability served them well for centuries, giving them protection from their natural predators. When humans arrived here, they brought new predators. As stated before, rats, stoats and possums quickly developed an appetite for the native animals. Today, NZ's nocturnal treasures are some of its most endangered. Passionate New Zealanders continue to work to ensure these species will be a feature of the night for generations to come.
Brown Kiwi- An iconic flightless bird, kiwi are a symbol of New Zealand's unique natural heritage. Natives are even called Kiwis! Kiwis are superbly adapted to life on the forest floor with strong, sturdy legs, sharp senses and long bills to probe the leaf little for food. Brown kiwi are the most common of the five kiwi species, but stoats, cats and unleashed dogs remain a major threat to their survival. The flightless kiwi is shy and secretive, yet also feisty and territorial. Adults protect their territories by calling to each other, and will also fight off intruders. Kiwi have many features which make them both unique and vulnerable to introduced predators. The kiwi feeds on the ground at night, and is one of the few birds with a good sense of smell. Nostrils at the end of this long beak help it to sniff for grubs and worms deep in the leaf filter. Kiwis have very poor eyesight, but have sensitive whisker-like facial features that help them to find their way around. Kiwi have weak wing and chest muscles and no breastbone. This makes them particularly vulnerable to crushing injuries, such as dogs bits. In Northland, dog attack is the greatest threat to kiwi survival. Kiwi usually mate for life. If you're in the forest at night you might hear them calling to each other. But don't expect to see them, they are very shy. The female lays one or two enormous eggs- each one can weigh a quarter as much as they do now. This is the largest egg to body size in ratio of any bird. Brown kiwi typically lay eggs between June and December. Unusually for birds, males prepare the nest and burrow and incubate the eggs. Although it can take up to 80 days for eggs to hatch, chicks are independent just one week after hatching! Unfortunately, these young kiwi are very vulnerable to predators. In areas where predator numbers are not tightly controlled, around 95% of kiwi chicks are killed before they reach six months old. Brown kiwi can live for over 40 years, but in Northland the average life expectancy is just fourteen years. The single greatest cause of kiwi deaths in Northland is dogs. Dogs of all breeds, sizes, and backgrounds kill kiwi. Even the gentlest pet dogs are attracted to the smell of kiwi. An inquisitive dog can kill a kiwi by accident as the kiwi's rib cage is very weak. Some dogs can't resist the hunt. One pet dog managed to kill 500 kiwi in one killing spree. Imagine how you'd feel if that have been your dog! It is very important to keep your dog on a leash when walking in forested areas. Kiwis are a mammal-like bird. Like many of New Zealand's birds, the absence of mammalian predators shaped the evolution of the kiwi in unique ways. It is flightless and generally nocturnal, but it's the mammal-like traits it has developed along the way that make the kiwi a truly unique bird. Kiwi have specialized facial feathers which help them to sense vibration and feel their way around, just like a cat's whiskers. Unlike most birds kiwi have nostrils at the tip of their bills and a keen sense of smell; they can sniff-out their prey well before they see it. Unlike the hollow bone structure of flying birds, kiwi bones are dense and filled with marrow- much like mammals.
Operation Nest Egg & Auckland Zoo- Auckland Zoo supports wild kiwi in Northland and the Coromandel as part of Operation Nest Egg. Hundreds of chicks have been successfully released through this program and with the support of the zoo's visitors, they're continuing this important work. How it works: Incubation and rearing: Kiwi eggs are gathered from the wild and brought to an incubation facility at Auckland Zoo, where they are hatched and cared for. Creching: At 3-4 weeks old, the chicks are released onto monitored predator-free islands Rotoroa, Motuora, and Motutapa where they grow in safety. Release: At around one year old, the young kiwis have a good chance of defending themselves against predators like stoats, and are released into their original populations. Operation Nest Egg (ONE) is a conservation program giving kiwi chicks a head start against predators in unprotected forests across New Zealand. A collaborative effort between Department of Conservation and organizations like Auckland Zoo, ONE ensures young kiwi make it through their most vulnerable first year. The program is bolstering kiwi numbers, and in some areas has increased chick survival rates from just 5% to more than 65%. It gives kiwi a fighting chance! The five species of kiwi in New Zealand are: Brown kiwi, little spotted kiwi, great spotted kiwi, rowi, and tokoeka, each have a specific range.
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Brown Kiwi |
Glowworms (Puratoke) I will talk about in another post, fully dedicated to them, coming soon!
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Glowworms |
Robust Skink- This is one of the largest species of skink in New Zealand. Robust skinks are nocturnal and prefer damp environments such as seabird burrows, rotting logs, and thick vegetation. Once widespread in the North Island, predation by introduced mammals means that today it can be found on just a few islands off the east coast.
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Robust Skink |
Morepork (Ruru)- One of the most familiar sounds in the night forests is the haunting call of New Zealand's last endemic owl. These specialist birds of prey spend their days roosting in old trees and dense brush, before emerging at night to hunt. Ruru are considered watchful guardians in Maori culture, their calls signaling good and sometimes bad omens. They are specialist night hunters, adapted to detect and catch prey in the dark. Keen hearing, excellent vision and the ability to rotate their head almost right around mean that there is no hiding from this bird of prey. Their soft wing feathers let them fly swiftly and silently through the forest to swoop on their prey. Insects, lizards, rats and birds end up in their talons before they ever hear them coming.
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Morepork (Ruru) |
Short-tailed bats may be tiny, but these bats can fly at 60km an hour, and cover more than 50km in a single night, so they need a lot of forest to move around in. New Zealand's bats are rapidly heading towards extinction caused by predators and loss of habitat. In 2010 a single wild cat killed over 100 bats in a roost in Tongariro National Park before it was caught. Pekapeka have a special relationship with pua o te reinga (
Dactylanthus taylori), also known as the woodrose. This is NZ's only fully parasitic flowering plant, which grows on the roots of trees on the forest floor. Bats use their brush-tipped tongues to soak up the nectar in the flower, just as a paintbrush soaks up water. As it moves from flower to flower it spreads their pollen, pollinating the woodrose and becoming the perfect pollinator! The nectar's sweet scent attracts short-tailed bats, but unfortunately it also appeals to possums, rats, and pigs, which destroy it. The decline in this forest flower may be linked to reduced numbers of the short-tailed bat. If you want to help these unique bats, join conservation projects to protect native forest. This will assist other species too!
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Short-tailed Bat |
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Dactylanthus taylori (Woodrose) |
River life is under threat. Healthy rivers are important for the whole environment. NZ's native fish are vital to healthy rivers and lakes, but larger and more aggressive introduced species are having a serious impact on its river life. The brown trout competes for food and eats smaller fish, causing the local extinction of some native species. Introduced to feed on mosquito larvae, gambusia are small but very aggressive. They bite at the eyes and fins of mudfish, and eat the eggs of other fish. Ironically, one thing they don't do very well is eat mosquito larvae! Koi carp were illegally released into NZ's waterways. They will eat almost anything, including other fish, their eggs, insects, and plants. How can you help with the native fish? Plant native species besides streams to create a shady cool habitat, keep waterways open so that fish can migrate to sea and back, fence off streams from livestock, and protect wetlands, as they are often valuable native fish breeding grounds.
Whitebait- Whitebait fritters are a favorite New Zealand snack, but have you ever wondered what whitebait are? (Probably not if you're not from New Zealand, even if you are). They're sprats, millions of young freshwater fish trying to make their way upstream. Many of NZ's freshwater species are part of the whitebait migration- most common is inanga. After hatching in inland waters, larvae migrate downstream to spend their first winter at sea. The young sprats return to fresh water in the spring, swimming upstream in huge numbers. Those that escape the whitebait nets mature to continue the whitebait cycle.
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Whitebait |
Black Mudfish- This amazing fish can breathe air and survive without water for several months! In the summer when their water dries up, black mudfish burrow into the soil and go into a state of dormancy similar to hibernation. They stay there motionless, breathing air until the autumn rains come. The black mudfish was widespread but since the reclamation of many wetlands for development, it has become an endangered species. To help built mudfish populations, retain vegetation around ponds and creeks, and keep waterways clean.
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Black Mudfish |
Giant Kokopu (Taiwharo)- Giant kokopu are unique to New Zealand and are its second largest native freshwater fish after the longfin eel. These nocturnal and secretive fish prefer shallow, swampy forest creeks near the sea, with plenty of shade. Once common in waterways, over-fishing and loss of habitat have reduced their numbers. Introduced brown trout also eat them and complete for food. Instead of scales, they have smooth, though skin with a mucous-like coating. If they survive to maturity, the giant kokopu can grow to a huge 58cm and 2.7kg.
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Giant Kokopu (Taiwharo) |
Conservation:
The Sky Ranger project enables the Kakapo Recovery team to monitor the health and activity of kakapo living on Hauturu Island using a fixed wing plane and new transmitter technology. The 'smart' transmitters report the kakapo position; whether they're alive or dead, whether the females are nesting and, if so, for how long. The males' transmitters provide information about which females they have mated with and when. Without Sky Ranger, kakapo rangers have had to physically track the birds to get the transmitter signal and data. This is more achievable on Codfish Island, but difficult on Hauturu Island due to its size and steepness, so the Sky Ranger project allows effective monitoring of this very important kakapo population on Hauturu.
The Auckland Zoo Conservation Fund is providing resources to the Department of Conservation to undertake a two-part research project on the southern Coromandel brown kiwi. The last comprehensive survey on the population of the southern Coromandel brown kiwi was completed in 1993. Most of the conservation work for brown kiwi has been undertaken in the northern Coromandel area, and very little is known about how their southern counterparts have fared over the past twenty years. The first state is to identify the distribution and abundance of remaining animals. Stage two will involve conducting genetic analysis of kiwi found to establish if they are of eastern or Coromandel origin. To ensure their future survival, some of these kiwi would help to form a founder population on Motutapu Island in the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park.
The Auckland Zoo Conservation Fund provided support for collection and transfer of 80 critically endangered Archey's frogs from Whareorino Forest to Auckland Zoo (April 2016) where they were quarantined, sexed and swabbed for DNA and for chytrid-fungus infection. In September 2016, the frogs were then transferred to Pukeokahu in Pureora Forest Park, in time for this year's frog breeding season.
Amphibians are declining worldwide and introduced predators are generally accepted as the major contributors of this decline. Wildlife management decisions regarding the control of introduced predators to protect endangered species are often based on data derived from predator diet studies. However, visually identifying frog remains in stomach contents of small mammals was found to be unreliable. The Auckland Zoo Conservation Fund is providing resources to Bastian Egeter from Department of Zoology, University of Otago, for the development of molecular techniques to detect and quantify predation on New Zealand and Australian frog species by introduced predators. Kill-trapping and feces collection of wild mammals was undertaken to survey for frog predation. So far, identification of prey remains substantially more successful using DNA-based technique than traditional visual observation. Hedgehogs, pigs and rats have been identified as predators of frogs, including the critically endangered Archey's frog.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9zOby1fJ-r1jgmgQbRIBBl-PQVDn0j68DRtu3CGNnahSiU4KIWb7KeRHt39BhveS5AmIc_EsqvTN5AyuDNMnBsq2y-TQOMCQtwVfu9w8ktcQSwqneByKsaSucMAxykNXmBUTkNU5qIwM/s320/Archeys-frog.jpg) |
Archey's Frog |
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