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| Giant wetas to be released on islands | |
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| Topic Started: Apr 3 2014, 12:09 PM (709 Views) | |
| Kahu | Apr 3 2014, 12:09 PM Post #1 |
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Giant wetas to be released on islands Posted Image Hundreds of New Zealand's largest giant weta will be released on pest-free islands in the Hauraki Gulf after a successful breeding programme at the Auckland Zoo. The first 150 weta punga will be released on Motuora Island today, with another 150 to be released on Tiritiri Matangi next month. Two hundred more will be released in the wild this year. The weta are considered nationally endangered and are one of the world's heaviest insects, weighing as much as a sparrow. All the weta are the offspring of six males and six females moved to the zoo in May 2012 from Little Barrier Island, the only place they are now naturally found, as part of the Department of Conservation's (DOC) breeding recovery programme. Source Link |
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| Darcie | Apr 3 2014, 12:18 PM Post #2 |
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Skeptic
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And what is the claim to fame of these insects? I know it is important to preserve life but what do they do that is beneficial for the environment? I have never seen or heard of these before. |
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| Kahu | Apr 3 2014, 01:37 PM Post #3 |
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Spoken as a true, almost superior, northern hemisphere inhabitant Darcie! I try all the time to let everyone know of the unique life forms we have here, all of which need protection, and educate you all .... to no avail??? Apart from sea mammals, and two species of bats which were the only mammalian representatives in Aotearoa ... other species evolved and adapted to fill the mammalian niche. The Weta, in it's many species, adapted and became very much like the common mouse in our bush environment. The giant weta has evolved to be the world's heaviest insect, but due to exotic invaders, both introduced accidentally and on purpose, it's extinct on the main islands and only naturally occurs on the poor Knight's Is up north. They look fearsome which is their only protection, but are completely harmless, and vegetarian to boot! Aotearoa-NZ Weta species source link Endangered Species of New Zealand Edited by Kahu, Apr 3 2014, 01:39 PM.
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| FuzzyO | Apr 3 2014, 02:39 PM Post #4 |
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Whenever you show us something I have this feeling that it should in some way relate to something familiar. The weta resembles a grasshopper a little bit, does he jump? |
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| Darcie | Apr 3 2014, 03:36 PM Post #5 |
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Skeptic
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Kahu, I said it was important to preserve life, that I understand, just want to know about them and why they are so important to spend a lot of money, time and energy as they seem to have done. There are many endangered species on the planet that many governments, including ours, seem to not feel bent towards a lot of effort and money to ensure their survival. I want to know why these particular insects are so important. |
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| Darcie | Apr 3 2014, 03:44 PM Post #6 |
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Skeptic
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I like the Endangered Species site, looked at some and will look at more. I wonder what would have happened to all of these animals etc. if man were never allowed in NZ. Would they still be endangered, or maybe extinct. |
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| Kahu | Apr 3 2014, 04:28 PM Post #7 |
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They are an ancient dinosaur insect ... most closely related to the modern Katydid. I've never seen one jump ever, although they do arch their large back legs as if they are preparing to. Their only defence is looking spiky and aggressive ... bluff. They can make scratching, cricket type noise when disturbed too. The females have a long ovipositor which looks like a dangerous stinger, but it's to deposit the eggs deep into rotting wood.. Posted Image Male Wellington Tree Weta Posted Image Female Wellington Tree Weta - see the ovipositor |
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| Kahu | Apr 3 2014, 05:04 PM Post #8 |
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New Zealand was once a land of birds as early European explorers and visitors can testify to ..... As to extinctions ... the coming of the Maori was the death knell of the Giant Moa because it was the most accessible food source; along with it's predator Haast's Eagle which is also remembered in traditional maori tales. The Pacific Rat or kiore and Maori Dog - kuri which were brought here as food sources in the voyaging canoes ... contributed most to the destruction of many bird species. Maori also burned areas of land to allow different food crop species room to grow ... but all this simply accelerated once the european invasion began. The thing is that these strange species exist only here in New Zealand ... nowhere else on Earth. We have a duty to try to protect them for the following generations ... no matter how hopeless the task seems to be, or how lowly the species. Kiwi songbirds DOC spokesman Chris Pitt says the X Factor refers to "something special - and that's what New Zealand's birds have got." "They are special not just because of their song - though what other country has a tui described as Jimmy Barnes doing an imitation of Frank Sinatra - but because of what they've been through." Before man arrived, New Zealand was a country of birds with no mammalian predators, where camouflage was all that was needed to hide from the occasional hungry falcon, Pitt says. "When the stoats and rats arrived, their technique of standing still pretending to be a tree didn't cut the mustard - so a lot of them have been lost, or nearly lost - the kakapo being a case in point." Deafening dawn chorus Early visitors to New Zealand shores - including Captain James Cook - described the dawn chorus as deafening. While it will never be that way again, careful management and protection of species is bringing the chorus back to the forests in many places, Pitt says. "So the X Factor that our birds have is a mixture of the joy of being alive, and of the sadness of what's been lost. Any song that contains those elements has got Number One written all over it!" Chris Pitt says that his personal favourite is the bellbird: "If you get up early enough - Captain Cook must have because he mentioned them in his journals - you can hear the bellbirds' clear tones bouncing off the darkness as dawn breaks. They start the dawn chorus around my place!" Source Link Edited by Kahu, Apr 3 2014, 11:39 PM.
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| angora | Apr 4 2014, 03:43 AM Post #9 |
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WWS Book Club Coordinator
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I understand how you see it. Can you understand that it's not how I see it? |
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| Dana | Apr 4 2014, 04:04 AM Post #10 |
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WWS Hummingbird Guru & Wildlife photographer extrordinaire
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Are they edible? :winkingdevil: |
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| Kahu | Apr 4 2014, 10:56 AM Post #11 |
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Surely there are native wildlife species in your environment that you'd had to lose? We know we're on a losing streak, but it's because we are an island nation and our species are globally unique that we spend the time, effort and money to protect what we have. |
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| Kahu | Apr 4 2014, 10:58 AM Post #12 |
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You wouldn't like them, but lizards, birds, and our rare ground feeding bats love them. biggrin 04 |
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| Trotsky | Apr 5 2014, 12:45 AM Post #13 |
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Big City Boy
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I'm gonna skip breakfast. |
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| angora | Apr 5 2014, 03:17 AM Post #14 |
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WWS Book Club Coordinator
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I'll try my best to explain how I feel. I may fail miserably because it is so deeply felt that I may not be able to articulate it. First, I do not see human beings as the natural owners of the planet. I believe that we are only one species equal among others, no matter what we believe or how it looks. Therefore, it is not up to us to judge what other species are useful, beautiful, or to be protected or rejected. In my corner of the world racoons are despised and song birds are venerated. To me they are equally beautiful and valuable. They live alongside of me on a planet that is tolerating me and them in equal measure, none of us owning it or more entitled to it than the other. Sure, I have my loves. You all know about the cats. That is personal and private, like I love my children better than other people's but I am under no delusion that they are worth any more or deserve any more than anyone elses. I hope that makes things clearer, or at least less muddy. |
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| blizzard | Apr 5 2014, 01:20 PM Post #15 |
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Gold Star Member
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Angora, that is lovely. |
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