The morepork owl, aka morpork, mopoke, or ruru, hails from New Zealand and Norfolk Island. 3 subspecies are recognized, 1 extinct, 1 a hybrid, plus the original species. Seeing as they face no major threats, sans perhaps habitat loss due to deforestation
The New Zealand sea lion, aka Hooker’s sea lion, pakake (for both male and female), whakahao (male), or kake (female) in Māori, hails from New Zealand and primarily breeds on New Zealand’s subantarctic Auckland and Campbell islands, and have recently been slowly breeding and
The common pheasant, aka ring-necked pheasant, or blue-headed pheasant, is native to Asia. However, they have been introduced to Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand as game birds. The primary threat these birds face is that of hunting
The New Zealand fur seal, aka Australasian fur seal, South Australian fur seal, Antipodean fur seal, long-nosed fur seal, or kekeno, can be found throughout western, southern, and eastern Australia, as well as surrounding New Zealand. These fur seals dwell in the
The least weasel, aka weasel, common weasel, or little weasel, is widespread through Canada, United States, Europe, Asia, and northern Africa. They have also been introduced to the Azores, Crete, Malta, New Zealand, and
The north island brown kiwi, aka northern brown kiwi, can be found in the north island of New Zealand. These flightless birds are a unique and fascinating species. They prefer thick, sub-tropical and temperate forests.
The bell frog, aka green bell frog, green & golden swamp frog, and green frog, hails from eastern Australia and northern New Zealand. With their populations decreasing more than 30% in the past 10 years, these frogs are listed
The Archey’s frog has changed little over the past 200 million years, therefor they represent “living fossils”. They prefer the damp vegetation of their native forests, and dwell only in a small section of forest in the North Island
The katipō, aka red katipō, black katipō, and New Zealand’s redback, is a spider species native to New Zealand. These arachnids are in a larger family of spiders known as Latrodectus. Other spiders in this family are the
The south island takahē, aka Takahē, is a flightless bird that can only be found in New Zealand. The bulk of their population has been translocated to Kapiti, Mana, Maud, Motutapu, and Tiritiri Matangi. This was necessary due to
