Conservation
New Zealand species conservation programmes
Click the links below for more information on the New Zealand native species conservation programmes we support...
| Ark in the Park | ||
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Kiwi |
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| Tuatara Department of Conservation 'Headstart' breed-to-release programme |
Archey's frogs
Auckland Zoo holds a colony of 32 Archey's
frogs - the smallest of New Zealand's four endemic species. The
transfer of Archey's frogs from Canterbury University was completed
in 2007, and the colony represents both Whareorino Forest (King
Country) and Coromandel populations, the only two locations this
frog is found.
Like all frogs around the world, Archey's frog is threatened with extinction - due to large-scale habitat change, introduced pests, and more recently, the Chytrid fungus.
The Zoo's New Zealand fauna and veterinary teams have worked closely with DOC's Native Frog Recovery Group to establish this captive group to act as an insurance population against further declines in the wild. This colony is also providing valuable information on captive husbandry, and the potential for breeding additional frogs to supplement wild populations.
Auckland Zoo won the ARAZPA 2008-2009 award for our YEAR OF THE FROG Campaign, which highlighted frogs, in particular native frogs.
Ark in the Park
Ark in the Park
is an Auckland Regional Council/Forest & Bird initiative aims
to create a pest-free 2000ha open sanctuary in the stunning
Waitakere Ranges, and re-introduce native flora and fauna
species.
The Auckland Zoo Conservation Fund sponsors 30ha of predator control, and staff regularly assist with checking bait stations. In addition, zookeepers have assisted with the transfer of species back to these ranges, including the North Island robin, stitchbird (hihi) and the whitehead (popkatea) - a species that had been absent for over 120 years. Our vet team has also played a role - carrying out disease screening on animals prior to their release.
Department of Conservation
Auckland Zoo's New
Zealand Fauna staff are actively involved in breed and
release programmes for a range of native species.
This involves working closely with the Department of Conservation (DOC) and numerous other organisations to conserve New Zealand native animals such as Archey's frog, Northern tuatara, North Island brown kiwi, whio (blue duck), North Island kokako, pateke (brown teal), North Island kaka, and the pekapeka (short-tailed bat). All of these, with the exception of Archey's frog and the pekapeka, have been both bred and released.
Kea Conservation Trust
The Kea Conservation Trust
was set up in 2006 to assist in conservation of wild Kea in their
natural habitat and to increase the husbandry standards and
advocacy potential of those Kea held in captive facilities within
New Zealand.
Current projects that the Auckland Zoo Conservation Fund has been supporting are looking at how to mitigate the effects of 1080, lead removal from the environment and surveying populations to better understand population trends.
Kiwi - Bank of New Zealand Save the Kiwi Trust - Operation Nest Egg programme
Along
with holding kiwi breeding pairs - both in Te Wao Nui's The
Night and off-display at our NZ Fauna Conservation Centre, the Zoo
also plays a key role in the Bank of New Zealand
Save the Kiwi Trust's Operation Nest Egg (O.N.E.)
programme.
In the wild, the kiwi is a threatened bird that has a 95% mortality rate for chicks under one year old - due to the predation of the eggs and young, largely by stoats, possums, dogs, cats and rats. O.N.E. has been established to help give our feisty but vulnerable national icon a better chance of surviving in the wild. It involves the Trust, Department of Conservation (DOC), captive facilities like Auckland Zoo, as well as many individuals and community groups.
Each year from late
winter through to February, Auckland Zoo receives North Island
brown kiwi eggs that have been pulled from wild nests in the
Whangarei region by DOC staff. These are placed in the capable
hands of our New Zealand Fauna keepers, who care for them through
their incubation and hatching period, and then rear the hatched
chicks until they are 25 - 30 days old, and weigh around 375 grams.
By this time the chicks have regained their birth weight, and are
ready to be released onto the predator-free island, Motuora, in the
Hauraki Gulf. They live on this crèche island until they reach
around 1kg in weight - big enough to defend themselves against
stoats, and are then relocated back to the wild in Northland - to
areas that are intensively trapped (to help reduce the number of
introduced pests).
The Zoo has been involved in Operation Nest Egg since 1996, and to date, has successfully hatched and released 250 kiwi chicks. The New Zealand Bird team has worked to refine its husbandry techniques, and has achieved an impressive 93% success rate in hatching viable eggs. In 2004, Auckland Zoo received a conservation award recognising its contribution to North Island brown kiwi recovery. This award was presented by the Australasian Regional Association of Zoological Parks and Aquaria (ARAZPA) - now the ZAA (Zoo and Aquarium Association - Australasia).
Kiwi research
The Zoo's NZCCM team has been involved in important research on the distribution of coccidia, an important gut parasite, in wild kiwi. Tests carried out by senior vet Dr. Richard Jakob-Hoff on North Island brown kiwi have also led to the discovery of blood parasites - Babesia kiwiensis and Hepatozoon kiwii - not previously reported in this species. The New Zealand Conservation Management Group (CMaG ARAZPA NZ) has presented Dr. Richard Jakob-Hoff with an individual award, recognising his contribution to the conservation of New Zealand species.
Maui Dolphin Recovery Group
With fewer than 100 individuals known to be left, time is running out for the Maui's dolphin. Through the Conservation Fund, Auckland Zoo has been funding genetics research that may have future implications on how this species is managed.
New Zealand Sea lion Trust
The New Zealand Sea lion Trust's mission is to to promote the protection and conservation of the threatened New Zealand sea lion and related species through research and public education.
A critically endangered species, the New Zealand sea lion is one of the world's rarest, with only 10,000 estimated remaining. They only breed in two locations, the Auckland Islands and the Otago peninsula. Through the Conservation Fund, Auckland Zoo will be supporting important research on the effect and potential mitigation of food competition by commercial fishing.
NZCCM
As well as supporting specific programmes such as these, the skills of the Zoo's New Zealand Fauna team and the Zoo's vet team at the New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine (NZCCM) are at times called upon to assist with the recovery of other native species. These have included the saddleback, hihi (stitchbird), takahe, Campbell Island teal, tusked weta, and popokatea (white eye).
Seasonally, DOC also sometimes brings in the eggs of New Zealand dotterels, brown teal and New Zealand fairy terns from the wild, if the nests have been abandoned, or are at risk from weather or predators. The Zoo then incubates the eggs (to part or full term). Eggs, or young chicks, are then returned back into the wild.
Much of this work goes on behind the scenes in order to reduce the disturbance on the breeding animals and their young, and prevent human imprinting which might disadvantage them once they are released.
Tuatara - Department of Conservation 'Headstart' breed-for-release programme
Known as a
"living fossil", the tuatara (from the order Sphenodontia) is an
ancient species that dates back over 225 million years to the age
of the dinosaurs, and is only found in New Zealand!
Auckland Zoo has three Cook Strait tuatara on display in Te Wao Nui's The Islands.
The Zoo is also home to 11 Northern tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus punctatus) of Cuvier Island and Stanley Island origin. These animals are part of the Department of Conservation tuatara recovery group's 'Headstart' breeding programme. Through this programme, Auckland Zoo is helping to increase the total population of Northern tuatara in the wild.
As part of DOC's 'Headstart' programme, Auckland Zoo first received six adult tuatara from Cuvier, Red Mercury and Stanley islands (located off the Coromandel Peninsula) in 1990. These were taken off the islands by DOC, to enable a rat eradication programme to be carried out. These protected islands are now predator-free.
Another key partner in the recovery programme is Victoria University, which is carrying out research on the influence of temperature during tuatara egg incubation and its impact on tuatara sex, and also investigating the effects of global warming. The Zoo has been sending tuatara eggs to Victoria University since 1995. Once they hatch, the juveniles are relocated back to Auckland Zoo where they stay (off-display) until they are approximately five years old. At this time they are then released onto their island of origin. By this stage they are around 25cm long - big enough not to fall prey to any of the larger tuatara on the islands.
Wingspan Birds of Prey Trust
Wingspan Birds of Prey Trust is
a registered charitable trust established for the captive
management, research, rehabilitation, and public awareness of New
Zealand's birds of prey. This includes species such as the
Australasian harrier, the morepork and the critically endangered NZ
falcon.