Auckland Zoo welcomes more births of rare awakōpaka skinks

Auckland Zoo is now home to 14 rare awakōpaka skinks following two more births by gravid females urgently salvaged from Fiordland as part of a team effort with the Department of Conservation (DOC) and Ngāi Tahu to prevent the species’ extinction.

In a glimmer of hope for this ‘Nationally Critical’ alpine taonga (to date only 20 individuals have been recorded), these newest additions bring to nine the number of awakōpaka births at the Zoo since April 2025. From three different salvaged females, five of these offspring (that as neonates weighed just 0.32-0.42 grams – about a third of a paper clip!) have survived, and to date are progressing well. 

These five (now) juveniles and nine adults – a critical insurance population against disaster in the wild - are being cared for by the Zoo’s ectotherm specialists in a bespoke climate-controlled facility established in early 2024 for an awakōpaka husbandry research programme.

Births at Auckland Zoo provide new baseline data

Awakōpaka were only discovered in 2014, and the nine births at the Zoo represent the first outside of the wild – enabling the gathering of brand-new baseline data such as litter size, neonate weight, measurements, behaviour, and development. Such data is invaluable in understanding a species’ life history and planning for its long-term conservation.

“In their steep, high altitude, and precariously mobile-boulder habitat, the Homer Saddle in Te Rua-o-te-Moko (Fiordland) where dramatically fluctuating temperatures are the norm, awakōpaka face many extreme and challenging conditions. But it’s mammalian predators, especially mice whose numbers explode during beech masting years, that are sadly pushing this stunning and ecologically important endemic lizard towards the precipice of extinction,” says Auckland Zoo’s Ectotherm Curator, Don McFarlane.

Zoo to pair up adult awakōpaka to breed

“While our DOC colleagues continue to search for more skinks and implement extensive rodent control across the species’ known distribution area and beyond, here at the Zoo we will soon pair up the adult male and female awakōpaka to mate and, we hope, successfully breed.

“As part of developing a zoo-based breeding programme, we plan to undertake DNA testing, working with UNITEC. This will enable us to understand the genetic diversity and relatedness of the adults as a measure of population inbreeding and also to inform future breeding decisions at the Zoo. We’ll also be able to confirm the sexes of the juveniles well in advance of sexual maturity” explains Don.

While very little is known about this highly cryptic skink and its life in such a complex, extreme alpine environment (temperatures alone can range from 3 °C to 30 °C) the Zoo is drawing on its long experience successfully caring for and breeding other rare Oligosoma species including grand, Otago, cobble, Kapitia and Alborn skinks.

“Caring for a species ex situ for the very first time without detailed data on the microhabitats they use and thrive in, brings its fair share of challenges, but also some incredible opportunities. Our ability to provide for and observe the gravid females throughout their gestation and then witness via camera footage the birth of the offspring from the first salvaged adult female (the first ever recorded!) has been pretty extraordinary, and a career highlight,” says Sonja Murray, a lead keeper on the ectotherm team.

“In many ways, awakōpaka have behaved like other Oligosoma species we’ve worked with, which has enabled us to start with solid husbandry foundations and then refine things as we learn more about this taonga.

“These refinements have been influenced by our observations of the skinks and how they respond to the environment we provide. Their behaviour is very similar to what’s been seen in the wild – they’re naturally shy, bask ‘cryptically (as opposed to out in the open) and are quick to slip away from a warm halogen basking spot the moment they sense someone nearby.”

“For a species this endangered, seeing those natural predator evasion behaviours is exactly what we want, and every observation helps us tweak their environment and shape their care more accurately,” says Sonja.

DOC expects mice numbers to explode this summer

Being a beech masting year, DOC expects mouse numbers to explode this summer and will be ramping up and extending the areas in which it intensively baits and does mouse response monitoring, along with the hard mahi of awakōpaka surveys in challenging terrain. If another adult female awakōpaka is located during these surveys, she’ll be carefully salvaged and relocated to the Zoo as the fifth female for the breeding programme).

 “November can be a really good month to start this work, but it can also be dodgy with avalanches. Generally, we find December to May is our best window,” says DOC Project Lead/Awakōpaka, Megan Willans.

“The Homer Saddle area we’re controlling is about seven hectares, but the lizards themselves occupy what would seem to be only about a 10-metre swathe from the base of the bluff out onto the slope. In summer, this area has an incredible microclimate, and plant fruiting can be off the scale. It’s likely why these consumers of tiny fruits and invertebrates have had some success surviving here.

Scoping out future safe release sites

“Our awakōpaka surveys will see us continue investigating the wider valley system, including the bluffs in search of other pockets where the species may be surviving. We also hope to look at fruiting, seeding and invertebrate abundance to see if and how these factors may influence mouse abundance at Homer.”

While the mahi at the Zoo and in the Homer Saddle and surrounding valleys continues, DOC is also looking into where there might be other safe (mouse/rat free) areas in the wild to give awakōpaka more of a fighting chance and help safeguard their future.