Celebrate #WorldWildlifeDay with Auckland Zoo!

Happy #WorldWildlifeDay! This United Nations appointed day exists to raise awareness for the world’s diverse species and this year the focus is on sustaining all life on earth.

This suits us perfectly since with your help we’ve been involved in an exceptional number of conservation projects in the past year. These include breed-for-release programmes for a range of endangered native species as well as work ‘in the field’ all around Aotearoa contributing to scientific research that helps wildlife in need (and that’s just our work in New Zealand!)

Our Wild Work includes monitoring and studying native species like the Muriwai gecko, northern striped gecko in the Coromandel, Archey’s frogs in the King Country, lizard surveying on Rangitoto and in the Hunua ranges, conservation planning for threatened birds in the Marquesas Islands, census of kōkako in the Waitakere Forest, shore plover monitoring on Motutapu Island, annual health checks for wild takahē throughout six sites …the list goes on! We’ve also bred more than 1,500 endangered wētāpunga in the past year alone for release onto several islands within the Hauraki Gulf, establishing crucial populations of Aotearoa's largest insect.

An amazing 15 Operation Nest Egg kiwi chicks have been hatched with our partners Kiwis for kiwi along with 15 kākāriki karaka (orange fronted parakeet), one whio (blue duck) and 25 pāteke (brown teal) that have been released into the wild. Among the reptiles we’ve had endangered Falla’s, chevron, Chesterfield and cobble skinks (more to come on this later!) plus Archey’s frogs and more than two hundred endangered mudfish.

As many of you know our vet team, keepers and volunteers have greatly helped our partners at Kākāpō Recovery in caring for kākāpō during the bumper breeding season and subsequent aspergillosis (disease) crisis – which shows just what can be achieved when conservationists pull together to save a species.

If you could #DoOneThingToday to help our planet and its incredible biodiversity, we’d ask that you visit the zoo this week as it’s only when all of us work together that we can achieve great outcomes like this for wildlife!