Rare alpine skinks born at Auckland Zoo

Four awakōpaka, a ‘Nationally Critical’ alpine skink species with fewer than 20 animals ever recorded, have been born in a special climate-controlled facility at Auckland Zoo.

These highly anticipated babies – one birth captured on video - are the offspring of a pregnant adult female urgently translocated from the Homer Saddle in Te Rua-o-te-moko (Fiordland) last November as part of a collaborative effort by the Zoo, Department of Conservation (DOC) and Ngāi Tahu to prevent the extinction of this rare taonga.   

Born in late April, these tiny offspring weighed just 0.32-0.42 grams – about a third of a paperclip! While one has since died, the remaining three have now grown to around half a gram and are progressing well – though remain incredibly delicate at this size. (The Zoo’s climate-controlled facility, established in late 2023 when the first animals arrived, provides the skinks with a range of the wildly fluctuating temperatures/humidity they would experience in their high-altitude home in the wild).

“These first births are an exciting step for the awakōpaka project as this is an almost entirely unknown and unstudied species. With the support and trust of both Ngāi Tahu and DOC, and building on our successful mahi with other critically endangered lizards like cobble and Kapitia skinks, we are rapidly learning about many aspects of this enigmatic skink’s natural history, including reproductive biology, as well as developing a formula for successful husbandry and breeding in human care,” says Auckland Zoo’s head of animal care and conservation, Richard Gibson.

“The awakōpaka (whose names means “the skink that lives in the footprints of mighty glaciers”) was only discovered in 2014 and is thought to be on the very precipice of extinction. As with nearly all of our lizard species, introduced predators present a continuous threat, including the highly predatory but often over-looked house mouse, populations of which can grow to plague proportions when rats are effectively controlled.

“While DOC is rapidly developing and deploying mouse control measures, which we all hope will be effective, this early husbandry research is preparing us to ramp-up the breeding programme for a larger safety-net population or even reintroduction if required.”

The awakōpaka is currently known from only a handful of hectares of steep, rugged bolder habitat near the Homer Saddle where beech and tussock masts (heavy seeding events) result in an explosion of mammalian predators including rats and mice. 

DOC undertakes regular and extensive rodent control across this challenging and precarious terrain as part of their ongoing effort to protect awakōpaka skinks in the wild and give the species a fighting chance.

“The exciting find of a female on a nearby bluff last summer gives us motivation to search other bluffs after the snow retreats this summer.  If the species exploits this type of habitat, then it may radically expand their known area of occupancy, says DOC Project Lead/ Awakōpaka skink, Megan Willans.

“With the births of awakōpaka at Auckland Zoo it is really pleasing to see the programme to save them from extinction showing such positive signs,” says Ngāi Tahu kaumatua, Michael Skerrett.

“As Ngāi Tahu, we have a kaitiakitanga responsibility to support programmes such as this. So many of our indigenous species are critically threatened and the Zoo is to be commended for the part it is playing.”

Aotearoa is a land of lizards with at least 126 unique endemic species of skink and gecko, of which a staggering 92% of these are either ‘Threatened’, or ‘At Risk’ of extinction.

“While these cryptic animals are largely unknown to most people and are all too often overlooked by landscape-scale conservation initiatives, they play a crucial role in the ecology of New Zealand’s varied habitats. It is therefore urgent that we recognise and prioritise focussed conservation efforts for many, or we risk losing them for ever,” says Richard.

Awakōpaka Fast Facts

Conservation status (‘Nationally Critical’): The awakōpaka (Oligosoma awakōpaka) – which means ‘the skink that lives in the footprints of the mighty glaciers’, was first discovered in 2014 and only about 20 individuals have ever been recorded.

Habitat: So far found only within a few hectares of the rugged rocky alpine environment of the Homer Saddle in Te Rua-o-te-moko (Fiordland) where temperatures and humidity fluctuate dramatically day to day and from season to season.

Key Threats: Mammalian predators. These include the highly predatory house mouse, as well as rats and stoats. Additionally impacting the balance and health of their ecosystem are introduced browsers such as hare, rabbits, chamois and deer. DOC continues to undertake regular and extensive rodent control across this species’ alpine habitat.

Research population and recent births at Auckland Zoo: A special climate-controlled facility was established in early 2024 at the Zoo to maintain an awakōpaka research population. A pregnant adult female translocated from the Homer Saddle in Te Rua-o-te-moko (Fiordland) in November 2024, gave birth to four offspring over several days in late April 2025. Along with monitoring the Homer population in conjunction with mouse control and monitoring, DOC staff also continue to search the nearby cliff habitat in the local region for signs of further populations and predator activities.

Description and diet: Awakōpaka can grow up to 15cm in length and are glossy pale brown and yellow in colour with profuse speckling of small dark brown and black flecks. Like other New Zealand skinks, they feed on invertebrates and tiny native fruits. (DNA faecal samples taken in late 2023 revealed they feed predominantly on beetles and spiders).