natural history - Auckland Museum

natural history
b a c k g r o u n d n o t e s | y e a r 1 – 1 3 l e v e l 1 - 8
© A u c k l a n d M u s e u m 2 0 0 8

natural history
contents
about tHIs resource 2
bookIng InFormatIon 2
IntroductIon & maP 3
background notes
origins gallery 4
lands gallery 15
oceans gallery 7
currIculum lInks 42
IntroductIon to tHe resource:
The education resources provided by Auckland War Memorial
Museum focus on specific galleries or on specific exhibitions in
those galleries. There are a small number of resources that were
developed for exhibitions that are no longer present but which
have been maintained on the website by popular demand.
Visiting education groups may book to request the following
learning opportunities:
• Self-conducted visits based on supporting resource materials.
• Gallery Introduction with a Museum Educator or trained
guide (approx 15 minutes), using resource materials. Longer
gallery tours and Highlights Tours are also available.
• Hands-on activity session for school groups with a Museum
Educator (approx 45–50 mins), using resource materials.
Students have the opportunity to handle real or replica items
from museum collections,
Sessions will be tailored to suit the level and focus of the visiting
group.
about tHIs educatIon resource:
This kit has been designed to meet the needs of a wide range of
education groups.
The kit is in three separate sections and includes:
background notes suitable for all levels
currIculum lInks from Pre-school to Adult
[these are still under development]
actIvItIes Pre-visit, Post-visit and Gallery Activity Sheets
actIvItIes
pre and post-visit activities level 1- 44
pre-visit activities level 3-4 45
post-visit activities level 3-4 46
classroom activities year 1-4 47
classroom activities year 4-6 51
classroom activities year 4-6 7-8 5
gallery activities year 1-4 54
gallery activities year 4-6 63
gallery activities year 7-8 70
bookIng InFormatIon
All education group visits must be booked.
Phone: 306 7040 Fax: 306 7075
email: schools@aucklandmuseum.com
Service charges apply to education groups depending on the level
of service required.
numbers and adult/child ratios:
Pre-school 1:3 or better
Y 1–6 1:6
Y 7–8 1:10
Y 9–13 1:30
All groups including Adult groups ought to be accompanied by
their teacher or educator.
Adult/child interaction is vital to maximize the value of the
museum experience. Group leaders need to have some background
knowledge of what the students are expected to cover and they do
need to participate in the introduction process on arrival. Knowing
about the expectations of the class teacher and the museum will
make the visit smoother for everyone.
www.aucklandmuseum.com
adult/child interaction is vital to maximize the value of the
museum experience. group leaders need to have some background
knowledge of what the students are expected to cover and they do
need to participate in the introduction process on arrival. knowing
about the expectations of the class teacher and the museum will
make the visit smoother for everyone.
Some education ServiceS at auckland muSeum are provided under a contract to the miniStry of education under
the leotc programme and miniStry Support iS gratefully acknowledged.

natural history
introduction
The four natural history galleries form a suite with a logical progression, which will encourage the visitor who
wants to learn of wonderful and unique life on the islands of New Zealand to take. The first gallery, Origins,
is a journey through time where we tell the story of our country’s beginning and how we came to be where we
are today with our unique flora and fauna.
The next two galleries, Land and Oceans, take the visitor on a topographical journey from mountain top down
to the shore and out to the sea that surrounds us. Their aim is to present our wonderful natural heritage and
excite the visitor with its diversity, while telling the individual stories and adaptations of certain plants and
animals. Sharing the gallery space with the first gallery is Matapuna — the Natural History Resource Centre.
It is seen as crucial to all four galleries and is a place where the visitor will be able to access deeper level
information than is possible to convey in the galleries themselves.
Visiting schools may book for the following learning opportunities:
· Self-conducted visit with supporting resource material.
· Hands-on activity session with Museum Educator (approx 45–50 mins), plus resource material. Students
have the opportunity to handle rock collections, fossils, lava bombs etc. Sessions can be tailored to suit the
level and focus of your visit.
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natural history
background notes | origins gallery
orIgIns gallery
Origins explores New Zealand’s geological history, our isolation from Gondwana and the resulting effect on
our unique and vulnerable plants and animals. The focus for this kit is the concept of New Zealand’s isolation
and the uniqueness of our flora and fauna as a result of this isolation. An additional education kit entitled
Geology at the Auckland Museum provides a greater range of information on New Zealand’s geology, rock
types and volcanism.
tHe eartH’s structure
4.6 billion years ago the Earth was
formed, a dynamic planet where
the continents constantly move
on a hot fluid interior. Radioactive
decay in the centre has
generated a heat engine that
powers this motion.
The Earth is composed of several
layers. The solid inner core
is surrounded by a liquid outer
core. The mantle is solid, with the
top 250 km plastic enough to move and
carry the thin but rigid crust above.
Plate tectonIcs / contInental drIFt
The Earth’s crust is broken into many fragments
called tectonic plates. These move at different rates.
They spread apart, push past, override and dive
under each other, constantly moving the continents
around the globe.
There are three main types of plate boundaries:
divergent/spreading centres, convergent/ subduction
zones and transform margins.
Upwelling in the mantle forms new oceanic crust,
which then spreads apart. The crust ultimately gets
recycled as it cools and becomes subducted under
younger, more buoyant crust.
sea Floor spreading Zones
Crust
The mantle reaches the Earth’s surface through
an opening between two tectonic plates, up to 5km
under the sea surface in the middle of some ocean
basins. It solidifies to produce new crust and pushes
Outer core
out the older crust symmetrically
away from this "spreading centre".
This produces a long chain of
undersea volcanoes, also
called a mid-oceanic ridge.
3560km 2800
subduction Zones
Old oceanic crust is heavy
Inner core
and dense. Over time, parts
of it sink back into the mantle,
creating a tectonic plate
Mantle
boundary as it slips under another
piece of crust. Subduction
of old oceanic crust can happen under
continents, such as the South American
west coast or under younger oceanic crust, such
as in the Tonga-Kermadec area, just north of
New Zealand.
As the crust goes into the mantle, a deep trench up
to 10km deep develops at the point of subduction.
A New Zealand example is the Hikurangi Trough,
which is off the east coast of the North Island.
During subduction, sediment that has settled on the
ocean floor is scraped off the subducting plate and
gets plastered onto the edge of the upper plate. The
compression causes friction between the two plates,
which in turn causes earthquakes and pushes up
mountains.
Once this oceanic crust sinks well down into the
mantle, it starts to soften and become plastic again.
But because there are traces of water in this crust,
partial melting occurs and this extra hot material
rises up in bubbles through the mantle and overriding
crust. Once it reaches Earth’s surface, it gets
erupted to form volcanoes.
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natural history
background notes | origins gallery
World map showing the boundaries of tectonic plates. The arrows show the directions they move in. As the plates move, they pull
apart, collide, grind past or dive beneath one another, the way luggage does on an airport conveyer belt.
transform margins
Transform margins occur where 2 plates slide past
each other, neither creating or destroying oceanic
crust. An excellent example of a transform boundary
is the Alpine Fault in the South Island, one of the
longest straight lines on Earth.
neW Zealand’s geologIcal orIgIns
Eighty five million years ago, New Zealand began
to break away from the supercontinent called
Gondwana where it had been united with all the
other countries in the southern hemisphere. As
New Zealand drifted away from Australia taking
with it animals (including dinosaurs) and plants that
lived on it, the opening between them began to form
the Tasman Sea.
remnants of gondwana in new Zealand
Rocks and fossils provide links to our past connection
with other countries. Most of the rock types in the
Southwest corner of the South Island match up
with rocks in south east Australia and Antarctica.
Fossil ferns found in rocks near Port Waikato grew
in coastal Gondwana forest 140 million years ago.
Fossils of the seed fern Glossopteris have been found
The Alpine
fault, as seen
from space.
in New Zealand, Australia, Antarctica, South America
and India.
In the 60 million years since the Tasman Sea opened,
erosion, tectonic processes and climate change have
drastically altered the shape of New Zealand. These
changes have had a huge impact on our plants and animals.
New Zealand drifted north away from Antarctica
as a heavily eroded lowland plain. As it moved, Earth’s
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natural history
background notes | origins gallery
crust stretched and thinned and the land sank. From
considerable continental beginnings, New Zealand
became an archipelago of small swampy low-lying
islands.
As the land area reduced, species that had evolved here
faced advancing waters and destruction of habitats,
creating a biotic bottleneck. The original Gondwanan
flora and fauna was considerably reduced. Later the
survivors diversified and new species evolved. Wrens,
moa and giant weta were all affected. Some modern
birds are probably descendants of a single surviving
species.
Gondwana
New Zealand did not remain a small archipelago for
long. About 25 million years ago, a plate boundary
started to develop through New Zealand between the
Australian and Pacific plates.
The collision between these two plates has pushed up
our mountain ranges within the last six million years.
Sediments from the continuous erosion of mountains
has extended our coastlines to create new land.
TIMELINE
Climate Change and the Ice Ages
In the course of its history, New Zealand has changed
many times in both location and climate from subtropical
to subantarctic. All have had a great influence
on its plants and animals. The climate changes are
mediated by tectonic movements as well as more
cosmic events. The current distribution of many
indigenous animals is a legacy of the Pleistocene
glaciations which ended some 10,000 years ago.
During the last 64 million years there has been a global
trend towards a cooler climate. In the Paleocene and
Eocene the oceans were sluggish and Antarctica had
no ice cap. During the Oligocene the movement of
Australia away from Antarctica and the opening of
the Drake Passage at the bottom of South America
allowed the formation of a cold circumpolar current
around Antarctica. This thermally isolated Antarctica,
allowing an ice cap to form. There was a warming
trend in the late Oligocene-Middle Miocene.
The drop in temperature at the end of the Miocene
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natural history
background notes | origins gallery
is due to the isolation and evaporation of the
Mediterranean Sea. This event decreased the salinity
of the oceans, allowing them to freeze at higher
temperatures. The polar ice cap increased in size.
The uplift of the Himalayas drove drier winds over
Northern Africa, and affected rainfall in Asia.
Three million years ago, North and South America
joined, terminating warm currents around the equator
and promoting the warm Gulf Stream in the North
Atlantic. The Gulf Stream is responsible for snowfall
on the North Pole, creating the Northern Hemisphere
Ice Cap.
a touch of the tropics
25–14 million years ago warm currents from tropical
seas washed New Zealand shores and the climate
was subtropical. Coconuts, corals and cone shells
flourished. Warmth-loving plants established. Some
died out later when the climate cooled again, others
adapted and stayed.
the Ice ages
Earth’s climate has swung between warm and cold
about 50 times in the last 2.6 million years. During
particularly cold periods called Ice Ages or Glaciations,
ice sheets grew on the continents causing sea levels
2
4
The hard parts
may be buried
by soil, mud,
or sand, which
protects them
from further
decay or
damage.
Forces deep
within the
earth may fold
or tilt the rock
and push some
of them up to
form land and
mountains.
to drop up to 120m. The frequency and regularity of
the oscillations tell us that it is changes in Earth’s
orbit that controls the amount of heat reaching
Earth’s surface.
Ice age climate had a large impact on New Zealand’s
flora. This included the expansion of grasslands in
both islands and the growth of alpine shrubs and
herbs at much lower elevations than today.
WHat are FossIls?
Most fossils are the preserved hard parts of plants
or animals, such as wood, shells, bones and teeth.
Less common are the traces of soft parts like leaves
and soft tissues. Some fossils show where an animal
has been, such as footprints and worm trails. Fossils
are found in sedimentary rocks in many parts of
New Zealand, from sea level to mountain tops.
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3
5
When an
animal or
plant dies its
soft parts are
usually eaten
by scavengers
or decay
rapidly.
Many layers of
sediment may
accumulate
on top.
Eventually,
they harden
into rock.
We find fossils
in cliffs and
road cuttings
where natural
erosion or
bulldozers
have exposed
layers of rock.
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natural history
background notes | origins gallery
Animal and plant remains may be preserved as fossils
in a number of ways:
Shells and skeletons — The most common fossils are
an animal’s hard skeletal parts composed of bone or
shell. These can remain virtually unchanged in the
rock.
Mummification — When both the hard and soft parts
of an animal is preserved, it is called mummification.
Some examples are the mummified remains of moa
in caves, the freezing of mammoths in ice, or
the complete preservation of insects in
gum.
Petrification — Dissolved minerals
that seep slowly through rock
often add to or replace the original
fossil. This gradual process often
increases the fossil’s weight and
hardness and literally turns it to
stone.
Moulds and Casts — After a shell
has been buried and the surrounding
sediments hardened into rock,
water may creep through the rock and
dissolve the shell. This leaves a cavity, with
the same shape and markings as the original shell —
a natural mould.
If a fossil shell was hollow inside it may have filled with
mud and sand during burial. If the shell dissolves, a
hardened internal cast of the shell is also left as a
fossil.
Carbonisation — turned to soot — Where buried
plants and animals decayed in places without oxygen,
they left a thin flattened fossil behind. These fossils
are rich in carbon and have a black colour.
Trace fossils — leaving tracks — A fossil may also
be the preserved track, burrow, footprint or even
excrement of a passing animal. Burrow shape and
size can often be used to identify the animal that once
lived in it.
Examples of Fossils found in New Zealand:
Giant Ammonite — Ammonites are extinct shell-
bearing squid, the closest living relative of which
is the Pearl Nautilus. The cast on display is of the
largest Jurassic ammonite fossil ever found. It was
uncovered near Kawhia Harbour. Ammonites became
extinct at the same time as dinosaurs. This ammonite
is 145 million years old.
Belemnites — Belemnites were related to the
ancestors of todays squid. Only the hard bullet-
like tail skeletons remain. Belemnites became
extinct at the same time as dinosaurs.
Trilobites — Trilobites resembled large
sea lice. They were the first animals
to develop hard parts that could be
fossilised and were found worldwide.
They have three parts to their body
hence the name. Fossil trilobites
found in the Cobb Valley of Nelson
are New Zealand’s oldest fossils, at
530 million years old.
Many other fossils including those of
plants and dinosaurs can also be viewed
in the exhibition.
neW Zealands dInosaurs,
Pterosaurs and marIne rePtIles
The Age of Reptiles is known as the Mesozoic era,
which consists of the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous
periods. At this time, New Zealand was closer to the
South Pole. It is uncertain how the dinosaurs adapted
to the cold winters with zero daylight hours, but it is
now known that some of these dinosaurs must have
been warm-blooded.
No complete dinosaur skeletons have been found in
New Zealand and the fragments found have not been
sufficient to classify as new species or species found
elsewhere. The first dinosaur bone was discovered
by Joan Wiffen in the Mangahouanga Valley (Hawkes
Bay), and was the tail bone of a theropod dinosaur.
Other dinosaurs fossils indicate the existence of
agile ornithopod dinosaurs and large fourfooted
sauropods.
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natural history
background notes | origins gallery
Theropod Dinosaurs
Theropods were agile predators that walked
upright on strong hind legs, had short front legs
and large heads with sharp teeth. Tyrannosaurus
and Allosaurus were theropods. The cast on display
is of Cryolophosaurus, an Antarctic dinosaur.
One small species of theropods evolved into the
first birds around 150 million years ago.
Sauropod Dinosaurs
Sauropods were large four footed dinosaurs
with long necks and tails. They were
herbivores which probably lived in herds. A
fragment of rib bone has been found in New Zealand.
Ornithopod Dinosaurs
Ornithopod dinosaurs were bird-hipped dinosaurs
which were herbivorous and walked exclusively on
their back legs. Part of a pelvis has been found in New
Zealand.
Pterosaurs
Pterosaurs were flying reptiles, not dinosaurs. They
had bat-like wings formed by a membrane of skin,
although only the fourth finger was elongated to
support the wing whereas all four fingers in bats
are elongated. Two small bones have been found in
New Zealand.
Marine Reptiles — Mosasaurs, Plesiosaurs and
Icthyosaurs
Mosasaurs were giant marine lizards similar to
Komodo dragons. At least five species were known in
New Zealand. Mosasaurs were predators that grew
as long as 12 metres.
Plesiosaurs were predators with small heads, sharp
teeth and limbs which were paddle-shaped. Some
grew to 13metres long. Elasmosaurs were longnecked
forms, while pliosaurs were short-necked
forms. The plesiosaur fossil on display was removed
recently from the Kaikoura region.
Icthyosaurs were fast-swimming marine predators
like dolphins, although dolphins are mammals. They
probably fed on squid-like belemnites.
neW
Zealand’s orIgInal InHabItants
Despite the 80 million years since New Zealand
split from Gondwana, many modern descendants
of Gondwanan animals live on in groups including:
earthworms, frogs lizards, insects, spiders and
tuatara.
Tuatara are sometimes called "living fossils" because
they have survived virtually unchanged for 200 million
years. While they look like lizards, they are not and
are in fact a remnant of a group of reptiles which lived
during the dinosaur age. Tuatara are carnivorous and
their diet consists of earthworms, beetles, lizards,
frogs, wetas, injured or juvenile birds and sometimes
even their own young. They are nocturnal. Tuatara

natural history
background notes | origins gallery
Hochstetter’s frog
Leiopelma hochstetteri
Giant weta
Deinacrida heteracantha
Peripatus
Peripatus novaezelandiae
Pupu rangi
Kauri snail
Paryphanta busbyi
have primitive teeth which are essentially part of the
jaw rather than separate. Their young have a vestigial
"third eye" which covers over after six months of life.
Its purpose is unknown. Tuatara may live for over 100
years.
Native frogs of New Zealand, such as Archey’s frog and
Hamilton’s frog, have their own family Leiopelmatidae.
Frogs cannot cross sea barriers so the ancestors of
our frogs must have been present when New Zealand
separated from Gondwana.
Weta have a lifestyle similar to mice. They are noc-
turnal and feed on a diet of leaves and fruit supple-
mented by carrion insects and other small animals.
Weta habitats range from alpine scree to city gardens.
Weta are harmless.
New Zealand is home to 100 species of these flightless
crickets. A cool windy climate and an absence
of predators has resulted in loss of flight and an
increase in size in many New Zealand insects. Giant
wetas are the largest insect in New Zealand and can
weigh up to 70g, about the same weight as a thrush.
The Giant weta has changed little from its ancestors
which evolved during the mesozoic era.
Peripatus or velvet worms may be the "missing
link" between earthworms and arthropods. They
have characteristics of both annelid worms and
insects and date back to around 500 million years
ago. As they would have been unable to make a sea
crossing, Peripatus ancestors must have spread
before Gondwana split. They live in damp conditions
and dessicate quickly in dry habitats. Peripatus eat
insects and other small invertebrates.
Land snails, the family to which Paryphanta (kauri
snail) and Powelliphanta belong is the oldest family of
land snails, originating 300 million years ago.
a land oF bIrds
A visitor to New Zealand soon after separation from
Gondwana would have been impressed by the range
of birds. Over the next million years, these original
and early immigrants across the infant Tasman Sea
evolved in genetic isolation into uniquely New Zealand
families.
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natural history
background notes | origins gallery
Ratite Skeleton Non-Ratite Skeleton
Ratites
Ratites are flightless birds with powerful legs for
running and reduced wings. Their breast bone lacks
a keel attachment for flight muscles. They have no
flight feathers and have a distinctive arrangement of
palate bones in the skull. The ratite group includes
moa, kiwi, the extinct elephant bird of Madagascar,
South American rhea, African ostrich, Australian emu
and cassowary. Moa share a common ancestor with
ratites from other parts of the world. The ancestors
were carried with the land as Gondwana broke up.
Eleven species of moa once lived in New Zealand.
Different moa species had different lifestyles and
habits. We know this by their different shaped beaks
and heads. The Dinornis group ate twigs, Euryapteryx
ate berries and succulent leaves, while Pachyornis
ate the tough local flax. The giant moa was the tallest
bird known, reaching up to 3 metres. Moa swallowed
Ostrich
Elephant bird
Global Ratite distribution
Emu
gizzard stones to help grind up plant food. Moa died
out in New Zealand due to extensive hunting and
clearing of forest after the arrival of the first people
in New Zealand.
Kiwi are more closely related to Australian emu than
to moa, according to DNA evidence. This suggests that
rather than being a Gondwanan original, the ancestor
flew here around 40 million years ago. As it lost its
ability to fly, it took on mammal-like characteristics
such as fur-like feathers, a metabolism and body
temperature lower than most birds, whiskers and a
nocturnal lifestyle. Kiwis feed at night on insects and
grubs, sleeping in burrows (which they dig) in the
daytime. Kiwis are the only birds to have nostrils at
the tip of their beaks. They have a very good sense of
smell and weak eyesight. The female lays an egg that
weighs one fifth of its body weight — the largest egg
to body ratio among birds.
Cassowary
Kiwi
Moa
Rhea
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natural history
background notes | origins gallery
Wattle Birds
The wattle bird family is named after the distinctive
coloured wattle feathers around the beak. They have
short wings and are weak fliers, yet are tree dwellers
with powerful legs, claws and beaks. The family
includes North and South (extinct) Island kokako,
huia and North and South Island saddlebacks.
Wrens
New Zealand wrens are small, short-tailed insect-
eaters, many of which were flightless or weak fliers.
A number of wren species are extinct. The rifleman is
the smallest New Zealand bird and is found in bush
throughout New Zealand. The bush wren is New
Zealand’s most recent extinction, last seen in 1972.
Kokako
Callaeas cinerea
Huia
Heteralocha acutirostris
Kakapo
Strigops habroptilus
Rifleman
Titipounamu
Acanthisitta chloris
Recent Bird Losses
Many distinctive bird species, many flightless, are now
extinct. Humans are responsible for this extinction.
Evidence of their existence comes from bones found
in swamps, caves and Maori kitchen middens. Extinct
species include, amongst many others, South Island
adzebill , laughing owl, New Zealand goose, piopio
(thrush) and huia.
Flightless, Drab and Giant Birds
Many New Zealand birds are flightless, large, dull-
coloured and slow breeding, a result of millions of
years of evolution in the absence of predators.
Where two or more arrivals of similar colonising
birds have occurred, descendants of the earlier arrival
show more of these characteristics and are more
vulnerable to extinction.
Kakapo are the heaviest and flightless parrots in the
world. They are nocturnal, ground-dwelling birds.
Takahe and pukeko descended from an earlier swamp
hen. Takahe are flightless and heavier than the more
recent pukeko. Pukeko fly but are reluctant to do so.
Weka and banded rail are both flightless. Weka evolved
from an earlier Australian rail, while the banded rail
is similar to current rail species.
Robins and tomtits are both small insect-feeders.
Robins arrived 5–10 million years ago and are drab
weak fliers. Tomtits arrived around two million years
ago. They fly from ground to perch to catch food.
Black and pied stilts. The black stilt probably originated
from an ancestral pied stilt established here
millions of years ago. Black stilts are in danger of
hybridising out of existence. The New Zealand pied
stilt sub-species is similar to that found in Australia
and South-East Asia today.
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natural history
background notes | origins gallery
mammals
Ground-dwelling mammals never made it to New
Zealand naturally, but bats ,which fly, did make the
journey. New Zealand has been home to three species
of bat, one of which is now extinct.
The lesser short-tailed bat is unique to New Zealand
and belongs to its own family. Its ancestors may
have arrived 35 million years ago. It flies well but
also crawls mouse-like on the ground with its wings
folded up.
The long-tailed bat has a longer tail and shorter ears.
It probably arrived in the last two million years and
had relatives in Australia.
Long-tailed bat
Pekapeka
Chalinolobus tuberculatus
Short-tailed bat
Pekapeka
Mustacina tuberculata
lIFe In tHe Water
While flightless birds evolved on land, extinction of
large marine reptiles allowed new forms of life to
evolve in the sea. Penguins and whales appeared, and
sharks, which already existed, developed rapidly.
Around 50 million years ago, a group of diving birds
took to the sea. Their wings became flippers and they
‘flew’ under water. So the penguin evolved. Fossils of
around 14 extinct New Zealand penguin species have
been found in rock dated between 40–5 million years
old. The world’s largest penguin lived in New Zealand
35 million years ago.
The ancestors of whales and dolphins were actually
hoofed animals. Around 50 million years ago these
creatures took up a marine existence, developing
fins instead of legs. There are three groups of
whales including the primitive extinct form called
archaeocetes (28 million year old fossils have been
found in New Zealand) toothed whales (odontocetes)
and baleen whales (mysticetes).
Shark evolution accelerated around 50 million years
ago. Carcharodon found in New Zealand waters was a
giant, with a mouth that could swallow a small car!
Plants In IsolatIon
Eight main groups of plants have evolved on earth,
most of which have been in New Zealand at some
time. These groups are algae, bryophytes (mosses
and liverworts), psilophytes, club mosses, horsetails,
ferns, gymnosperms (conifers, ginkgoes, cycads) and
angiosperms (flowering plants). New Zealand has
many plants with links to Gondwana including algae,
sphagnum moss, silver tree fern, kauri and rimu and
primitive flowering plants such as rewarewa and
horopito. However, not all plants are Gondwanan
originals. Grasses, daisies and orchids didn’t evolve
until after New Zealand’s
isolation.
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natural history
background notes | origins gallery
mIgrant anImals
Several bird species, including silver eye, welcome
swallows and spur-winged plover have arrived in
New Zealand over the last 150 years. Many insects
and spiders have also arrived from Australia. The
differences between these and New Zealand species
are often small, but indicate that the New Zealand
forms have been here perhaps since the ice ages.
Since human arrival, more insects have arrived. Many
of these can survive on plants which humans have
also brought eg monarch butterflies on swan plants.
mIgrant Plants
Plant species arrive naturally on the wind, tide and
attached to birds, or through human introduction.
Manuka seeds are tiny and blow in the wind, New
Zealand flax seeds have a wing like structure and
are easily airborne. Mangrove seeds are buoyant and
float well in water. Kowhai are found in Chile and in
the South Atlantic Ocean. It takes about three years
for seed to drift from South America to New Zealand.
Parapara seeds are sticky and cling to birds, in fact
many small birds remain trapped in seeds still on the
tree and die there.
Kowhai distribution. Kowhai is also found in Chile and Gough Island in the South Atlantic Ocean.
14

natural history
background notes | lands gallery
lands gallery
New Zealand’s plant and animal diversity can be explored by taking a topographical journey from the alpine
zone to a coastal wetland. In all of these habitats adaptation of organisms to their surrounding environment is
observable, as is the interaction between the flora and fauna living alongside each other.
alPIne Zones
southern alps
Situated on the “Pacific Ring of Fire” — a geological
belt of earthquake and volcanic activity — New Zealand
is one of the world’s most active mountain building
regions. The Pacific and Indian-Australian plates
slide against each other, vigorously uplifting the land.
The South Island contains the most extensive alpine
areas. The Southern Alps form the island’s backbone.
The Alps can grow as much as two centimeters per
year.
The Alpine zone is rich in biological diversity, despite
conditions which can include intense cold, heat,
winds and dryness. Almost half of all native plants
are found here. Just above the bush line are waisthigh
tussocks and small leafed shrubs. As you begin
to go higher the vegetation gets smaller, a response
to the harsh conditions of mountain life.
Delicate flowering gentian, celmisia and ourisia
are sheltered by low tussock. The world’s largest
buttercup, the Mount Cook lily, can also be found in
showy clusters.
Higher still, buttercups, daisies and edelweiss crouch
in between boulders. The vegetable sheep, a type of
cushion plant hugs the ground, the leafy shoots are
so dense you can sit on the plants without damaging
them.
New Zealand’s alpine habitats are relatively young,
only coming into existence two to three million years
ago. This is a short period for so many specialist plants
to have evolved from lowland ancestors. Ninety five
per cent of New Zealand’s mountain flora is endemic
(found nowhere else in the world).
The alpine weta also evolved from lowland ancestors. It
is the largest insect of the alpine zone and can survive
being completely frozen. Many alpine flowers depend
on the butterflies, moths and flies for pollination.
Moths fly during the day to take advantage of the
warmer conditions. Also living in the alpine vegetation
are cicadas, beetles, weevils and grasshoppers.
The world’s only alpine parrot, the kea, feeds on
nutrient rich snowberries to store fat for the cold
winter ahead. Kea retreat below the bushline to nest.
Kea chicks are often hatched in the depths of winter,
needing a good food supply.
The rock wren is a permanent resident of the alpine
and subalpine zones. In winter they may forage
among rocks insulated by a blanket of snow. It feeds
on spiders, beetles, flies and other insects.
central Plateau
The alpine landscapes found in the North Island
are geologically young and are formed by volcanic
activity, which still continues today e.g. Ruapehu and
Ngaruhoe. In Tongariro National Park craters, vents,
thermal pools and lava flows are easily observed. The
flora and fauna is not as diverse as that found in the
Southern Alps not having had the time to adapt to
specific habitats and periodically being obliterated by
volcanic eruptions. Few native birds are found in the
North Island alpine zone. Pipit, blue duck and the New
Zealand falcon are among the natives present. Some
introduced species are common e.g. hedge sparrow.
The vegetation includes a few species of tussock,
pygmy broom, a cotton daisy, whipcord hebe and
pimelea mat. There are also fewer exclusively alpine
insects and many which live here are also found at
15

natural history
background notes | lands gallery
Koromiko
Hebe tetragona
Tatarakihi
Cicada
Melampsalta cingulata
Puratoke
Glow worm
Arachnocampa luminosa
Pihoihoi
New Zealand Pipit
Anthus novaseelandiae
Mawhitiwhiti
Grasshopper
Paprides nitidus
Weta taipo
Cave Weta
Gymnoplectron acanthocera
lower altitudes e.g. the one species of grasshopper
(compared with the 12 found exclusively in the South
Island Alpine zone).
caves
The most common type of cave in New Zealand is
the limestone cave. Other types which exist in
New Zealand are marble, lava, sandstone and
igneous rock caves. Limestone is formed when
an enormous number of shells and skeletons
of small marine creatures are cemented and
compacted together to form rock.
Rain becomes acidic by leaching through organic
leaf litter, taking on carbon dioxide to form a mild
solution of carbonic acid. When it penetrates
cracks in limestone it dissolves the rock, producing
caves. Water continues to drip, creating stalactites,
stalagmites and other cave formations. Specialised
organisms that are found in caves include the cave
beetle that has long antennae and long sensory hairs
to compensate for its loss of sight.
The harvestman, often confused with a spider, is
a predator foraging on the floor of the cave preying
on adult glowworms. The glowworm, New Zealand’s
most famous fly, casts a luminous glow attracting
small insects. The insects become trapped in sticky
threads hanging like fishing lines from the top of the
cave. Once the victim is trapped, the glowworm pulls
in the line and consumes its catch. Emerging from
a pupa into brief adulthood, the female continues to
emit a light, which attracts the male to mate.
There are thought to be 60 different species of cave
weta, characterised by long antennae, long legs and
non-aggression. Unlike other weta, they neither make
sounds with their legs nor can they hear. During the
day they scavenge dead animals on the floor of the
cave, at night they venture out to forage on plants and
fungi.
16

natural history
background notes | lands gallery
Forest — tHe cHIldren oF tane
beech Forest
Today beech forest makes up almost 45% of the total
area of native forest in New Zealand. New Zealand has
four species of beech, red (Nothofagus fusca), hard (N.
truncata), black (N. solandri) and silver (N. menziesii).
Mountain beech (N. solandri var. cliffortioides) is a form
of the black beech.
Prolific flowering is usually followed by prolific seed
production. The seed set can be reduced by a frost
just after the flowers are open, wet or humid weather
reducing pollen dispersal. Good flowering years are
often 3–5 years apart.
Birds or other animals do not spread beech seed.
Wind doesn’t carry it far and it doesn’t survive in
the ocean. However beech is widely distributed
throughout the Southern Hemisphere, being found
in New Zealand, South America, Tasmania, Australia,
New Caledonia and New Guinea. Not only do the
trees in the various locations look alike but they also
share the same parasitic fungi, mosses and flightless
sucking bugs inhabiting their bark. The distribution
of beech (Nothofagus) provides excellent evidence for
the theory of continental drift and the super continent
Gondwana because they can only disperse across
land.
present day
fossil distribution of Nothofagus
The mistletoe Peraxilla tetrapetala is found on some
species of beech. It is a semi-parasitic plant relying
on the host tree for water and nutrients, also being
able to photosynthesize like other plants because
it possesses leaves. The mistletoe has a symbiotic
relationship with honey-eaters such as tui and bellbirds,
providing the nectar while they in turn pollinate
the flowers.
mixed conifer and broadleaf Forests
Mixed conifer and broadleaf forests dominate the
lowland regions of New Zealand. These forests are
characterised by a large variety of species. Over 1500
flowering plant species, ferns and conifers compete
for light and space. A typical North Island conifer
broadleaf forest has five layers. The emergent layer
is dominated by podocarps e.g. rimu, kahikatea,
totara, and matai. Podocarps belong to a very old
family of conifers, the Podocarpaceae, which probably
originated in Gondwana. They can live from 500–1100
years. Their tall crowns pierce through a main canopy
of broad-leaved flowering trees. These include towai,
tawa, pohutakawa, rata, vines, epiphytes, kohekohe,
puriri, karaka and rewarewa, which grow more rapidly
than conifers and are shorter lived. A variety of
endemic evergreen species grow in the subcanopy
including tarata, the nikau palm, pigeonwood, fivefinger,
lancewood, kotukutuku and tree ferns.
World distribution of Southern beech
17

natural history
background notes | lands gallery
Hututawai
Hard beech
Nothofagus truncata
Matai
Black pine
Prumnopitys taxifolia
Tawhairauriki Pango
Black beech
Nothofagus solandri
Tawhai
Silver beech
Nothofagus menziesii
Northern rata
Metrosideros robusta
Tawhairauriki
Mountain beech
Nothofagus solandri var. cliffortiodes
Kahikatea
White pine
Dacrycarpus dacrydioides
Pirirangi
Mistletoe
Peraxilla tetrapetala
Towai
Weinmannia silvicola
Tawhairaunui
Red beech
Nothofagus fusca
Totara
Podocarpus totara
Rimu
Red pine
Dacrydium cupressinum
18

natural history
background notes | lands gallery
Rewarewa
Knightia excelsa
Puriri
Vitex lucens
At ground level is a twilight world of mosses, ferns,
fungi, creeping herbs and forest floor orchids.
kauri
The kauri belongs to the Acaucariaceae family of
conifers, which also includes the Norfolk pine (from
Norfolk Island), and the monkey-puzzle tree (found in
South America). The family evolved in Gondwana and
includes some of the most impressive species of trees
in the world. Kauri is found in forests in Northland and
south to near Raglan and Tauranga where it grows
among a variety of hardwoods and podocarps.
Kauri can seal injuries, fight off diseases and boring
insects by exuding a sticky gum. The gum is mainly
sugar and water which hardens over time. It was
commercially valuable in the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries.
Over fifty-three species of higher plants grow in kauri
branches. "Perchers" include ferns, orchids, lilies,
shrubs, and tree saplings. They grow in high light at
upper forest levels without having grown their own
tree trunk. Vines e.g. kiekie and rata attach by roots
produced from their stems, while the New Zealand
passionfruit attaches by tendrils.
nikau Palm
The nikau palm is a tree of tropical origins and was
the only palm in the country to survive the Ice Ages.
It has an important relationship with the kereru (wood
pigeon), providing succulent fruit for its nourishment
and in turn having its seed distributed throughout the
forest. Other fleshy fruit producing trees also relying
on birds for dispersal of seed include the kohekohe,
titoki, taraire, puriri, miro, tawa, karaka, tawapou.
divaricating shrubs
Nikau palm
Rhopalostylis sapida
Many unrelated New Zealand shrubs have interlacing
or divaricating branches. It has been suggested that
this growth form has evolved as a defence mechanism
for plants in response to the pressures of moa
browsing. Others argue it is a response to a harsh
climate. The tough interlaced outer branches protect
the growing tips and seeds, which are concentrated in
the interior of the plant, away from moa.
Examples of divaricating shrubs include shrubby
pohuehue, matagouri, several pittosporum, saltmarsh
ribbonwood, weeping mapou, korokio, prostrate
kowhai, coastal tree daisy.
Most of New Zealand’s divaricating plants remain
as shrubs, but in nine cases, they grow into an adult
which is a large-leaved tree. This is a remarkable
change in branching pattern and foliage for the
shrub to more "normal" adult e.g. matai, pokaka.
Lancewood also show a distinct juvenile and adult
stage, argued by some to be associated with defence
against moa browsing. This phenomenon is called
heteroblastism.
1

natural history
background notes | lands gallery
Horoeka
Lancewood
Psuedopanax crassifolius
Tarata
Lemonwood
Pittosporum eugenioides
Kauri
Agathis australis
Korimako
Bellbird
Porokaiwhiri
Pigeonwood
Hedycarya arborea
Anthornis melanura
Matagouri
Discaria toumatou
Whauwhaupaku
Five-finger
Psuedopanax arboreus
Weeping mapou
Myrsine divaricata
Kakariki
Parakeet
Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae
0

natural history
background notes | lands gallery
Forest birds
The forest supplies birds with an abundance of food
and with shelter. The thriving invertebrate community
is the mainstay for insect eating birds e.g. robin,
tomtit, fantail, grey warbler and rifleman. The large
New Zealand pigeon or kereru is the only specialised
fruit eater, feeding on an extensive range of native
trees and shrubs e.g. tawa, miro, nikau, supplejack,
pigeonwood. Other forest birds are omnivorous, feeding
on a mixed diet of nectar, fruit and insects, which
they vary according to the season. The rare kokako,
bellbird and tui are all gifted song birds. The yellowcrowned
and red-crowned parkeets are fruit and leaf
eaters. Other indigenous parrots, kaka and the large
kakapo are both omnivorous, scavenging for insects
and grubs on the forest floor as well as sampling
nuts, fruit and nectar in the canopy. Moths form a
major part of the diet of the ruru (morepork) which is
New Zealand’s only surviving native owl. It also feeds
on weta, beetles, spiders, some lizards, rodents and
small birds.
Forest floor
Flat or fungus bugs feed by sucking fungi and are very
common under the bark of decaying logs. Dead trunks
and branches also support some termites. Native
cockroaches spend the day hidden under stones, logs
and loose bark, emerging at night to feed on anything
they can find. Native earwigs can also be found in the
leaf litter. Some insects only spend their larval stages
on the forest floor e.g. flies, cicada and stag beetles.
Ruru
Morepork
Ninox novaeseelandiae
Kaka
Nestor meridionalis
Mites are present in the litter in enormous numbers,
either consuming the litter in vast quantities or preying
on small invertebrates. Tunnel-web spiders, the
trapdoor spiders and the brown vagrant spider are all
found on the forest floor, feeding on the wide variety
of invertebrates.
Most of the snails that live on the forest floor are very
small. They dwell in the litter, under rotting logs and
loose bark, feeding on a variety of vegetable matter.
The large snails belong to an ancient and primitive
family of big land snails, Paryphantidae e.g. the kauri
snail (7.9cm in diameter). They are carnivores with
voracious appetites for worms, slugs and other snails.
New Zealand’s only native amphibians are the most
primitive living frogs known, Leiopelma species. Their
peculiarities include, lack of eardrums and vocal sacs
and the retention of tail wagging muscles in adults.
They do not go through a water-living tadpole stage —
tiny miniature adult frog emerges from the gelatinous
capsule that was its egg and its tail is subsequently
absorbed. They require damp conditions, being found
under stones or rotting logs. They become active at
night catching small invertebrates. There are three
species of Leiopelma: Hochstetter’s frog, and Archey’s
frog of the northern North Island, and Hamilton’s frog
on Stephens and Maud Islands. Lizards living in the
forest are either geckos or skinks e.g. Pacific gecko,
green tree gecko, copper skink and the forest gecko.
The forest gecko is camouflaged against moss and
tree bark, if alarmed it flattens its body and freezes.
It is nocturnal, eating small invertebrates especially
moths.
Papata
Black cockroach
Platyzosteria
Trapdoor spider
Cantuaria gilliesi
Wet-wood termite
Stolotermes ruficeps
1

natural history
background notes | lands gallery
Common skink
(Oligosoma nigriplantare)
Mosses and liverworts are primitive land
plants, not fully adapted to life on land. New
Zealand has some 1100 species of bryophytes,
which grow in mats and tufts on the forest floor, on
fallen trunks and on living trees.
Dactylanthus (Woodrose) is New Zealand’s only com-
pletely parasitic plant. It lacks green tissue, grow-
ing underground, attaching itself to tree roots and
absorbing their nutrients. In autumn its scented
flowers open and attract short-tailed bats. The bats
feed on the copious nectar and accidentally pollinate
the flowers. No other bats are known to pollinate
ground flowers.
Wetlands
Wetlands form at the indistinct and ever-changing
boundary between water and land, covering a number
of often quite separate habitats e.g. bogs, swamps,
marshes and peatlands. Wetlands are among the
most threatened habitats in the world; in New Zealand
ninety percent have been destroyed since the arrival
of humans. Vital for wildlife, they are easily damaged
by pollution, drainage or reclamation.
Plant communities change as water levels decrease.
Sedges give way to raupo, then to New Zealand flax
and lastly to cabbage trees and manuka.
New Zealand has a wide and varied sedge flora.
Sedges are generally grass-like with narrow leaves.
Raupo is a versatile plant, the lower parts of the plant
normally always under water. They grow together in
large numbers, often forming dense stands. At the
height of summer, a sausage shaped seed head is
formed. Maori used raupo as a food, a medicine, for
thatching and to make canoes. The most valued part
of the plant was the pollen, which was worked into
sweet bread.
Swamp millet is a slender grass present in wetland
vegetation, while toetoe is a large tussock grass with
drooping flower heads, which can also grow away
from water.
Invertebrates associated with wetlands include
dragonflies and damselflies. These predatory insects
breed in still waters of wetlands and ponds e.g. lancer
dragonfly, sentry dragonfly, gossamer damselfly and
blue damselfly.
The nurseryweb spider is common around swamps
and bush edges. It is a close relative of water spiders
and has an enclosed web which protects the young
spiders.
The cabbage tree moth is perfectly camouflaged
against the leaves of cabbage trees. Caterpillars chew
young leaves leaving distinctive notched edges.
Before European settlement many birds lived in New
Zealand’s vast wetland habitats. Most wetland birds
are adapted for life in wet conditions with specialised
beaks and feet.
Dabbling ducks have filter feeding bills e.g. paradise
shelduck, grey duck, grey teal, brown teal.
The scaup, New Zealand’s only diving duck, probes
the wetland floor for freshwater snails.
Herons, bitterns and black shags have fish-seizing
bills. Pukeko have long toes to help them walk on
swampy ground. The fernbird is a perching bird,
feeding mainly on
insects.
Nurseryweb spider
Polomedes minor

natural history
background notes | lands gallery
Matuku
Ti
Cabbage tree
Cordyline australis
Australasian bittern
Botaurus stellaris
Karuhiruhi
Pied shag
Phalacrocorax varius
Matuku moana
Reef heron
Egretta sacra
Cabbage tree moth
Epiphryne verriculata
Manuka
Red tea tree
Leptospermum scoparium
Kotuku
White heron
Egretta alba
Damselfly
Tiemiemi
Austrolestes colensonis
Dragonfly
Kapawai
Procordulia smithii
Pukeko
Porphyrio porphyrio
Putangitangi
Paradise duck
Tadorna variegata
3

natural history
background notes | lands gallery
sPecIes ProFIle : tuI
Parson bird
Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae
• Size : 30 cm
• Distribution : New Zealand only, found throughout forests
and towns in the North, South and Stewart Islands and
many offshore islands.
• Breeding : tui establish their territories in September-
October and sing from high perches, especially in the
morning and late afternoon. The female alone builds the
nest and incubates the eggs. Both parents feed the young.
• Behaviour : tui are usually solitary. They are the dominant
honeyeater in New Zealand and are aggressive towards
other birds near the nest or a prominent food source. The
song dialect varies in each district.
• Feeding : Preferred diet is nectar, supplemented with fruit
and invertebrates. Nectar sources include kowhai, flax,
pohutakawa, fuchsia and rewarewa. They feed nestlings at
first on small insects and nectar, and later also on berries
and larger insects, spiders and moths.
• The tufts of white feathers around the tui’s neck gave rise
to its early name ‘the parson bird’.
• Larger and more assertive than most native birds, the tui
has managed to maintain its numbers and even thrive, in a
changed environment.
• The tui is a skillful mimic, imitating the sound of a morepork,
blackbird and even a cat.
sPecIes ProFIle : kereru
new Zealand pigeon
Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae
• Size : 51 cm
• Distribution : They are found throughout the North, South
and Stewart Islands and on many forested offshore islands.
They favour native lowland forests dominated by podocarps,
tawa, taraire and puriri.
• The timing of breeding is closely linked to certain fruits
being avalilable; they can breed early or late, depending on
fruiting but some or all pairs fail to breed in years when
fruit is in poor supply.
• They play a key ecological role in the regeneration of
native forests by dispersing the seeds of large-fruited trees
and shrubs, most of which (e.g. miro, tawa, taraire, puriri
and karaka) are too large to be dispersed by other birds.
• Feeding : Herbivorous, fruits are preferred and in some
parts of the country are the sole diet. When fruits are in
short supply, kereru feed on foliage, especially old leaves of
kowhai, tree lucerne, broom and clover. Flowers of kowhai,
tree lucerne and broom also form an important seasonal
part of their diet.
• In certain areas they are in serious decline, mainly because
of hunting. Conflict occurs between conservationists who
want to preserve the bird and Maori traditionalists who
claim their rights to harvest the pigeon as of old.
• Possums compete for food and destroy nests.
• Kereru lay only one egg per clutch.
sPecIes ProFIle : kakaPo
oWl-Parrot
Strigops habroptilus
• Size: 63 cm, 3.5 kg
• Distribution : New Zealand only. Found throughout the
North, South and Stewart Islands before and during early
Maori times. The population is now in serious decline. The
remaining kakapo have been transferred to cat and mustelid
free Little Barrier, Codfish and Maud Islands.
• Kakapo is one of the most endangered birds in the world.
• Breeding : sucessful breeding requires an abundant
supply of high quality food throughout the 8 month breeding
cycle. Breeding takes place every 3–5 years, during a ‘mast’
(heavy fruiting) year.
• Kakapo are unique among New Zealand birds and parrots
in having an arena mating system. Males establish a
miniature display territory and then call (or boom) to the
females to mate. Females travel several kilometres to
briefly visit the displaying males to mate. Males take no
part tending or defending the nest.
• Behaviour : Solitary. Flightless. An adept tree climber and
a free ranger.
• Feeding : Herbivorous. Kakapo eat a wide variety of fruits,
seeds, leaves, stems and roots. The stout beak is used for
grubbing and grinding.
• Humans, dogs, cats, stoats and rats have all preyed on
the kakapo. Deer and possums have eaten its favoured
foods. Being a ground nester it proved easy prey for such
predators.
sPecIes ProFIle : Puratoke
gloW-Worm
Arachnocampa luminosa
• Found along the banks of streams and in other damp
places in the bush, as well as in caves
• The larva is carnivorous. As soon as it is hatched, it begins
to construct a tunnel of mucus and silk which it suspends
on silken ropes from the cave ceiling or from another
suitable support. It then spins a large number of silken lines
hanging down from the tunnel. At regular intervals along a
line the larva places little beadlets of sticky mucus. Midges
and other insects, attracted by the glow-worm’s light, rise
up and get stuck on the beadlets. At once the larva hauls up
the line and eats the victim.
• Its lifecycle is about a year, and during this time it casts a
luminous glow.
• As it transforms from pupa to adult fly, the glow-worm
glows erractically. Emerging into brief adulthood, the
female continues to emit a light which attracts the male to
mate.
4

natural history
background notes | lands gallery
sPecIes ProFIle : kaurI snaIl
Pupurangi
Paryphanta busbyi
• Found on the mainland only north of
Auckland, in the area where kauri historically grew.
Has been translocated to Great Barrier, Poor Knights
and the Hen and Chickens Islands.
• Large and carnivorous, feeding mainly on worms.
• Their heavy shells, as large as 75mm across, are
firmly attached to their bodies, enabling the snails to
climb vertically. They are also able to travel across
several hundred metres across farmland in a night
to reach bush.
• Belongs to an ancient and primitive family of big
land snails. Some species still occur in South Africa,
Australia and the South-west Pacific, the greatest
variety being found in New Zealand.
• It does not actually live in kauri but prefers astelias,
bushy undergrowth and scrub.
• Lays large, white eggs with limey shells in
depressions in the ground under leaf mould where
the heat from decaying compost hatches them out.
sPecIes ProFIle : large dragonFly
kaPokaPoWaI
uropetala carovei
• Dragonflies have a very long, narrow abdomen,
antennae reduced to tiny threads, and two pairs of
large, veined, gauzy wings which glitter in sunlight.
• They are predators, taking flying insects on the wing.
Their huge compound eyes, linked by nerves to the
flight muscles, enable them to locate even very small
prey and immediately to change direction to capture
it. The victim is scooped up by the dragonfly’s thin
legs, which are armed with spines, and taken to the
mouth where it is masticated by the strongly toothed
mouth parts.
• Dragonflies and their relatives the damselflies have
teeth (hence their family name Odonata, from the
Greek for tooth).
• New Zealand has 11 species of dragonflies and six
damselflies. Dragonflies are larger and spread their
wings when they are resting, whereas damselflies
fold their wings loosely over their body.
• Dragonflies have incomplete metamorphosis. The
eggs hatch into larvae or nymphs which live in fresh
water. Nymphs are voracious feeders, eating insects,
tadpoles and even small fish; in their turn they are
the target of predators such as frogs, birds and trout.
After a series of moults the larva leaves the water,
the larval skin splits and the adult emerges.
• The best known native dragonfly is the giant black
and bright yellow ‘devil’s darning needle’ Uropetala
carovei. This large insect has a wing span of 130mm
and is found in boggy seepage areas in forests.
• Dragonflies are the fastest of all insects, capable
of cruising at 40 km/hr and increasing their speed in
bursts to 58 km/hr. They can also hover and
make quick turns up, down or sideways.
sPecIes ProFIle : nIkau Palm
Rhopalostylis sapida
• The southern most palm in the world, the nikau
palm grows from North Cape down to Banks Peninsula
on the east coast and Greymouth on the west. Reaching 10
metres in height, it is New Zealand’s only palm.
• The nikau’s ripe berries are an important source or
food for kereru.
• Several parts of the nikau were eaten by Maori: the
immature flower; the berries when green; and the
‘heart’ of undeveloped leaves, the cutting out of which
unfortunately killed the tree.
• Nikau leaves were traditionally used to thatch the
top and sides of whare, and for weaving into bags and
kete.
• It is slow growing, taking some 30 years before
bursting into flower. The flowers are borne on long
spikes protruding from the stem on the ring scar just
below the oldest leaf. The red berries take three years
to ripen.
• The nikau’s stem, up to 10 m tall, is marked with
leaf scars which give it a distinctive appearance.
sPecIes ProFIle : kaurI
Agathis australis
• The New Zealand kauri is unrivalled among
New Zealand trees for its size and grandeur. It
can grow up to 50 m or more tall, with a massive
straight, unbranching trunk.
• It is a tree with an ancient lineage. Its ancestors were
contemporaries of the dinosaurs more than 130 million
years ago. Today, kauri species exist around the western
Pacific — in the Philippines, Borneo, Malaysia, New Guinea,
Vanuatu, Australia, New Caledonia and Fiji. The family
evolved in Gondwana.
• In the forest the kauri plays host to a wide range of plant
and animal life. High up in its crown grow epiphytes, perching
plants which are extremely important food sources for
birds. Important animals found in kauri forest include the
red-crowned and yellow-crowned parakeets, brown kiwi,
pied tit, kaka and Hochstetter’s and Archey’s frogs. Shorttailed
bats are found in hollow logs on the forest floor.
• Kauri trees normally grow some distant apart, with a
ground cover of kauri grass and the giant, sharp-leaved
ghania. Occasional shrubs and small trees include Kirk’s
tree daisy, hangehange, mingimingi and neinei.
• To Maori, kauri was ranked second only to totara. Its
timber was used for boat building, carving and housing.
Kauri gum was used for fire starting and heating, and as a
chewing gum once it had been soaked in water and mixed
with the milk of puha. The felling of a tree was an important
occasion and was accompained by a ritual.
5

natural history
background notes | lands gallery
genus ProFIle: Frogs
Leiopelma archeyi
L. hochstetteri
L. hamiltoni
• New Zealand’s native frog species are survivors of
frogs that evolved several hundred million years ago.
They are virtually unchanged from frogs of around
135 million years ago.
• All three species of native frogs are endangered.
Archey’s frog is found in Coromandel, and numbers
in the thousands. Hochstetter’s frog is the most
widespread and is found from East Cape northwards
to Whangarei, and is also numbered in the thousands.
Hamilton’s frog is confined to a 600 square metre
patch of scree, called the Frog Bank, on Stephen’s
Island in Cook Strait, and to forests on Maud Island.
This population has been described as a separate
species but differs little in form from the Stephens
Island population. It is the rarest of the frog species,
numbering around 200.
• These most primitive frogs live in forests under
rocks and stones. They require moisture but not
swamps or ponds as other frogs do.
• All native frogs are earless and croakless — at best
they squeak and pipe softy. Another primitive feature
they have retained is tail-wagging muscles, even
though they have no tail.
• For such small creatures they are relatively longlived,
more than 23 years in the case of Hamilton’s
frog.
• Besides their protective colouring and freezing
tactics, the native frogs may possess a third line of
defence against predators — their unpalatability,
derived from glandular secretions.
• New Zealand’s native frogs do not go through a
tadpole stage like other frogs; instead, adults lay
eggs and the young metamorphose inside the egg sac
— their own personal ponds. After hatching, still with
remnant tails, they climb onto their father’s back and
spend the final weeks of development there.
sPecIes ProFIle :
Peka Peka, bats
Chalinolobus tuberculatus
Mystacina tuberculata
• New Zealand has two native land mammals — the
long-tailed bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus) and the
lesser Short-tailed bat (Mystacina tuberculata). Each
has a body size of a person’s thumb and a wingspan
of 300mm.
• Until 1967 there was a third species, the greater shorttailed
bat. It became extinct when rats invaded its home.
• The short-tailed bat is the more endangered of the two
species, but new populations are being found as new
technology enables scientists to track them down.
• The short-tailed bat is the only bat in the world to forage
on the forest floor. It has several adaptations to assist this
behaviour: robust hind legs with small claws and a way
of neatly furling the delicate outer wing membrane under
thicker sections of membrane so the wings can serve as
front limbs. Its unusual hunting habit has also led to its
decline, making it an easy target for predators such as cats
and rats.
• The long-tailed bat was presumed to have blown over from
Australia 1 million years ago. Today it is widely distributed
in native forests throughout the North and South Islands.
• Both species of bat prefer to roost in old, hollow trees
rather than caves. Fluttering fantail-like in search of insects
along forest marigins, rivers and over lakes, they are often
mistaken for birds or puriri moths.
• Long-tailed bats keep nursery colonies, babies are carried
to the different roosts each night. It is believed both bat
species give birth to just one offspring a year, in December
or January.
• The endangered wood rose (Dactylanthus taylorii) has coevolved
with the short-tailed bat and is often pollinated by
it.
• Bats rely on echolocation to detect prey and to navigate
their way through forests in the dark. Bats emit highfrequency
sounds, usually through their mouths, in rapid
pulses at frequencies too high for the human ear to pick
up.
• During winter and sometimes during cool periods in
summer New Zealand bats go into hibernation.
• They are both nocturnal.
• They feed predominately on insects and sometimes
berries and nectar.
6

natural history
background notes | oceans gallery
oceans gallery
New Zealand’s maritime environment extends from sub Tropical to sub Antarctic zones. The coastline is a
diverse habitat including areas such as dunes, cliffs, muddy estuaries, ocean beaches, rocky headlands and
sheltered bays. Each sustains living communities uniquely adapted to the conditions present.
estuarIes
Streams running to the sea often form estuaries at the
interface — a transition area between freshwater and
marine habitats. Although low in species diversity,
estuaries are rich in organic sediments that support
an abundance of life. In the north of New Zealand,
estuaries are lined with mangroves. Mangroves
contribute to the high productivity, their decomposing
leaves releasing nutrients, the trunks providing
shelter and accumulating sediments. At its highest
reaches are the salt marshes. Lower down eelgrass
and sandy mud cover large flat areas. Just under the
muddy surface are beds of bivalve shellfish such
as cockles and the wedge shell which is a detritus
feeder that vacuums plankton off the surface of the
mud on out-going tides. Gastropods such as the
mud snail leave feacal trails on the muddy sand.
Also patrolling are scavengers and algal
grazers. Small crabs and worms are
common.
salt marsh
Land as opposed to actual shore-
line regularly inundated by sea-
water, may take the form of salt
marsh. Its lower most zone, about
the mid-tide level, is often muddy
and colonised by flat mat plants.
Succulents, including clumps
of glasswort, are found living
here. Further inland, plant cover
increases becoming a salt meadow
of tight turf. At upper tidal
levels Neptune’s necklace is the
most common salt marsh algae.
Its bead like bladders vary in size
according to the substrate, larger
when on bare unshaded mud and
smaller on moist clay.
Saltmarsh sea rushes, like mangroves continually
produce new leaves and get rid of the old ones which
are encrusted with salt. The glasswort dilutes salt
by storing water in fleshy stems. Wirevine grows
in a tangled mass. The water snail grazes on algal
films in muddy brackish water at upper tidal areas.
The harbour flea mussel is a small black mussel that
lives on hard surfaces in brackish water, usually near
the tidal limit.
7

natural history
background notes | oceans gallery
mangroves — trees In the tide
The New Zealand mangrove migrated to our
sheltered shores from tropical places further north.
Mangrove roots are surrounded by oxygen poor mud
and the tree is immersed in salty water twice each
day. To survive in this challenging environment it has
a number of special features. Pencil like projections
emerging from the mud are special “air breathing”
roots, pneumatophores. They are covered with
corky water resistant bark and arise from an
underground root system.
Underground roots form a
strong network that stabilises
the tree against tidal
currents. Leaves have water
storing cells and a shiny cuticle
with white hairs underneath to
protect them from sunshine
glare reflected off the water.
Flowers occur in small clusters.
Seeds are not dispersed
in any of the usual ways. Instead
an already germinated young
plant, a propagule, is dropped
from the plant. It can begin to
grow where it dropped, or it
may be carried by the tide to
grow elsewhere.
Mangroves support whole communities of organisms.
The mud snail is found within mangrove scrub
and on mudflats. It eats surface mud, digesting the
organic parts and excreting the rest in a continuous
string.
The mud whelk can be found scavenging on both
mud and mangrove flats. The mud flat horn shell
is a herbivore and deposit feeder, locally dense in
depressions. The cat’s eye feeds on algae when the
tide is in. The modest barnacle is New Zealand’s most
common encrusting organism. Larvae settle on any
hard surface, including mangrove aerial roots. Rock
oysters can also be found on pneumatophores and
mangrove trunks. The spiny tubeworm is a common
bristle worm, living inside a tough tube, often found
in clusters.
Mud snail
Titiko
Amphibola crenata
Arabic volute
Pupu rore
Alcithoe arabica
Spiny tubeworm
Pomatoceros caeruleus
Hermit crab
Pagurus novazelandiae
Stalk eyed crab
Macrpthalmus hirtipes
Snapping shrimp
Alpheus novaezelandiae
Cat's eye
Atata
Turbo smaragdus
Large dog cockle
Glycymeris laticostata
Common cushion star
Patiriella regularis
8

natural history
background notes | oceans gallery
crabs
Rock borer
Anchomasa similis
Mason worm
Thelepus spectabilis
Hearth urchin
Kina pakira
Echinocardium australe
Sea grass
Zostera novazelandica
The numerous holes in mud are home to tunneling
crabs. They are most abundant among mangroves
but can be found high up the estuary beyond the
marine mud, burrowing into clay. The tunneling mud
crab is endemic; it leaves its burrow to feed when the
tide is out. It is territorial. Apart from the tunneling
mud crab, the more common crabs of the estuary are
the stalk-eyed mudcrab and hairy-handed crab. Both
have similar habitats to the tunneling mud crab. The
hermit crab is common, its softbody protected by a
gastropod shell. The crab moves to a larger one as it
grows. It eats organic matter and decaying animals.
The harbour top shell is an algae eating herbivore
that lives on mud. Cockles are often found in dense
beds just below the surface on sandy mud flats. The
Arabic volute is a carnivore, which suffocates its
prey. The cushion star is a common omnivore with
4–7 arms. The long tailed stingray feeds on molluscs
and invertebrates. The snapping shrimp burrows
into mud. Its nipper creates an audible “snapping”
noise and it eats organic debris. Sand mason worms
are mobile worms, feeding on fine organic particles.
Its fragile conical tube is made from sand grains.
The date shell lives deeply buried in softmud and is
common amongst eelgrass. The heart urchin lives
buried in soft sandy mud. Pipi form dense beds in
coarse shelly sediments of harbours and near mouths
of estuaries.
Plants
Life in and by the sea is not easy. Only specialised
plants survive, plants that are able to cope with salty
conditions. Taupata grows on dryland by the sea, above
the high tide. Roots may still extend into the saltwater
table and leaves can be sprayed with saltwater.
Tough thick leaves with a glossy cuticle are typical
adaptations against glare and water loss. Plants
occasionally flooded by the tide include glasswort and
the searush. Mangroves occur half in and half out of
the tide. Salt glands in the leaves excrete salt absorbed
by the roots. Completely covered by the tide — the only
New Zealand flowering plant able to live below mid-
tide is eelgrass. Flowering and pollination takes place
under water. Behaving more like a seaweed, eelgrass
absorbs nutrients directly through its leaves, which
only have thin cuticles and no stomata.
borers
Wood borers
Woodborers are both destructive and useful.
Destructive in that they can cause extensive damage
to the wood of boats and wharves, expensive copper
sheathing is the only effective protection, useful
because they break down deadwood that has drifted
out to sea. Our oceans would be full of wood if not
for these important recyclers. A type of isopod, and
a relative of the garden slater uses “rasp and file”
mandibles to tunnel beneath the surface of the wood.
An amphipod lives in holes bored by the isopod.
Teredo settles on wood as larvae bores into wood

natural history
background notes | oceans gallery
Banded dotterel
Tuturiwhatu
Charadrius bicinctus
Little blue penguin
Eudyptula minor
Black-billed gull
Karoro
Larus dominicanus
Wandering albatross
Toroa
Diomedea exulans
Pied stilt
Poaka
Himantopus
himantopus
Caspian tern
Taranui
Hydroprogne caspia
Fairy prion
Titi wainui
Pachyptila turtur
using razor-sharp shell valves and coats its burrow
with calcium carbonate.
Stone borers
Rock boring molluscs (piddocks) have shell structures
similar to the sharply ribbed drilling bit of an oilrig.
They drill down by twisting and rocking the two shell
valves against the stoney substrate, enlarging the hole
as the shell grows. No food is derived from the stone,
the substrate providing protection for the organism.
The piddocks extend siphons up into the seawater to
collect food. The date mussel uses chemicals instead
of physical abrasion to sculpt its stony home. It
protects itself from the acid with a thick, tough outer
covering.
bIrds oF tHe ocean and tHe sHorelIne
Birds have adapted to take advantage of every habitat
found along New Zealand’s shoreline. Mudflats are
rich feeding grounds for huge numbers of birds. Cliffs,
rocky ledges and stacks provide breeding sites for a
wide variety of sea birds. The open ocean is a feeding
ground for the larger varieties of petrels. For each
of these distinct environments the birds found there
have evolved specialised behaviours, physiological
components and physical structures to allow them to
cope with the demands of the conditions present.
Wading birds
Wading birds specialise in probing for food in the soft
mud of estuaries and harbours.
New Zealand is the destination for some of the
world’s Arctic waders. Breeding in the Arctic, they
undertake a spectacular journey from one end of the
earth to the other, to spend the northern winter in the
Southern Hemisphere e.g. bar-tailed godwit, lesser
knot, turnstone, Pacific golden plover, red-necked
stint, sharp-tailed sandpiper, whimbrel.
Some Waders breed locally and migrate within
New Zealand and feed alongside Arctic migrants
e.g. South Island pied oystercatcher, pied stilt.
Penguins
Penguins are flightless seabirds found only in the
Southern Hemisphere. Descended from flying birds,
30

natural history
background notes | oceans gallery
their wings are now short, stiff flippers. They fly
underwater, propelled by flippers alone. Their short,
densely packed feathers form a smooth, firm, water-
resistant coat. Their legs are short and on land give
them their distinctive waddle e.g. blue penguin (the
world’s smallest penguin), Fiordland crested penguin
and yellow eyed penguin.
Plovers and dotterels
These small waders have a rounded, plump body,
short legs and a short bill and tail. The bill is adapted
for picking up vertebrates from wet sand or mud.
When feeding they characteristically “walk and
stop”, or “run-stop-peck” e.g. tuturiwhatu pukanui
(New Zealand dotterel), pohowera (banded dotterel),
tuturuatu (shore plover), ngutu-parore (wrybill) and
the Australian spur-winged plover.
shags
New Zealand has twelve breeding species of shag,
about a third of the world’s shag species.
They are mostly seen in sheltered coastal waters,
but sometimes far inland near lakes, streams and
rivers e.g. kawau (black shag), karuhiruhi (pied shag),
kawaupuka (little shag), parekareka (spotted shag).
They are excellent fishermen, diving into the water
and seizing fish with their strong beak.
gulls and terns
Gulls and terns usually prefer coastal situations
near shore. They are sociable, feeding in flocks and
breeding in colonies. Terns are more aerial and dainty
than gulls with narrower pointed wings and usually
a deeply forked tail. Terns have shorter legs and
smaller feet e.g. Arctic skua; black- backed gull, redbilled
gull, black-billed gull, black fronted tern, fairy
tern, and caspian tern.
Petrels
New Zealand has many petrels, a group that includes
albatrosses, mollymawks, shearwaters, prions and
storm petrels. Feeding at sea, their effortless gliding
flight enables much of their lives to be spent far from
land. Predators have now driven them to breed on
inaccessible islands and headlands.
Larger species build open nests, but most medium
and small species nest in burrows. e.g. fluttering
shearwater, black petrel, flesh-footed shearwater,
mottled petrel, fairy prion, and broad-billed prion.
albatrosses and mollymawks
Nearly three-quarters of the world’s albatross species
can be found in the New Zealand region. All have a
graceful, soaring flight. Many follow boats especially
fishing vessels. Large numbers of albatrosses come
to grief by swallowing baited hooks. Mollymawks are
small albatrosses e.g. royal albatross, wandering
albatross, buller’s mollymawk, black browed
mollymawk.
sandy eXPosed beacHes and dunes
Unprotected except by distant headlands, these
beaches are formed by ocean waves and prevailing
winds. An exposed sandy shore is one of the most
exacting and extreme habitats, supporting a group of
highly specialised plants and animals. These have to
withstand drying by unchecked onshore winds, and
cope with burning salt spray, high temperatures and
low nutrients. Pakiri (north of Auckland) is an example
of a sandy exposed beach.
They are composed of sand, gravel, or a mixture of
both. Gravel beaches tend to be steep and tiered;
sand beaches have a gentler gradient. The highest
part of the intertidal area is generally the steepest.
Dunes occur above the spring tide line and out of
reach of waves, formed by the action of wind. Fine
sands are blown inland until they meet a dune crest,
log or other obstruction — they gradually build up to
form a dune line.
While not as diverse as the rocky shore, open sandy
beaches are rich in molluscs, especially bivalves.
Shells found in the strand line usually come from
animals that lived within and just beyond the wave
zone. However, on-shore winds can cause pelagic
ocean drifters to strand on the driftline. Larger items
are carried further up the shore creating the upper
strand line. Items tend to get progressively smaller
all the way down to the lower strand line.
31

natural history
background notes | oceans gallery
Tuatua
Paphies subtriangulata
Ostrich foot
Struthiolaria papulosa
Knobbed whelk
Kakara
Austrofusus glans
Cask shell
Pupu tangimoana
Tonna cerevisina
By the wind sailor
Velella velella
Toheroa
Paphies ventricosa
Sandhopper
Namu mawhitiwhiti
Corophium acutum
Portuguese man-of -war
Physalia physalis
Violet snail
Janthina janthina
Helmet shell
Semicassis pyrum
Both open and protected beaches are divided into
three zones: upper, middle and lower. On the sandy
shore these areas are characterised by the upper
strand line, lower strand line and beneath the water
line.
Characteristic bivalves include the tuatua and the
toheroa. Echinoderms and worms are also present.
upper strand line
Ostrich foot shells are common at below low tide on
sandy and sandy-mud flats in estuaries and on the
open coast. They are sometimes washed ashore in
vast numbers.
The knobbed whelk is a carnivore found from low tide
to deeper water in fine sand or silty mud habitats
throughout New Zealand. The shells are often washed
up on beaches.
The helmet shell is plentiful on open sandy beaches.
It feeds on bivalves and sea urchins.
The hairy trumpet lives on reefs among brown
seaweed covered in a thick hairy coating.
Violet janthina shells use a raft of bubbles to float on
the surface of the ocean. They feed on other floating
organisms, like the by-the-wind sailor and portuguese
man-of-war.
Rams horn shells are the internal shells of a small
squid that live in water about 200–2000m deep.
Thousands can be found washed up on open coastal
beaches.
Sand hoppers are amphipod crustaceans that spring
up and down when you disturb a piece of seaweed or
wood lying on the beach.
By-the-wind sailors are colonies of hydroids that resemble
jellyfish. They rely on wind to skim along the
surface of the ocean. Portuguese man-of-war or
bluebottles are large, gas filled sacs. These keep the
colony of animals afloat and acts like a sail.
Cask shells are very large, thin shelled molluscs
that live in moderately deep-water. They are active
carnivores feeding on burrowing bivalves and
echinoderms.
3

natural history
background notes | oceans gallery
low strand line
The pink sunset shell lives buried deep in the sand
feeding on surface detritus with its long siphons.
The necklace shell uses its teeth (radula) to drill holes
in the shells of its victims.
The sand dollar or snapper biscuit is a flattened
urchin that is eaten by snapper.
The wheel shell burrows in fine sand and eats the
organic matter between the sand grains.
beneath the water
Paddle crabs emerge from their offshore sandy burrows
to hunt at night. The paddles on the rear legs
help the crab to swim and burrow.
The fan scallop can swim by snapping its shell shut.
The tuatua is a surf clam with a truncated end usually
just above or lightly covered with sand.
The geoduck lives about 20–40 cm in the sand, offshore,
in calm water beyond breaking waves, so
they are not normally subjected to dislodgement or
predation.
Necklace shell
Tanea zelandica
Fan scallop
Chlamys zelandiae
Cake urchin
Kina papa
Fellaster zelandiae
Wheel shell
Umbonium zelandicum
small animals on a sandy beach
From the strand line to the dunes, a sandy beach is no
place to live unless you happen to be one of a select
cluster of crustaceans, insects, spiders and their
relatives, who have adapted to the harsh conditions.
Here temperatures vary between extremes. Wind and
salt spray suck away the moisture, the sand shifts
and tears. The strand line is a transient environment.
Seaweed and carrion (the bodies of birds, fish, seal)
provide food for a specialised group of invertebrates,
which speed up its decomposition. Other invertebrates,
shore birds and lizards eat them in turn.
The tiger beetle is a predator of small insects and is
well camouflaged on greyish-white sand dunes.
The sand scarab is a bulky beetle which leaves
conspicuous tracks in the sand from its nocturnal
wanderings. During the day it burrows deep in the
sand, the plump larvae can be found under partly
buried logs.
The ground beetle has short stocky legs, which help
this predator to burrow through sand.
Our largest native earwig is the shore earwig. A
scavenger and predator, it hides under driftwood, seaweed
and stones. Females are often found brooding
eggs.
Kelp flies lay eggs in freshly stranded kelp. Their
maggots thrive in the kelp and help to break it down.
The black spider-hunter wasp stings and paralyses
small wolf spiders, then takes them to its nest in
the sand. An egg is laid on the body, which is later
consumed by the developing wasp larva.
The native bee burrows through the loose, hot, dry
sand above high water to nest in the damp sand
beneath.
Sand hoppers are one of the main decomposers of
stranded kelp. They flee predators by burrowing
into the sand with their peculiar sand-digging leg
paddles.
The sand centipede can be found in damp sand under
driftwood.
33

natural history
background notes | oceans gallery
The endangered katipo spiders make a tangled cob-
web at the base of dune plants and debris.
The black cockroach is found at the top of beaches,
in driftwood piles, under stones and other debris. It
makes an objectionable smell when disturbed.
The common copper butterfly lives in the dunes where
its caterpillars feed on leaves of the tough pohuehue
vine. At most this butterfly lives for 10 days, so time is
limited for egg laying.
Convolvulus hawk moths suck flower nectar at dusk
and caterpillars feed on native shore convolvulus.
rocky sHore
The hard shores offer very different habitats from
those of sandy beaches and mudflats; consequently
the animal and plant communities that occupy them
are quite different. The ebbing and flowing tide
influences an amazing variety of plants and animals
compressed into just a few metres of rocky shoreline.
In that narrow space species have evolved to cope with
an array of environmental conditions, from dry most
of the time to wet all the time. Just who lives where
depends upon the particular conditions present.
The surging water, crashing against the rock and
rushing through crevices, makes the exposed, steep
rocky shore a dangerous place. Animals and plants
need to be well adapted to live there. Animals adapt
in various ways. Often their bodies are streamlined
to lessen the effect of onrushing water. Many have
powerful means of clinging to the rock. Others are
especially fleet of foot so they can take cover quickly.
Those that have no special adaptations have to rely
on the shelter provided by crevices, seaweed or other
animals. An example of this type of shore is Piha on
Auckland’s West Coast. The highest plants covered by
water are karengo, while at low tide mark, streamers
of kelp stand up from their tough, woody holdfasts.
Agar weed on a rock overhang helps hide sponges in
the tide pool. Paua and cooks turban shells graze on
the seaweed forest. At high tide level the barnacles
and snakeskin chitin are getting their brief twicedaily
immersion. Above them, spray barely reaches
the crusts of lichen. Beneath the karengo fronds,
red anemones share a crevice with the purple rock
crab just above the mussel zone where hunched-reef
starfish tear prey off the rocks before receding with
the tide. Blue maomao feed on small animals in midwater
while a cruising snapper picks busily among
the mussels.
An example of a moderately sheltered rocky shore is
Oneroa on Waiheke Island.
At the highest point of a jagged outcrop of sandstone,
a pohutukawa sends tenacious roots down into cracks
that reach almost to the wave splash line. Clinging
colonies of surface creatures: barnacles, oysters,
little black mussels, tube worms and green mussels
form bands across the rocks. Below the mussels, pink
corralline algae is fringed by small red algae. Below
that flapjack swirls in the swell.
Neptunes necklace appears on low rocky surfaces in
single clumps. Between rocky outcrops, storm debris;
shells, seastars and dying weed from deeper places,
collects on sand.
Less exposed coasts e.g. Stanley Bay, Devonport,
provide greater security and more variety. Wave action
wears at softer mudstones creating undercut slabs
and steps. Some slabs break off, the undersides rich
with life; mostly small organisms that present little
profile even to the gentle waves.
The edge of the wave-cut platform is densely covered
with neptunes necklace. Pink coralline algae covers
large areas. Intertidal plant growth is good but less
diverse than on moderate exposed shores. Piddocks
(rock borers) are plentiful in the stone, their dwelling
holes visible through broken slabs.
34

natural history
background notes | oceans gallery
Mumutawa pango
Sand scarab
Pericoptus truncatus
Pepe parariki
Common copper butterfly
Papata
Lycaena salustius Black cockroach
Karengo
Platyzosteria novaeseelandiae Porphyra columbina
Agar weed
Pterocladia lucida
Neptunes necklace
Homosira banksii
Papapa
Common tiger beetle
Neocicindella tuberculata
Papatua
Snakeskin chiton
Sypharochiton
pelliserpentis
Tamure
Snapper
Chrysophrys auratus
Kotore moana
Red sea anemone
Actinia tenebrosa
Ground beetle
Megadromus vigil Mata Seashore earwig
Karaka
Cook’s Turban shell
Cookia sulcata
seaWeeds
Seaweed (algae) comes in a wide range of forms,
colours and sizes. Seaweed can be divided into
three main groups — green (chlorophytal), browns
(phacophyta) and reds (rhodophyta), they all possess
chlorophyll and photosynthesis; the variation in colour
is obtained from various pigments. They are generally
zoned down the shoreline with greens near the top
(uppertidal level), reds around the middle (intertidal)
and browns near the bottom (subtidal). However there
is considerable overlap. e.g. sea lettuce, karengo,
neptune’s necklace.
Anisolabis littorea
Paua
Haliotis iris
Katipo spider
Latrodectus katipo
Lessonia kelp
Lessonia variegata
Gigartina (red algae), are commonly found in large
numbers all around New Zealand’s coastline. Most
species are probably endemic to New Zealand. There
35

natural history
background notes | oceans gallery
Kina
Common sea urchin
Evechinus chloroticus
Flapjack
Carpophyllum
maschalocarpum
are two main groups — those with large flat blades that
can be up to one meter long; and smaller, branched
ones, normally up to twenty centimeters high. Several
are used commercially for the production of
carrageenan (a clear, jelly-like substance).
Carpophyllum (brown algae) is an endemic genus to
New Zealand with four species. Plants are up to two
meters long and form a very distinctive brown to black
band at the low tide level. They possess a 180 degree
twist at the base of the stalk — a feature only found in
Carpophyllum species — which enhances the plant’s
ability to stay attached during extreme wave action.
All species possess rounded air filled bladders that
assist in keeping the plant buoyant e.g. flapjack.
Other brown alga includes bull kelp and bladder kelp.
Bladder kelp is the fastest growing plant in the world,
growing up to 50 centimetres per day.
animals in seaweed
Living in seaweed has several advantages. They are
usually continually moist, dense enough to provide
protection, but open enough to venture to and fro
and a supply of algal tissue on hand. Many seaweed
dwellers are tiny gastropods and crustaceans.
Paua live beneath stones and ledges at low tide mark.
They browse on red and brown seaweed and coralline.
The blue-greens of paua shells are influenced by a
diet of mostly brown algae, while the deep reds and
Bladder kelp
Macrocystis pyrifera
browns of paua shells are
influenced by a diet of mostly
red algae and bladder kelp.
Common bull kelp
Durvillaea antarctica
Top shells feed by scraping up little plants and debris
thct settle on the surface of the seaweed. Catseye are
found in neptune’s necklace and Corralina. Cooks
turban graze on fronds of flapjack and kelp.
The hairy seaweed crab camouflages itself by attaching
seaweed and other various flora and fauna to
its shell. During the day they hide amongst seaweed,
rocks and bury themselves in sand.
The kina is a type of sea urchin. Its usual food is
seaweed.
tHe underWater World
Marine organisms continually battle for survival in
the harsh world under the sea. Few marine animals
die of old age because most are victims of predation.
These organisms have had to adapt to all the different
conditions that can be found in the sea; it is a case of
adapt or die.
Adaptations help organisms avoid predators, obtain
food, produce more healthy young and withstand
different environmental conditions. These special
characteristics have allowed different types of
organisms to inhabit every possible living space in
the seas.
36

natural history
background notes | oceans gallery
Maroro
Flying fish
Cypselurus lineatus
sub tidal cliff
Paea
Broadbill swordfish
Xiphias gladius
Wherever land and oceans meet abruptly a “wall of
mouths” can be found — an environment teeming
with creatures. The Poor Knights Islands marine
reserve, remenents of a series of extinct volcanoes
off the continental shelf of New Zealands northern
east coast, is a good example.
Here mixtures of currents, temperatures, nutrient
flows and diminishing levels of sunlight with depth,
provide the ecological “seabed” for a profusion of
plant, sponge, coral, shell, and fish life. Diverse and
colourful life forms can be found between depths of
30–70 metres. Every piece of the wall is occupied with
creatures crowding and encrusting one another in
astonishing displays of community life.
Yellowfin tuna
Thunnus maccoyii
offshore Fish
Imagine the ocean as a multi-storey hotel. The fish
that live in the top stories (near the surface) are called
pelagic species. Those that live on the lower floors
(in deep water) are demersal species. Then there are
some that live in the basement (near the ocean floor).
A huge variety of species inhabit this oceanic hotel
but many share some common features: they range
widely, are often large and are an important catch for
commercial and recreational fishers.
Ratahuihui
Sunfish
Mola mola
Among the residents are the worlds fastest fish — the
sail fish; the largest bony fish — the sunfish and the
acrobatic flying fish.
Tuna are swift surface fish of tropical and temperate
waters. They migrate in large schools and are common
around New Zealand. There are six species
found in New Zealand e.g. yellow fin tuna. They are
economically important.
The upper jaw of a billfish is shaped like a long spear.
This group of fish includes marlin, broadbill swordfish,
sailfish and spearfish. They are wide ranging surface
fish that feed on other fish and squid. About five
species of billfish occur seasonally in New Zealands
offshore waters, commonly around the northern part
of the country. They are important recreational and
commercial fish, and average 2–3.5 metres in length.
Fins: power, keel and brakes
Black marlin
Makaira indica
Fish control their movements with fins — much like a
yacht uses it sail, keel and rudder. The tail fin pushes
against the water, providing much of the forward
power.
Dorsal and anal fins act as keels to prevent the fish
from rolling and pitching. Unlike the fixed fins of
cartilaginous fish, bony fish fins can be unfurled to
37

natural history
background notes | oceans gallery
Kahawai
Arripis trutta
Oblong sunfish
Ranzania laevis
Carpet shark
Pekapeka
Cephaloscyllium
isabella
Trevally
Araara
Pseudocaranx denrex
Leather-jacket
Kokiri
Parika scaber
Elephant fish
Reperepe
Callorhynchus milii
act as brakes and as paddles for low speed swimming
or if treading water.
Fins of different shapes have evolved to suit different
lifestyles.
To reduce drag, fast fish like the yellowtail kingfish
and kahawai have “V” shaped tail fins.
Finely scaled kingfish generate speed by rapidly
flexing their rigid ‘V’ shaped tail. To fuel the necessary
muscles, kingfish have oxygen rich fatty tissue, which
readily gives up oxygen when required.
Kahawai have large coarse scales that inhibit body
flexing, Instead stiff movements of its broad tail
produce power and movement.
Broad, flat fins give good manoeuvrability and control,
but little speed. e.g. the scarlet wrasse is a bottom
fossicker which uses its pectoral fins for fine control
while feeding. The tail acts as a rudder but is moved
for bursts of speed and direction change.
Fish needing rapid acceleration, such as predators
that lunge at prey, take in the aerodynamic features
of a dart, with fins set well back.
Slow swimmers like seahorses are often armoured
for protection.
While most fish swim with side to side motions there
are other ways of getting about. e.g. flexing large
dorsal and anal fins — oblong sunfish; curving entire
body in snake-like waves — snake eel; rippling dorsal
and anal fins — rough leather jacket; waves passing
along large wing-like pectoral fins — smooth skate;
ripple body and fins — lemon sole.
cartilaginous fish: sharks, rays and chimaeras
New Zealand has 61 species of shark of which half
are harmless dogfish.
Cat sharks are the largest shark family named for
their cat-like eyes e.g. carpet shark.
Mackerel sharks include mako and great white
sharks. Mako are a popular game fish, putting up a
strong fight if caught.
The great white is the largest and most feared of
38

natural history
background notes | oceans gallery
predatory sharks; large individuals will prey on
marine mammals. Usually solitary.
Cowshark have six or seven gill slits; most sharks
have five.
Kitefins belong to the large and important group
of sharks, the dogfish. The pygmy shark at 27
centimetres is one of the smallest sharks.
New Zealand has 17 species of skates and rays, 9
are endemic. Like many seabed dwellers they have
flattened bodies. e.g. eagleray.
Chimeras are cartilaginous fish with a single pair of
gill openings, smooth skin and a large dorsal fin spine.
The mouth is small, with teeth fused into plates e.g.
elephant fish (makorepe).
All cartilaginous fish are carnivores, their teeth
adapted for different foods. Predatory sharks like
mako or great white have sharp sometimes serrated
teeth, like steak knives, for slicing through flesh.
Shellfish feeders, like the elephant fish, have stout
Basking shark
Reremai
Cetorhinus maximus
Great white shark
Mango tuatini
Carcharodon carcharias
flattened teeth to crack open prey. Two of the world’s
largest fish, the whale shark and basking shark, don’t
use teeth to feed at all ; instead they use modified
gills to filter small animals from the water.
When some large predatory sharks (like the great
white) are attacking, the mouth opens and the lower
jaw rolls forward; at the same time it rolls its eyes
back and the final strike is made blind.
Sharks have evolved special sensors (ampullae of
lorenzini), that detect tiny electrical currents produced
by their prey.
Electric rays have further developed this sense. These
stout bodied rays have electric organs in each wing to
detect electric fields and stun prey.
All cartilaginous fish fertilise their eggs internally.
Males have claspers, used to place sperm in the
female.
Many produce live young, but some lay eggs.
Mako
Isurus oxyrinchus
Eagle ray
Whai manu
Myliobatis tenuicaudatus
3

natural history
background notes | oceans gallery
sPecIes ProFIle : korara
blue Penguin
Eudyptula minor
• Penguins occur only in the Southern
Hemisphere. They are flightless seabirds
with non-folding wings. Their food is principally fish,
squid and crustaceans.
• The little blue penguin is the most common New
Zealand penguin occuring form Northland down to
Stewart Island.
• At 300mm in height, the little blue is the smallest of
all penguins.
• It is an impressive ocean traveller, having been
recorded swimming 113km in 34 hours.
• Unlike most other penguin species, the little blue
tends to remain in one area, rather than disperse
across the Southern Ocean during its non-breeding
season.
• The little blue has dropped in numbers close to large
centres of population. The traditional causes of their
decline stoats, dogs and vehicles still exact a toll,
although efforts at conservation such as providing
nesting boxes have had some success.
sPecIes ProFIle : toroa
royal albatross
Diomeda epomophora
• Albatrosses soar over the
Southern ocean in search of
food. Their streamlined bodies
and long slender wings enable
them to fly for weeks at a time without landing.
• They invest much effort in breeding and raising
chicks, so much so that some breed only every 2
years. The royal albatross incubates its eggs for up to
83 days. Once the chick is hatched the adults feed it
regurgitated fish and squid gathered during lengthy,
long-distance fishing expeditions.
• In order to prepare itself for the years it will spend
at sea before returning to its birthplace to breed (6-
15years), the fledging requires great quantities of
food. Between 216 and 303 days hatching, the chick
is finally ready to fly.
• Albatrosses are monogamous, needing both parents
if breeding is to be successful. Eggs are continuously
incubated and the chicks fed for a long time. They
develop a genuine pair bond over their long lives.
• A vital ingredient of the breeding cycle is the
courtship ritual. It is very intricate, with much bill
snapping and groaning.
• Over the past 20 years some species of albatross
have declined at a significant rate, unwitting
casualties of the bluefin tuna fishing industry. 44 000
albatrosses and petrels were being killed each year in
the Japanese fishery which covers huge areas of the
Southern ocean.
sPecIes ProFIle :
nePtunes necklace
Homosira banksii
• Our most common seaweed, a string
of olive brown beads, is neptune’s necklace.
• The beads vary a lot in shape and size, depending on where
they grow, for this plant is extremely adaptable. It may be
found on exposed or sheltered rocky shores, or carpeting
the floor under mangrove forests.
• Each bead of these neptune’s necklace plants is a knobbly
bladder filled with water to prevent desiccation between
tides.
• Plants with the largest bladders live in the mangrove
estuaries, lying open to direct sun among the breathing
roots. They are exposed for most of each tidal cycle, so
their water needs are especially great. These plants have
far more branches than usual, and are also peculiar in not
being attached to anything. The palisade of mangrove roots
is enough to keep them in place as they rise and fall with
the water movements.
• The unattached form of this plant reproduces asexually,
from broken fragments.
• The attached form reproduces sexually, each is distinctly
male or female. The sex organs look like tiny goose-pimples
scattered all over the bladder. The plant squeeze out their
clusters of eggs or sperm in sticky masses which break
apart into a cloud. All plants release their eggs and sperm
at the same time (when high tide washes over them), to
maximise fertilisation.
sPecIes ProFIle: eelgrass
Zostera novazelandica
• A flowering plant that is completely
submerged by the tide.
• Vast pastures of eelgrass can be found in all large
sheltered harbours and can also be found on rocky
coasts in minute havens of shelter, where a suitable
bed of sediment has built up.
• Stems are completely buried, fibrous roots spread
widely and penetrate deep into the black sulphurous
mud. All these underground parts of the plants
interweave to form a firm sod-like mat, which
consolidates the lower shore and extends beyond low
tide and across tidal channels.
• The leaves have a thick cuticle which seems to be
an adaptation against desiccation when the leaves are
left exposed to wind and sun.
• Eelgrass help to accumulate sediments. It has an
important biological role in the productivity of coastal
waters beyond low tide mark. It draws out nutrients
which would otherwise be bound in the deep airless
mud that its roots penetrate. Eelgrass mobilises
minerals by drawing them up into tissues, to be
dispersed when the plant dies or is eaten.
• It secretes considerable amounts of phosphorus, a
mineral essential to the growth of planktonic plants.
40

natural history
background notes | year –13 | oceans
• Eelgrass oxygenates the water which is essential
for all life found under the water
• Eelgrass plants produce flowers, which are tiny and
fertilised underwater, so they are not often seen.
sPecIes ProFIle: kIna
sPIny sea urcHIn
Evechinus chloroticus
• Have no real brain, or head.
Kina may move in any direction.
• Snapper, red moki, blue cod and crayfish feed on
small urchins.
• Lives under ledges and in crevices, clinging with its
tube feet.
• It is covered with spines, like a small hedgehog;
in soft these may wear away a hollow where it is
attached.
• It does not move fast; in fact it does not have to
move at all as it can wait for food to attach itself to
its spines.
• Where there is abundant seaweed, masses of kina
devour large forests.
• Some kina may be as old as 15 years, and grow as
heavy as 1kg.
• For Maori, kina are a delicacy. When the kowhai
are in bloom is when the gonads or roe of the kina
become bright and swollen.
• Kina spawn in spring when eggs and sperm are
produced by gonads of sexually mature kina (3–4
years old). A few days before full moon they are
released. The eggs and sperm fuse to create minute
larvae that float away in the plankton until they settle
2–3 months later.
sPecIes ProFIle :
common mud crab
Helice crassa
• Crabs are one of the important
scavengers of the coastline, cleaning up organic
scraps and in turn providing animals such as fish and
birds with an important source of protein.
• Like all crustaceans, crabs are joint legged, have two pairs
of antennae and moult their shells as they grow larger.
• Crabs protect themselves in a number of ways. Their
shell-like cover or carapace acts like a suit of armour, and
they can give a potential predator a painful nip with their
powerful claws.
• A mudflat at low tide reveals countless tiny burrows, the
homes of common mud crabs.
• Mud crabs are extremely wary of any large moving object,
they scuttle for cover when approached.
• Seabirds and kotare are predators of the mud crab, as
well as fish.
• Outside their burrows are heaps of tailings and tiny dung
pellets, which the crab cleans out as the tide goes out. This
allows easy access to the burrow when needed.
• They feed on the minute particles of organic matter with
which the mud is impregnated.
41

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