Giant wētā reintroduced to the Bay of Islands after 140-year absence

Tuesday, 15 December 2020

It's home to wētā that can survive being frozen over winter and the rare buff weka (video published January 2020).

After 180 years of absence giant wētāpunga, the mammoths of the insect world, will be released back into Northland.

The Auckland Zoo has partnered up with Project Island Song, an organisation dedicated to the ecological restoration of the pest-free Bay of Islands, to return New Zealand’s largest insect species back to its homeland.

The three-year reintroduction programme kicked off last week, with the initial release of 128 rodent-sized wētāpunga into the Urupukapuka, Moturua and Motuarohia islands.

The Auckland Zoo and Project Island Song have partnered to return the giant wētā to the Bay of Islands.

Since 2012 the zoo, alongside Ngati Manuhiri and the Department of Conservation, have bred and released more than 5000 giant wētā back into the wild. The latest Bay of Islands partnership will mark the eighth island restored back to its former glory.

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The release of the wētāpunga marks Project Island Song first insect reintroduction.

Project Island Song is a partnership between community group Guardians of the Bay of Islands, Te Rāwhiti hapū Ngāti Kuta and Patukeha, and the Department of Conservation. It has worked on the release of a number of native species, including the reintroduction of indigenous birds the saddlebacks, North Island robins and whiteheads.

This particular release was a “monumental one” that Project Island's Coordinator Richard Robbins will remember for a long time to come.

“There was a lot of emotion on that day,” he said.

“It’s the programme’s first insect reintroduction, which is exciting, and it’s our seventh reintroduction of an endemic species. We have many more coming up.”

“We had three releases on three islands on the same day, which made it a bit challenging logistically. It was a unique job for us and the zoo so things ran very smoothly, considering.”

While the general consensus towards wētā is one of disgust or fear, Robbins is of the opinion that they are important creatures that can actually leave people “in awe.”

“What I’ve noticed is that when people see them in real life, their opinion changes. They become quite endeared and in awe of them.

“It’s amazing to see people change how they feel,” he said.

While not the most approachable, or aesthetically pleasing, insects, wētā play a vital role in maintaining forest ecosystems via the plants that they feed on and the seeds they distribute.

Endemic to New Zealand, the giant wētā has been around for over 190 million years. They were once widespread, but have since been reduced to worrying numbers on one island – Little Barrier. Over time, they have been victim to pest-predators like rats, mice, cats and hedgehogs and are now considered at risk of extinction, having been eradicated on the mainland in the 1800s.

Paving the way for a more ecologically thriving New Zealand, the conservation partnership between Project Island Song and Auckland Zoo aims to change the extinction statistics for the better – one species at a time.