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<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
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<br />
© A u c k l a n d M u s e u m 2 0 0 8
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
contents<br />
about tHIs resource 2<br />
bookIng InFormatIon 2<br />
IntroductIon & maP 3<br />
background notes<br />
origins gallery 4<br />
lands gallery 15<br />
oceans gallery 7<br />
currIculum lInks 42<br />
IntroductIon to tHe resource:<br />
The education resources provided by <strong>Auckland</strong> War Memorial<br />
<strong>Museum</strong> focus on specific galleries or on specific exhibitions in<br />
those galleries. There are a small number of resources that were<br />
developed for exhibitions that are no longer present but which<br />
have been maintained on the website by popular demand.<br />
Visiting education groups may book to request the following<br />
learning opportunities:<br />
• Self-conducted visits based on supporting resource materials.<br />
• Gallery Introduction with a <strong>Museum</strong> Educator or trained<br />
guide (approx 15 minutes), using resource materials. Longer<br />
gallery tours and Highlights Tours are also available.<br />
• Hands-on activity session for school groups with a <strong>Museum</strong><br />
Educator (approx 45–50 mins), using resource materials.<br />
Students have the opportunity to handle real or replica items<br />
from museum collections,<br />
Sessions will be tailored to suit the level and focus of the visiting<br />
group.<br />
about tHIs educatIon resource:<br />
This kit has been designed to meet the needs of a wide range of<br />
education groups.<br />
The kit is in three separate sections and includes:<br />
background notes suitable for all levels<br />
currIculum lInks from Pre-school to Adult<br />
[these are still under development]<br />
actIvItIes Pre-visit, Post-visit and Gallery Activity Sheets<br />
actIvItIes<br />
pre and post-visit activities level 1- 44<br />
pre-visit activities level 3-4 45<br />
post-visit activities level 3-4 46<br />
classroom activities year 1-4 47<br />
classroom activities year 4-6 51<br />
classroom activities year 4-6 7-8 5<br />
gallery activities year 1-4 54<br />
gallery activities year 4-6 63<br />
gallery activities year 7-8 70<br />
bookIng InFormatIon<br />
All education group visits must be booked.<br />
Phone: 306 7040 Fax: 306 7075<br />
email: schools@aucklandmuseum.com<br />
Service charges apply to education groups depending on the level<br />
of service required.<br />
numbers and adult/child ratios:<br />
Pre-school 1:3 or better<br />
Y 1–6 1:6<br />
Y 7–8 1:10<br />
Y 9–13 1:30<br />
All groups including Adult groups ought to be accompanied by<br />
their teacher or educator.<br />
Adult/child interaction is vital to maximize the value of the<br />
museum experience. Group leaders need to have some background<br />
knowledge of what the students are expected to cover and they do<br />
need to participate in the introduction process on arrival. Knowing<br />
about the expectations of the class teacher and the museum will<br />
make the visit smoother for everyone.<br />
www.aucklandmuseum.com<br />
adult/child interaction is vital to maximize the value of the<br />
museum experience. group leaders need to have some background<br />
knowledge of what the students are expected to cover and they do<br />
need to participate in the introduction process on arrival. knowing<br />
about the expectations of the class teacher and the museum will<br />
make the visit smoother for everyone.<br />
Some education ServiceS at auckland muSeum are provided under a contract to the miniStry of education under<br />
the leotc programme and miniStry Support iS gratefully acknowledged.
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
introduction<br />
The four <strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong> galleries form a suite with a logical progression, which will encourage the visitor who<br />
wants to learn of wonderful and unique life on the islands of New Zealand to take. The first gallery, Origins,<br />
is a journey through time where we tell the story of our country’s beginning and how we came to be where we<br />
are today with our unique flora and fauna.<br />
The next two galleries, Land and Oceans, take the visitor on a topographical journey from mountain top down<br />
to the shore and out to the sea that surrounds us. Their aim is to present our wonderful <strong>natural</strong> heritage and<br />
excite the visitor with its diversity, while telling the individual stories and adaptations of certain plants and<br />
animals. Sharing the gallery space with the first gallery is Matapuna — the Natural History Resource Centre.<br />
It is seen as crucial to all four galleries and is a place where the visitor will be able to access deeper level<br />
information than is possible to convey in the galleries themselves.<br />
Visiting schools may book for the following learning opportunities:<br />
· Self-conducted visit with supporting resource material.<br />
· Hands-on activity session with <strong>Museum</strong> Educator (approx 45–50 mins), plus resource material. Students<br />
have the opportunity to handle rock collections, fossils, lava bombs etc. Sessions can be tailored to suit the<br />
level and focus of your visit.<br />
3
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | origins gallery<br />
orIgIns gallery<br />
Origins explores New Zealand’s geological <strong>history</strong>, our isolation from Gondwana and the resulting effect on<br />
our unique and vulnerable plants and animals. The focus for this kit is the concept of New Zealand’s isolation<br />
and the uniqueness of our flora and fauna as a result of this isolation. An additional education kit entitled<br />
Geology at the <strong>Auckland</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> provides a greater range of information on New Zealand’s geology, rock<br />
types and volcanism.<br />
tHe eartH’s structure<br />
4.6 billion years ago the Earth was<br />
formed, a dynamic planet where<br />
the continents constantly move<br />
on a hot fluid interior. Radioactive<br />
decay in the centre has<br />
generated a heat engine that<br />
powers this motion.<br />
The Earth is composed of several<br />
layers. The solid inner core<br />
is surrounded by a liquid outer<br />
core. The mantle is solid, with the<br />
top 250 km plastic enough to move and<br />
carry the thin but rigid crust above.<br />
Plate tectonIcs / contInental drIFt<br />
The Earth’s crust is broken into many fragments<br />
called tectonic plates. These move at different rates.<br />
They spread apart, push past, override and dive<br />
under each other, constantly moving the continents<br />
around the globe.<br />
There are three main types of plate boundaries:<br />
divergent/spreading centres, convergent/ subduction<br />
zones and transform margins.<br />
Upwelling in the mantle forms new oceanic crust,<br />
which then spreads apart. The crust ultimately gets<br />
recycled as it cools and becomes subducted under<br />
younger, more buoyant crust.<br />
sea Floor spreading Zones<br />
Crust<br />
The mantle reaches the Earth’s surface through<br />
an opening between two tectonic plates, up to 5km<br />
under the sea surface in the middle of some ocean<br />
basins. It solidifies to produce new crust and pushes<br />
Outer core<br />
out the older crust symmetrically<br />
away from this "spreading centre".<br />
This produces a long chain of<br />
undersea volcanoes, also<br />
called a mid-oceanic ridge.<br />
3560km 2800<br />
subduction Zones<br />
Old oceanic crust is heavy<br />
Inner core<br />
and dense. Over time, parts<br />
of it sink back into the mantle,<br />
creating a tectonic plate<br />
Mantle<br />
boundary as it slips under another<br />
piece of crust. Subduction<br />
of old oceanic crust can happen under<br />
continents, such as the South American<br />
west coast or under younger oceanic crust, such<br />
as in the Tonga-Kermadec area, just north of<br />
New Zealand.<br />
As the crust goes into the mantle, a deep trench up<br />
to 10km deep develops at the point of subduction.<br />
A New Zealand example is the Hikurangi Trough,<br />
which is off the east coast of the North Island.<br />
During subduction, sediment that has settled on the<br />
ocean floor is scraped off the subducting plate and<br />
gets plastered onto the edge of the upper plate. The<br />
compression causes friction between the two plates,<br />
which in turn causes earthquakes and pushes up<br />
mountains.<br />
Once this oceanic crust sinks well down into the<br />
mantle, it starts to soften and become plastic again.<br />
But because there are traces of water in this crust,<br />
partial melting occurs and this extra hot material<br />
rises up in bubbles through the mantle and overriding<br />
crust. Once it reaches Earth’s surface, it gets<br />
erupted to form volcanoes.<br />
4
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | origins gallery<br />
World map showing the boundaries of tectonic plates. The arrows show the directions they move in. As the plates move, they pull<br />
apart, collide, grind past or dive beneath one another, the way luggage does on an airport conveyer belt.<br />
transform margins<br />
Transform margins occur where 2 plates slide past<br />
each other, neither creating or destroying oceanic<br />
crust. An excellent example of a transform boundary<br />
is the Alpine Fault in the South Island, one of the<br />
longest straight lines on Earth.<br />
neW Zealand’s geologIcal orIgIns<br />
Eighty five million years ago, New Zealand began<br />
to break away from the supercontinent called<br />
Gondwana where it had been united with all the<br />
other countries in the southern hemisphere. As<br />
New Zealand drifted away from Australia taking<br />
with it animals (including dinosaurs) and plants that<br />
lived on it, the opening between them began to form<br />
the Tasman Sea.<br />
remnants of gondwana in new Zealand<br />
Rocks and fossils provide links to our past connection<br />
with other countries. Most of the rock types in the<br />
Southwest corner of the South Island match up<br />
with rocks in south east Australia and Antarctica.<br />
Fossil ferns found in rocks near Port Waikato grew<br />
in coastal Gondwana forest 140 million years ago.<br />
Fossils of the seed fern Glossopteris have been found<br />
The Alpine<br />
fault, as seen<br />
from space.<br />
in New Zealand, Australia, Antarctica, South America<br />
and India.<br />
In the 60 million years since the Tasman Sea opened,<br />
erosion, tectonic processes and climate change have<br />
drastically altered the shape of New Zealand. These<br />
changes have had a huge impact on our plants and animals.<br />
New Zealand drifted north away from Antarctica<br />
as a heavily eroded lowland plain. As it moved, Earth’s<br />
5
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | origins gallery<br />
crust stretched and thinned and the land sank. From<br />
considerable continental beginnings, New Zealand<br />
became an archipelago of small swampy low-lying<br />
islands.<br />
As the land area reduced, species that had evolved here<br />
faced advancing waters and destruction of habitats,<br />
creating a biotic bottleneck. The original Gondwanan<br />
flora and fauna was considerably reduced. Later the<br />
survivors diversified and new species evolved. Wrens,<br />
moa and giant weta were all affected. Some modern<br />
birds are probably descendants of a single surviving<br />
species.<br />
Gondwana<br />
New Zealand did not remain a small archipelago for<br />
long. About 25 million years ago, a plate boundary<br />
started to develop through New Zealand between the<br />
Australian and Pacific plates.<br />
The collision between these two plates has pushed up<br />
our mountain ranges within the last six million years.<br />
Sediments from the continuous erosion of mountains<br />
has extended our coastlines to create new land.<br />
TIMELINE<br />
Climate Change and the Ice Ages<br />
In the course of its <strong>history</strong>, New Zealand has changed<br />
many times in both location and climate from subtropical<br />
to subantarctic. All have had a great influence<br />
on its plants and animals. The climate changes are<br />
mediated by tectonic movements as well as more<br />
cosmic events. The current distribution of many<br />
indigenous animals is a legacy of the Pleistocene<br />
glaciations which ended some 10,000 years ago.<br />
During the last 64 million years there has been a global<br />
trend towards a cooler climate. In the Paleocene and<br />
Eocene the oceans were sluggish and Antarctica had<br />
no ice cap. During the Oligocene the movement of<br />
Australia away from Antarctica and the opening of<br />
the Drake Passage at the bottom of South America<br />
allowed the formation of a cold circumpolar current<br />
around Antarctica. This thermally isolated Antarctica,<br />
allowing an ice cap to form. There was a warming<br />
trend in the late Oligocene-Middle Miocene.<br />
The drop in temperature at the end of the Miocene<br />
6
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | origins gallery<br />
is due to the isolation and evaporation of the<br />
Mediterranean Sea. This event decreased the salinity<br />
of the oceans, allowing them to freeze at higher<br />
temperatures. The polar ice cap increased in size.<br />
The uplift of the Himalayas drove drier winds over<br />
Northern Africa, and affected rainfall in Asia.<br />
Three million years ago, North and South America<br />
joined, terminating warm currents around the equator<br />
and promoting the warm Gulf Stream in the North<br />
Atlantic. The Gulf Stream is responsible for snowfall<br />
on the North Pole, creating the Northern Hemisphere<br />
Ice Cap.<br />
a touch of the tropics<br />
25–14 million years ago warm currents from tropical<br />
seas washed New Zealand shores and the climate<br />
was subtropical. Coconuts, corals and cone shells<br />
flourished. Warmth-loving plants established. Some<br />
died out later when the climate cooled again, others<br />
adapted and stayed.<br />
the Ice ages<br />
Earth’s climate has swung between warm and cold<br />
about 50 times in the last 2.6 million years. During<br />
particularly cold periods called Ice Ages or Glaciations,<br />
ice sheets grew on the continents causing sea levels<br />
2<br />
4<br />
The hard parts<br />
may be buried<br />
by soil, mud,<br />
or sand, which<br />
protects them<br />
from further<br />
decay or<br />
damage.<br />
Forces deep<br />
within the<br />
earth may fold<br />
or tilt the rock<br />
and push some<br />
of them up to<br />
form land and<br />
mountains.<br />
to drop up to 120m. The frequency and regularity of<br />
the oscillations tell us that it is changes in Earth’s<br />
orbit that controls the amount of heat reaching<br />
Earth’s surface.<br />
Ice age climate had a large impact on New Zealand’s<br />
flora. This included the expansion of grasslands in<br />
both islands and the growth of alpine shrubs and<br />
herbs at much lower elevations than today.<br />
WHat are FossIls?<br />
Most fossils are the preserved hard parts of plants<br />
or animals, such as wood, shells, bones and teeth.<br />
Less common are the traces of soft parts like leaves<br />
and soft tissues. Some fossils show where an animal<br />
has been, such as footprints and worm trails. Fossils<br />
are found in sedimentary rocks in many parts of<br />
New Zealand, from sea level to mountain tops.<br />
1<br />
3<br />
5<br />
When an<br />
animal or<br />
plant dies its<br />
soft parts are<br />
usually eaten<br />
by scavengers<br />
or decay<br />
rapidly.<br />
Many layers of<br />
sediment may<br />
accumulate<br />
on top.<br />
Eventually,<br />
they harden<br />
into rock.<br />
We find fossils<br />
in cliffs and<br />
road cuttings<br />
where <strong>natural</strong><br />
erosion or<br />
bulldozers<br />
have exposed<br />
layers of rock.<br />
7
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | origins gallery<br />
Animal and plant remains may be preserved as fossils<br />
in a number of ways:<br />
Shells and skeletons — The most common fossils are<br />
an animal’s hard skeletal parts composed of bone or<br />
shell. These can remain virtually unchanged in the<br />
rock.<br />
Mummification — When both the hard and soft parts<br />
of an animal is preserved, it is called mummification.<br />
Some examples are the mummified remains of moa<br />
in caves, the freezing of mammoths in ice, or<br />
the complete preservation of insects in<br />
gum.<br />
Petrification — Dissolved minerals<br />
that seep slowly through rock<br />
often add to or replace the original<br />
fossil. This gradual process often<br />
increases the fossil’s weight and<br />
hardness and literally turns it to<br />
stone.<br />
Moulds and Casts — After a shell<br />
has been buried and the surrounding<br />
sediments hardened into rock,<br />
water may creep through the rock and<br />
dissolve the shell. This leaves a cavity, with<br />
the same shape and markings as the original shell —<br />
a <strong>natural</strong> mould.<br />
If a fossil shell was hollow inside it may have filled with<br />
mud and sand during burial. If the shell dissolves, a<br />
hardened internal cast of the shell is also left as a<br />
fossil.<br />
Carbonisation — turned to soot — Where buried<br />
plants and animals decayed in places without oxygen,<br />
they left a thin flattened fossil behind. These fossils<br />
are rich in carbon and have a black colour.<br />
Trace fossils — leaving tracks — A fossil may also<br />
be the preserved track, burrow, footprint or even<br />
excrement of a passing animal. Burrow shape and<br />
size can often be used to identify the animal that once<br />
lived in it.<br />
Examples of Fossils found in New Zealand:<br />
Giant Ammonite — Ammonites are extinct shell-<br />
bearing squid, the closest living relative of which<br />
is the Pearl Nautilus. The cast on display is of the<br />
largest Jurassic ammonite fossil ever found. It was<br />
uncovered near Kawhia Harbour. Ammonites became<br />
extinct at the same time as dinosaurs. This ammonite<br />
is 145 million years old.<br />
Belemnites — Belemnites were related to the<br />
ancestors of todays squid. Only the hard bullet-<br />
like tail skeletons remain. Belemnites became<br />
extinct at the same time as dinosaurs.<br />
Trilobites — Trilobites resembled large<br />
sea lice. They were the first animals<br />
to develop hard parts that could be<br />
fossilised and were found worldwide.<br />
They have three parts to their body<br />
hence the name. Fossil trilobites<br />
found in the Cobb Valley of Nelson<br />
are New Zealand’s oldest fossils, at<br />
530 million years old.<br />
Many other fossils including those of<br />
plants and dinosaurs can also be viewed<br />
in the exhibition.<br />
neW Zealands dInosaurs,<br />
Pterosaurs and marIne rePtIles<br />
The Age of Reptiles is known as the Mesozoic era,<br />
which consists of the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous<br />
periods. At this time, New Zealand was closer to the<br />
South Pole. It is uncertain how the dinosaurs adapted<br />
to the cold winters with zero daylight hours, but it is<br />
now known that some of these dinosaurs must have<br />
been warm-blooded.<br />
No complete dinosaur skeletons have been found in<br />
New Zealand and the fragments found have not been<br />
sufficient to classify as new species or species found<br />
elsewhere. The first dinosaur bone was discovered<br />
by Joan Wiffen in the Mangahouanga Valley (Hawkes<br />
Bay), and was the tail bone of a theropod dinosaur.<br />
Other dinosaurs fossils indicate the existence of<br />
agile ornithopod dinosaurs and large fourfooted<br />
sauropods.<br />
8
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | origins gallery<br />
Theropod Dinosaurs<br />
Theropods were agile predators that walked<br />
upright on strong hind legs, had short front legs<br />
and large heads with sharp teeth. Tyrannosaurus<br />
and Allosaurus were theropods. The cast on display<br />
is of Cryolophosaurus, an Antarctic dinosaur.<br />
One small species of theropods evolved into the<br />
first birds around 150 million years ago.<br />
Sauropod Dinosaurs<br />
Sauropods were large four footed dinosaurs<br />
with long necks and tails. They were<br />
herbivores which probably lived in herds. A<br />
fragment of rib bone has been found in New Zealand.<br />
Ornithopod Dinosaurs<br />
Ornithopod dinosaurs were bird-hipped dinosaurs<br />
which were herbivorous and walked exclusively on<br />
their back legs. Part of a pelvis has been found in New<br />
Zealand.<br />
Pterosaurs<br />
Pterosaurs were flying reptiles, not dinosaurs. They<br />
had bat-like wings formed by a membrane of skin,<br />
although only the fourth finger was elongated to<br />
support the wing whereas all four fingers in bats<br />
are elongated. Two small bones have been found in<br />
New Zealand.<br />
Marine Reptiles — Mosasaurs, Plesiosaurs and<br />
Icthyosaurs<br />
Mosasaurs were giant marine lizards similar to<br />
Komodo dragons. At least five species were known in<br />
New Zealand. Mosasaurs were predators that grew<br />
as long as 12 metres.<br />
Plesiosaurs were predators with small heads, sharp<br />
teeth and limbs which were paddle-shaped. Some<br />
grew to 13metres long. Elasmosaurs were longnecked<br />
forms, while pliosaurs were short-necked<br />
forms. The plesiosaur fossil on display was removed<br />
recently from the Kaikoura region.<br />
Icthyosaurs were fast-swimming marine predators<br />
like dolphins, although dolphins are mammals. They<br />
probably fed on squid-like belemnites.<br />
neW<br />
Zealand’s orIgInal InHabItants<br />
Despite the 80 million years since New Zealand<br />
split from Gondwana, many modern descendants<br />
of Gondwanan animals live on in groups including:<br />
earthworms, frogs lizards, insects, spiders and<br />
tuatara.<br />
Tuatara are sometimes called "living fossils" because<br />
they have survived virtually unchanged for 200 million<br />
years. While they look like lizards, they are not and<br />
are in fact a remnant of a group of reptiles which lived<br />
during the dinosaur age. Tuatara are carnivorous and<br />
their diet consists of earthworms, beetles, lizards,<br />
frogs, wetas, injured or juvenile birds and sometimes<br />
even their own young. They are nocturnal. Tuatara
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | origins gallery<br />
Hochstetter’s frog<br />
Leiopelma hochstetteri<br />
Giant weta<br />
Deinacrida heteracantha<br />
Peripatus<br />
Peripatus novaezelandiae<br />
Pupu rangi<br />
Kauri snail<br />
Paryphanta busbyi<br />
have primitive teeth which are essentially part of the<br />
jaw rather than separate. Their young have a vestigial<br />
"third eye" which covers over after six months of life.<br />
Its purpose is unknown. Tuatara may live for over 100<br />
years.<br />
Native frogs of New Zealand, such as Archey’s frog and<br />
Hamilton’s frog, have their own family Leiopelmatidae.<br />
Frogs cannot cross sea barriers so the ancestors of<br />
our frogs must have been present when New Zealand<br />
separated from Gondwana.<br />
Weta have a lifestyle similar to mice. They are noc-<br />
turnal and feed on a diet of leaves and fruit supple-<br />
mented by carrion insects and other small animals.<br />
Weta habitats range from alpine scree to city gardens.<br />
Weta are harmless.<br />
New Zealand is home to 100 species of these flightless<br />
crickets. A cool windy climate and an absence<br />
of predators has resulted in loss of flight and an<br />
increase in size in many New Zealand insects. Giant<br />
wetas are the largest insect in New Zealand and can<br />
weigh up to 70g, about the same weight as a thrush.<br />
The Giant weta has changed little from its ancestors<br />
which evolved during the mesozoic era.<br />
Peripatus or velvet worms may be the "missing<br />
link" between earthworms and arthropods. They<br />
have characteristics of both annelid worms and<br />
insects and date back to around 500 million years<br />
ago. As they would have been unable to make a sea<br />
crossing, Peripatus ancestors must have spread<br />
before Gondwana split. They live in damp conditions<br />
and dessicate quickly in dry habitats. Peripatus eat<br />
insects and other small invertebrates.<br />
Land snails, the family to which Paryphanta (kauri<br />
snail) and Powelliphanta belong is the oldest family of<br />
land snails, originating 300 million years ago.<br />
a land oF bIrds<br />
A visitor to New Zealand soon after separation from<br />
Gondwana would have been impressed by the range<br />
of birds. Over the next million years, these original<br />
and early immigrants across the infant Tasman Sea<br />
evolved in genetic isolation into uniquely New Zealand<br />
families.<br />
10
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | origins gallery<br />
Ratite Skeleton Non-Ratite Skeleton<br />
Ratites<br />
Ratites are flightless birds with powerful legs for<br />
running and reduced wings. Their breast bone lacks<br />
a keel attachment for flight muscles. They have no<br />
flight feathers and have a distinctive arrangement of<br />
palate bones in the skull. The ratite group includes<br />
moa, kiwi, the extinct elephant bird of Madagascar,<br />
South American rhea, African ostrich, Australian emu<br />
and cassowary. Moa share a common ancestor with<br />
ratites from other parts of the world. The ancestors<br />
were carried with the land as Gondwana broke up.<br />
Eleven species of moa once lived in New Zealand.<br />
Different moa species had different lifestyles and<br />
habits. We know this by their different shaped beaks<br />
and heads. The Dinornis group ate twigs, Euryapteryx<br />
ate berries and succulent leaves, while Pachyornis<br />
ate the tough local flax. The giant moa was the tallest<br />
bird known, reaching up to 3 metres. Moa swallowed<br />
Ostrich<br />
Elephant bird<br />
Global Ratite distribution<br />
Emu<br />
gizzard stones to help grind up plant food. Moa died<br />
out in New Zealand due to extensive hunting and<br />
clearing of forest after the arrival of the first people<br />
in New Zealand.<br />
Kiwi are more closely related to Australian emu than<br />
to moa, according to DNA evidence. This suggests that<br />
rather than being a Gondwanan original, the ancestor<br />
flew here around 40 million years ago. As it lost its<br />
ability to fly, it took on mammal-like characteristics<br />
such as fur-like feathers, a metabolism and body<br />
temperature lower than most birds, whiskers and a<br />
nocturnal lifestyle. Kiwis feed at night on insects and<br />
grubs, sleeping in burrows (which they dig) in the<br />
daytime. Kiwis are the only birds to have nostrils at<br />
the tip of their beaks. They have a very good sense of<br />
smell and weak eyesight. The female lays an egg that<br />
weighs one fifth of its body weight — the largest egg<br />
to body ratio among birds.<br />
Cassowary<br />
Kiwi<br />
Moa<br />
Rhea<br />
11
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | origins gallery<br />
Wattle Birds<br />
The wattle bird family is named after the distinctive<br />
coloured wattle feathers around the beak. They have<br />
short wings and are weak fliers, yet are tree dwellers<br />
with powerful legs, claws and beaks. The family<br />
includes North and South (extinct) Island kokako,<br />
huia and North and South Island saddlebacks.<br />
Wrens<br />
New Zealand wrens are small, short-tailed insect-<br />
eaters, many of which were flightless or weak fliers.<br />
A number of wren species are extinct. The rifleman is<br />
the smallest New Zealand bird and is found in bush<br />
throughout New Zealand. The bush wren is New<br />
Zealand’s most recent extinction, last seen in 1972.<br />
Kokako<br />
Callaeas cinerea<br />
Huia<br />
Heteralocha acutirostris<br />
Kakapo<br />
Strigops habroptilus<br />
Rifleman<br />
Titipounamu<br />
Acanthisitta chloris<br />
Recent Bird Losses<br />
Many distinctive bird species, many flightless, are now<br />
extinct. Humans are responsible for this extinction.<br />
Evidence of their existence comes from bones found<br />
in swamps, caves and Maori kitchen middens. Extinct<br />
species include, amongst many others, South Island<br />
adzebill , laughing owl, New Zealand goose, piopio<br />
(thrush) and huia.<br />
Flightless, Drab and Giant Birds<br />
Many New Zealand birds are flightless, large, dull-<br />
coloured and slow breeding, a result of millions of<br />
years of evolution in the absence of predators.<br />
Where two or more arrivals of similar colonising<br />
birds have occurred, descendants of the earlier arrival<br />
show more of these characteristics and are more<br />
vulnerable to extinction.<br />
Kakapo are the heaviest and flightless parrots in the<br />
world. They are nocturnal, ground-dwelling birds.<br />
Takahe and pukeko descended from an earlier swamp<br />
hen. Takahe are flightless and heavier than the more<br />
recent pukeko. Pukeko fly but are reluctant to do so.<br />
Weka and banded rail are both flightless. Weka evolved<br />
from an earlier Australian rail, while the banded rail<br />
is similar to current rail species.<br />
Robins and tomtits are both small insect-feeders.<br />
Robins arrived 5–10 million years ago and are drab<br />
weak fliers. Tomtits arrived around two million years<br />
ago. They fly from ground to perch to catch food.<br />
Black and pied stilts. The black stilt probably originated<br />
from an ancestral pied stilt established here<br />
millions of years ago. Black stilts are in danger of<br />
hybridising out of existence. The New Zealand pied<br />
stilt sub-species is similar to that found in Australia<br />
and South-East Asia today.<br />
1
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | origins gallery<br />
mammals<br />
Ground-dwelling mammals never made it to New<br />
Zealand <strong>natural</strong>ly, but bats ,which fly, did make the<br />
journey. New Zealand has been home to three species<br />
of bat, one of which is now extinct.<br />
The lesser short-tailed bat is unique to New Zealand<br />
and belongs to its own family. Its ancestors may<br />
have arrived 35 million years ago. It flies well but<br />
also crawls mouse-like on the ground with its wings<br />
folded up.<br />
The long-tailed bat has a longer tail and shorter ears.<br />
It probably arrived in the last two million years and<br />
had relatives in Australia.<br />
Long-tailed bat<br />
Pekapeka<br />
Chalinolobus tuberculatus<br />
Short-tailed bat<br />
Pekapeka<br />
Mustacina tuberculata<br />
lIFe In tHe Water<br />
While flightless birds evolved on land, extinction of<br />
large marine reptiles allowed new forms of life to<br />
evolve in the sea. Penguins and whales appeared, and<br />
sharks, which already existed, developed rapidly.<br />
Around 50 million years ago, a group of diving birds<br />
took to the sea. Their wings became flippers and they<br />
‘flew’ under water. So the penguin evolved. Fossils of<br />
around 14 extinct New Zealand penguin species have<br />
been found in rock dated between 40–5 million years<br />
old. The world’s largest penguin lived in New Zealand<br />
35 million years ago.<br />
The ancestors of whales and dolphins were actually<br />
hoofed animals. Around 50 million years ago these<br />
creatures took up a marine existence, developing<br />
fins instead of legs. There are three groups of<br />
whales including the primitive extinct form called<br />
archaeocetes (28 million year old fossils have been<br />
found in New Zealand) toothed whales (odontocetes)<br />
and baleen whales (mysticetes).<br />
Shark evolution accelerated around 50 million years<br />
ago. Carcharodon found in New Zealand waters was a<br />
giant, with a mouth that could swallow a small car!<br />
Plants In IsolatIon<br />
Eight main groups of plants have evolved on earth,<br />
most of which have been in New Zealand at some<br />
time. These groups are algae, bryophytes (mosses<br />
and liverworts), psilophytes, club mosses, horsetails,<br />
ferns, gymnosperms (conifers, ginkgoes, cycads) and<br />
angiosperms (flowering plants). New Zealand has<br />
many plants with links to Gondwana including algae,<br />
sphagnum moss, silver tree fern, kauri and rimu and<br />
primitive flowering plants such as rewarewa and<br />
horopito. However, not all plants are Gondwanan<br />
originals. Grasses, daisies and orchids didn’t evolve<br />
until after New Zealand’s<br />
isolation.<br />
13
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | origins gallery<br />
mIgrant anImals<br />
Several bird species, including silver eye, welcome<br />
swallows and spur-winged plover have arrived in<br />
New Zealand over the last 150 years. Many insects<br />
and spiders have also arrived from Australia. The<br />
differences between these and New Zealand species<br />
are often small, but indicate that the New Zealand<br />
forms have been here perhaps since the ice ages.<br />
Since human arrival, more insects have arrived. Many<br />
of these can survive on plants which humans have<br />
also brought eg monarch butterflies on swan plants.<br />
mIgrant Plants<br />
Plant species arrive <strong>natural</strong>ly on the wind, tide and<br />
attached to birds, or through human introduction.<br />
Manuka seeds are tiny and blow in the wind, New<br />
Zealand flax seeds have a wing like structure and<br />
are easily airborne. Mangrove seeds are buoyant and<br />
float well in water. Kowhai are found in Chile and in<br />
the South Atlantic Ocean. It takes about three years<br />
for seed to drift from South America to New Zealand.<br />
Parapara seeds are sticky and cling to birds, in fact<br />
many small birds remain trapped in seeds still on the<br />
tree and die there.<br />
Kowhai distribution. Kowhai is also found in Chile and Gough Island in the South Atlantic Ocean.<br />
14
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | lands gallery<br />
lands gallery<br />
New Zealand’s plant and animal diversity can be explored by taking a topographical journey from the alpine<br />
zone to a coastal wetland. In all of these habitats adaptation of organisms to their surrounding environment is<br />
observable, as is the interaction between the flora and fauna living alongside each other.<br />
alPIne Zones<br />
southern alps<br />
Situated on the “Pacific Ring of Fire” — a geological<br />
belt of earthquake and volcanic activity — New Zealand<br />
is one of the world’s most active mountain building<br />
regions. The Pacific and Indian-Australian plates<br />
slide against each other, vigorously uplifting the land.<br />
The South Island contains the most extensive alpine<br />
areas. The Southern Alps form the island’s backbone.<br />
The Alps can grow as much as two centimeters per<br />
year.<br />
The Alpine zone is rich in biological diversity, despite<br />
conditions which can include intense cold, heat,<br />
winds and dryness. Almost half of all native plants<br />
are found here. Just above the bush line are waisthigh<br />
tussocks and small leafed shrubs. As you begin<br />
to go higher the vegetation gets smaller, a response<br />
to the harsh conditions of mountain life.<br />
Delicate flowering gentian, celmisia and ourisia<br />
are sheltered by low tussock. The world’s largest<br />
buttercup, the Mount Cook lily, can also be found in<br />
showy clusters.<br />
Higher still, buttercups, daisies and edelweiss crouch<br />
in between boulders. The vegetable sheep, a type of<br />
cushion plant hugs the ground, the leafy shoots are<br />
so dense you can sit on the plants without damaging<br />
them.<br />
New Zealand’s alpine habitats are relatively young,<br />
only coming into existence two to three million years<br />
ago. This is a short period for so many specialist plants<br />
to have evolved from lowland ancestors. Ninety five<br />
per cent of New Zealand’s mountain flora is endemic<br />
(found nowhere else in the world).<br />
The alpine weta also evolved from lowland ancestors. It<br />
is the largest insect of the alpine zone and can survive<br />
being completely frozen. Many alpine flowers depend<br />
on the butterflies, moths and flies for pollination.<br />
Moths fly during the day to take advantage of the<br />
warmer conditions. Also living in the alpine vegetation<br />
are cicadas, beetles, weevils and grasshoppers.<br />
The world’s only alpine parrot, the kea, feeds on<br />
nutrient rich snowberries to store fat for the cold<br />
winter ahead. Kea retreat below the bushline to nest.<br />
Kea chicks are often hatched in the depths of winter,<br />
needing a good food supply.<br />
The rock wren is a permanent resident of the alpine<br />
and subalpine zones. In winter they may forage<br />
among rocks insulated by a blanket of snow. It feeds<br />
on spiders, beetles, flies and other insects.<br />
central Plateau<br />
The alpine landscapes found in the North Island<br />
are geologically young and are formed by volcanic<br />
activity, which still continues today e.g. Ruapehu and<br />
Ngaruhoe. In Tongariro National Park craters, vents,<br />
thermal pools and lava flows are easily observed. The<br />
flora and fauna is not as diverse as that found in the<br />
Southern Alps not having had the time to adapt to<br />
specific habitats and periodically being obliterated by<br />
volcanic eruptions. Few native birds are found in the<br />
North Island alpine zone. Pipit, blue duck and the New<br />
Zealand falcon are among the natives present. Some<br />
introduced species are common e.g. hedge sparrow.<br />
The vegetation includes a few species of tussock,<br />
pygmy broom, a cotton daisy, whipcord hebe and<br />
pimelea mat. There are also fewer exclusively alpine<br />
insects and many which live here are also found at<br />
15
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | lands gallery<br />
Koromiko<br />
Hebe tetragona<br />
Tatarakihi<br />
Cicada<br />
Melampsalta cingulata<br />
Puratoke<br />
Glow worm<br />
Arachnocampa luminosa<br />
Pihoihoi<br />
New Zealand Pipit<br />
Anthus novaseelandiae<br />
Mawhitiwhiti<br />
Grasshopper<br />
Paprides nitidus<br />
Weta taipo<br />
Cave Weta<br />
Gymnoplectron acanthocera<br />
lower altitudes e.g. the one species of grasshopper<br />
(compared with the 12 found exclusively in the South<br />
Island Alpine zone).<br />
caves<br />
The most common type of cave in New Zealand is<br />
the limestone cave. Other types which exist in<br />
New Zealand are marble, lava, sandstone and<br />
igneous rock caves. Limestone is formed when<br />
an enormous number of shells and skeletons<br />
of small marine creatures are cemented and<br />
compacted together to form rock.<br />
Rain becomes acidic by leaching through organic<br />
leaf litter, taking on carbon dioxide to form a mild<br />
solution of carbonic acid. When it penetrates<br />
cracks in limestone it dissolves the rock, producing<br />
caves. Water continues to drip, creating stalactites,<br />
stalagmites and other cave formations. Specialised<br />
organisms that are found in caves include the cave<br />
beetle that has long antennae and long sensory hairs<br />
to compensate for its loss of sight.<br />
The harvestman, often confused with a spider, is<br />
a predator foraging on the floor of the cave preying<br />
on adult glowworms. The glowworm, New Zealand’s<br />
most famous fly, casts a luminous glow attracting<br />
small insects. The insects become trapped in sticky<br />
threads hanging like fishing lines from the top of the<br />
cave. Once the victim is trapped, the glowworm pulls<br />
in the line and consumes its catch. Emerging from<br />
a pupa into brief adulthood, the female continues to<br />
emit a light, which attracts the male to mate.<br />
There are thought to be 60 different species of cave<br />
weta, characterised by long antennae, long legs and<br />
non-aggression. Unlike other weta, they neither make<br />
sounds with their legs nor can they hear. During the<br />
day they scavenge dead animals on the floor of the<br />
cave, at night they venture out to forage on plants and<br />
fungi.<br />
16
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | lands gallery<br />
Forest — tHe cHIldren oF tane<br />
beech Forest<br />
Today beech forest makes up almost 45% of the total<br />
area of native forest in New Zealand. New Zealand has<br />
four species of beech, red (Nothofagus fusca), hard (N.<br />
truncata), black (N. solandri) and silver (N. menziesii).<br />
Mountain beech (N. solandri var. cliffortioides) is a form<br />
of the black beech.<br />
Prolific flowering is usually followed by prolific seed<br />
production. The seed set can be reduced by a frost<br />
just after the flowers are open, wet or humid weather<br />
reducing pollen dispersal. Good flowering years are<br />
often 3–5 years apart.<br />
Birds or other animals do not spread beech seed.<br />
Wind doesn’t carry it far and it doesn’t survive in<br />
the ocean. However beech is widely distributed<br />
throughout the Southern Hemisphere, being found<br />
in New Zealand, South America, Tasmania, Australia,<br />
New Caledonia and New Guinea. Not only do the<br />
trees in the various locations look alike but they also<br />
share the same parasitic fungi, mosses and flightless<br />
sucking bugs inhabiting their bark. The distribution<br />
of beech (Nothofagus) provides excellent evidence for<br />
the theory of continental drift and the super continent<br />
Gondwana because they can only disperse across<br />
land.<br />
present day<br />
fossil distribution of Nothofagus<br />
The mistletoe Peraxilla tetrapetala is found on some<br />
species of beech. It is a semi-parasitic plant relying<br />
on the host tree for water and nutrients, also being<br />
able to photosynthesize like other plants because<br />
it possesses leaves. The mistletoe has a symbiotic<br />
relationship with honey-eaters such as tui and bellbirds,<br />
providing the nectar while they in turn pollinate<br />
the flowers.<br />
mixed conifer and broadleaf Forests<br />
Mixed conifer and broadleaf forests dominate the<br />
lowland regions of New Zealand. These forests are<br />
characterised by a large variety of species. Over 1500<br />
flowering plant species, ferns and conifers compete<br />
for light and space. A typical North Island conifer<br />
broadleaf forest has five layers. The emergent layer<br />
is dominated by podocarps e.g. rimu, kahikatea,<br />
totara, and matai. Podocarps belong to a very old<br />
family of conifers, the Podocarpaceae, which probably<br />
originated in Gondwana. They can live from 500–1100<br />
years. Their tall crowns pierce through a main canopy<br />
of broad-leaved flowering trees. These include towai,<br />
tawa, pohutakawa, rata, vines, epiphytes, kohekohe,<br />
puriri, karaka and rewarewa, which grow more rapidly<br />
than conifers and are shorter lived. A variety of<br />
endemic evergreen species grow in the subcanopy<br />
including tarata, the nikau palm, pigeonwood, fivefinger,<br />
lancewood, kotukutuku and tree ferns.<br />
World distribution of Southern beech<br />
17
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | lands gallery<br />
Hututawai<br />
Hard beech<br />
Nothofagus truncata<br />
Matai<br />
Black pine<br />
Prumnopitys taxifolia<br />
Tawhairauriki Pango<br />
Black beech<br />
Nothofagus solandri<br />
Tawhai<br />
Silver beech<br />
Nothofagus menziesii<br />
Northern rata<br />
Metrosideros robusta<br />
Tawhairauriki<br />
Mountain beech<br />
Nothofagus solandri var. cliffortiodes<br />
Kahikatea<br />
White pine<br />
Dacrycarpus dacrydioides<br />
Pirirangi<br />
Mistletoe<br />
Peraxilla tetrapetala<br />
Towai<br />
Weinmannia silvicola<br />
Tawhairaunui<br />
Red beech<br />
Nothofagus fusca<br />
Totara<br />
Podocarpus totara<br />
Rimu<br />
Red pine<br />
Dacrydium cupressinum<br />
18
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | lands gallery<br />
Rewarewa<br />
Knightia excelsa<br />
Puriri<br />
Vitex lucens<br />
At ground level is a twilight world of mosses, ferns,<br />
fungi, creeping herbs and forest floor orchids.<br />
kauri<br />
The kauri belongs to the Acaucariaceae family of<br />
conifers, which also includes the Norfolk pine (from<br />
Norfolk Island), and the monkey-puzzle tree (found in<br />
South America). The family evolved in Gondwana and<br />
includes some of the most impressive species of trees<br />
in the world. Kauri is found in forests in Northland and<br />
south to near Raglan and Tauranga where it grows<br />
among a variety of hardwoods and podocarps.<br />
Kauri can seal injuries, fight off diseases and boring<br />
insects by exuding a sticky gum. The gum is mainly<br />
sugar and water which hardens over time. It was<br />
commercially valuable in the nineteenth and early<br />
twentieth centuries.<br />
Over fifty-three species of higher plants grow in kauri<br />
branches. "Perchers" include ferns, orchids, lilies,<br />
shrubs, and tree saplings. They grow in high light at<br />
upper forest levels without having grown their own<br />
tree trunk. Vines e.g. kiekie and rata attach by roots<br />
produced from their stems, while the New Zealand<br />
passionfruit attaches by tendrils.<br />
nikau Palm<br />
The nikau palm is a tree of tropical origins and was<br />
the only palm in the country to survive the Ice Ages.<br />
It has an important relationship with the kereru (wood<br />
pigeon), providing succulent fruit for its nourishment<br />
and in turn having its seed distributed throughout the<br />
forest. Other fleshy fruit producing trees also relying<br />
on birds for dispersal of seed include the kohekohe,<br />
titoki, taraire, puriri, miro, tawa, karaka, tawapou.<br />
divaricating shrubs<br />
Nikau palm<br />
Rhopalostylis sapida<br />
Many unrelated New Zealand shrubs have interlacing<br />
or divaricating branches. It has been suggested that<br />
this growth form has evolved as a defence mechanism<br />
for plants in response to the pressures of moa<br />
browsing. Others argue it is a response to a harsh<br />
climate. The tough interlaced outer branches protect<br />
the growing tips and seeds, which are concentrated in<br />
the interior of the plant, away from moa.<br />
Examples of divaricating shrubs include shrubby<br />
pohuehue, matagouri, several pittosporum, saltmarsh<br />
ribbonwood, weeping mapou, korokio, prostrate<br />
kowhai, coastal tree daisy.<br />
Most of New Zealand’s divaricating plants remain<br />
as shrubs, but in nine cases, they grow into an adult<br />
which is a large-leaved tree. This is a remarkable<br />
change in branching pattern and foliage for the<br />
shrub to more "normal" adult e.g. matai, pokaka.<br />
Lancewood also show a distinct juvenile and adult<br />
stage, argued by some to be associated with defence<br />
against moa browsing. This phenomenon is called<br />
heteroblastism.<br />
1
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | lands gallery<br />
Horoeka<br />
Lancewood<br />
Psuedopanax crassifolius<br />
Tarata<br />
Lemonwood<br />
Pittosporum eugenioides<br />
Kauri<br />
Agathis australis<br />
Korimako<br />
Bellbird<br />
Porokaiwhiri<br />
Pigeonwood<br />
Hedycarya arborea<br />
Anthornis melanura<br />
Matagouri<br />
Discaria toumatou<br />
Whauwhaupaku<br />
Five-finger<br />
Psuedopanax arboreus<br />
Weeping mapou<br />
Myrsine divaricata<br />
Kakariki<br />
Parakeet<br />
Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae<br />
0
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | lands gallery<br />
Forest birds<br />
The forest supplies birds with an abundance of food<br />
and with shelter. The thriving invertebrate community<br />
is the mainstay for insect eating birds e.g. robin,<br />
tomtit, fantail, grey warbler and rifleman. The large<br />
New Zealand pigeon or kereru is the only specialised<br />
fruit eater, feeding on an extensive range of native<br />
trees and shrubs e.g. tawa, miro, nikau, supplejack,<br />
pigeonwood. Other forest birds are omnivorous, feeding<br />
on a mixed diet of nectar, fruit and insects, which<br />
they vary according to the season. The rare kokako,<br />
bellbird and tui are all gifted song birds. The yellowcrowned<br />
and red-crowned parkeets are fruit and leaf<br />
eaters. Other indigenous parrots, kaka and the large<br />
kakapo are both omnivorous, scavenging for insects<br />
and grubs on the forest floor as well as sampling<br />
nuts, fruit and nectar in the canopy. Moths form a<br />
major part of the diet of the ruru (morepork) which is<br />
New Zealand’s only surviving native owl. It also feeds<br />
on weta, beetles, spiders, some lizards, rodents and<br />
small birds.<br />
Forest floor<br />
Flat or fungus bugs feed by sucking fungi and are very<br />
common under the bark of decaying logs. Dead trunks<br />
and branches also support some termites. Native<br />
cockroaches spend the day hidden under stones, logs<br />
and loose bark, emerging at night to feed on anything<br />
they can find. Native earwigs can also be found in the<br />
leaf litter. Some insects only spend their larval stages<br />
on the forest floor e.g. flies, cicada and stag beetles.<br />
Ruru<br />
Morepork<br />
Ninox novaeseelandiae<br />
Kaka<br />
Nestor meridionalis<br />
Mites are present in the litter in enormous numbers,<br />
either consuming the litter in vast quantities or preying<br />
on small invertebrates. Tunnel-web spiders, the<br />
trapdoor spiders and the brown vagrant spider are all<br />
found on the forest floor, feeding on the wide variety<br />
of invertebrates.<br />
Most of the snails that live on the forest floor are very<br />
small. They dwell in the litter, under rotting logs and<br />
loose bark, feeding on a variety of vegetable matter.<br />
The large snails belong to an ancient and primitive<br />
family of big land snails, Paryphantidae e.g. the kauri<br />
snail (7.9cm in diameter). They are carnivores with<br />
voracious appetites for worms, slugs and other snails.<br />
New Zealand’s only native amphibians are the most<br />
primitive living frogs known, Leiopelma species. Their<br />
peculiarities include, lack of eardrums and vocal sacs<br />
and the retention of tail wagging muscles in adults.<br />
They do not go through a water-living tadpole stage —<br />
tiny miniature adult frog emerges from the gelatinous<br />
capsule that was its egg and its tail is subsequently<br />
absorbed. They require damp conditions, being found<br />
under stones or rotting logs. They become active at<br />
night catching small invertebrates. There are three<br />
species of Leiopelma: Hochstetter’s frog, and Archey’s<br />
frog of the northern North Island, and Hamilton’s frog<br />
on Stephens and Maud Islands. Lizards living in the<br />
forest are either geckos or skinks e.g. Pacific gecko,<br />
green tree gecko, copper skink and the forest gecko.<br />
The forest gecko is camouflaged against moss and<br />
tree bark, if alarmed it flattens its body and freezes.<br />
It is nocturnal, eating small invertebrates especially<br />
moths.<br />
Papata<br />
Black cockroach<br />
Platyzosteria<br />
Trapdoor spider<br />
Cantuaria gilliesi<br />
Wet-wood termite<br />
Stolotermes ruficeps<br />
1
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | lands gallery<br />
Common skink<br />
(Oligosoma nigriplantare)<br />
Mosses and liverworts are primitive land<br />
plants, not fully adapted to life on land. New<br />
Zealand has some 1100 species of bryophytes,<br />
which grow in mats and tufts on the forest floor, on<br />
fallen trunks and on living trees.<br />
Dactylanthus (Woodrose) is New Zealand’s only com-<br />
pletely parasitic plant. It lacks green tissue, grow-<br />
ing underground, attaching itself to tree roots and<br />
absorbing their nutrients. In autumn its scented<br />
flowers open and attract short-tailed bats. The bats<br />
feed on the copious nectar and accidentally pollinate<br />
the flowers. No other bats are known to pollinate<br />
ground flowers.<br />
Wetlands<br />
Wetlands form at the indistinct and ever-changing<br />
boundary between water and land, covering a number<br />
of often quite separate habitats e.g. bogs, swamps,<br />
marshes and peatlands. Wetlands are among the<br />
most threatened habitats in the world; in New Zealand<br />
ninety percent have been destroyed since the arrival<br />
of humans. Vital for wildlife, they are easily damaged<br />
by pollution, drainage or reclamation.<br />
Plant communities change as water levels decrease.<br />
Sedges give way to raupo, then to New Zealand flax<br />
and lastly to cabbage trees and manuka.<br />
New Zealand has a wide and varied sedge flora.<br />
Sedges are generally grass-like with narrow leaves.<br />
Raupo is a versatile plant, the lower parts of the plant<br />
normally always under water. They grow together in<br />
large numbers, often forming dense stands. At the<br />
height of summer, a sausage shaped seed head is<br />
formed. Maori used raupo as a food, a medicine, for<br />
thatching and to make canoes. The most valued part<br />
of the plant was the pollen, which was worked into<br />
sweet bread.<br />
Swamp millet is a slender grass present in wetland<br />
vegetation, while toetoe is a large tussock grass with<br />
drooping flower heads, which can also grow away<br />
from water.<br />
Invertebrates associated with wetlands include<br />
dragonflies and damselflies. These predatory insects<br />
breed in still waters of wetlands and ponds e.g. lancer<br />
dragonfly, sentry dragonfly, gossamer damselfly and<br />
blue damselfly.<br />
The nurseryweb spider is common around swamps<br />
and bush edges. It is a close relative of water spiders<br />
and has an enclosed web which protects the young<br />
spiders.<br />
The cabbage tree moth is perfectly camouflaged<br />
against the leaves of cabbage trees. Caterpillars chew<br />
young leaves leaving distinctive notched edges.<br />
Before European settlement many birds lived in New<br />
Zealand’s vast wetland habitats. Most wetland birds<br />
are adapted for life in wet conditions with specialised<br />
beaks and feet.<br />
Dabbling ducks have filter feeding bills e.g. paradise<br />
shelduck, grey duck, grey teal, brown teal.<br />
The scaup, New Zealand’s only diving duck, probes<br />
the wetland floor for freshwater snails.<br />
Herons, bitterns and black shags have fish-seizing<br />
bills. Pukeko have long toes to help them walk on<br />
swampy ground. The fernbird is a perching bird,<br />
feeding mainly on<br />
insects.<br />
Nurseryweb spider<br />
Polomedes minor
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | lands gallery<br />
Matuku<br />
Ti<br />
Cabbage tree<br />
Cordyline australis<br />
Australasian bittern<br />
Botaurus stellaris<br />
Karuhiruhi<br />
Pied shag<br />
Phalacrocorax varius<br />
Matuku moana<br />
Reef heron<br />
Egretta sacra<br />
Cabbage tree moth<br />
Epiphryne verriculata<br />
Manuka<br />
Red tea tree<br />
Leptospermum scoparium<br />
Kotuku<br />
White heron<br />
Egretta alba<br />
Damselfly<br />
Tiemiemi<br />
Austrolestes colensonis<br />
Dragonfly<br />
Kapawai<br />
Procordulia smithii<br />
Pukeko<br />
Porphyrio porphyrio<br />
Putangitangi<br />
Paradise duck<br />
Tadorna variegata<br />
3
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | lands gallery<br />
sPecIes ProFIle : tuI<br />
Parson bird<br />
Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae<br />
• Size : 30 cm<br />
• Distribution : New Zealand only, found throughout forests<br />
and towns in the North, South and Stewart Islands and<br />
many offshore islands.<br />
• Breeding : tui establish their territories in September-<br />
October and sing from high perches, especially in the<br />
morning and late afternoon. The female alone builds the<br />
nest and incubates the eggs. Both parents feed the young.<br />
• Behaviour : tui are usually solitary. They are the dominant<br />
honeyeater in New Zealand and are aggressive towards<br />
other birds near the nest or a prominent food source. The<br />
song dialect varies in each district.<br />
• Feeding : Preferred diet is nectar, supplemented with fruit<br />
and invertebrates. Nectar sources include kowhai, flax,<br />
pohutakawa, fuchsia and rewarewa. They feed nestlings at<br />
first on small insects and nectar, and later also on berries<br />
and larger insects, spiders and moths.<br />
• The tufts of white feathers around the tui’s neck gave rise<br />
to its early name ‘the parson bird’.<br />
• Larger and more assertive than most native birds, the tui<br />
has managed to maintain its numbers and even thrive, in a<br />
changed environment.<br />
• The tui is a skillful mimic, imitating the sound of a morepork,<br />
blackbird and even a cat.<br />
sPecIes ProFIle : kereru<br />
new Zealand pigeon<br />
Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae<br />
• Size : 51 cm<br />
• Distribution : They are found throughout the North, South<br />
and Stewart Islands and on many forested offshore islands.<br />
They favour native lowland forests dominated by podocarps,<br />
tawa, taraire and puriri.<br />
• The timing of breeding is closely linked to certain fruits<br />
being avalilable; they can breed early or late, depending on<br />
fruiting but some or all pairs fail to breed in years when<br />
fruit is in poor supply.<br />
• They play a key ecological role in the regeneration of<br />
native forests by dispersing the seeds of large-fruited trees<br />
and shrubs, most of which (e.g. miro, tawa, taraire, puriri<br />
and karaka) are too large to be dispersed by other birds.<br />
• Feeding : Herbivorous, fruits are preferred and in some<br />
parts of the country are the sole diet. When fruits are in<br />
short supply, kereru feed on foliage, especially old leaves of<br />
kowhai, tree lucerne, broom and clover. Flowers of kowhai,<br />
tree lucerne and broom also form an important seasonal<br />
part of their diet.<br />
• In certain areas they are in serious decline, mainly because<br />
of hunting. Conflict occurs between conservationists who<br />
want to preserve the bird and Maori traditionalists who<br />
claim their rights to harvest the pigeon as of old.<br />
• Possums compete for food and destroy nests.<br />
• Kereru lay only one egg per clutch.<br />
sPecIes ProFIle : kakaPo<br />
oWl-Parrot<br />
Strigops habroptilus<br />
• Size: 63 cm, 3.5 kg<br />
• Distribution : New Zealand only. Found throughout the<br />
North, South and Stewart Islands before and during early<br />
Maori times. The population is now in serious decline. The<br />
remaining kakapo have been transferred to cat and mustelid<br />
free Little Barrier, Codfish and Maud Islands.<br />
• Kakapo is one of the most endangered birds in the world.<br />
• Breeding : sucessful breeding requires an abundant<br />
supply of high quality food throughout the 8 month breeding<br />
cycle. Breeding takes place every 3–5 years, during a ‘mast’<br />
(heavy fruiting) year.<br />
• Kakapo are unique among New Zealand birds and parrots<br />
in having an arena mating system. Males establish a<br />
miniature display territory and then call (or boom) to the<br />
females to mate. Females travel several kilometres to<br />
briefly visit the displaying males to mate. Males take no<br />
part tending or defending the nest.<br />
• Behaviour : Solitary. Flightless. An adept tree climber and<br />
a free ranger.<br />
• Feeding : Herbivorous. Kakapo eat a wide variety of fruits,<br />
seeds, leaves, stems and roots. The stout beak is used for<br />
grubbing and grinding.<br />
• Humans, dogs, cats, stoats and rats have all preyed on<br />
the kakapo. Deer and possums have eaten its favoured<br />
foods. Being a ground nester it proved easy prey for such<br />
predators.<br />
sPecIes ProFIle : Puratoke<br />
gloW-Worm<br />
Arachnocampa luminosa<br />
• Found along the banks of streams and in other damp<br />
places in the bush, as well as in caves<br />
• The larva is carnivorous. As soon as it is hatched, it begins<br />
to construct a tunnel of mucus and silk which it suspends<br />
on silken ropes from the cave ceiling or from another<br />
suitable support. It then spins a large number of silken lines<br />
hanging down from the tunnel. At regular intervals along a<br />
line the larva places little beadlets of sticky mucus. Midges<br />
and other insects, attracted by the glow-worm’s light, rise<br />
up and get stuck on the beadlets. At once the larva hauls up<br />
the line and eats the victim.<br />
• Its lifecycle is about a year, and during this time it casts a<br />
luminous glow.<br />
• As it transforms from pupa to adult fly, the glow-worm<br />
glows erractically. Emerging into brief adulthood, the<br />
female continues to emit a light which attracts the male to<br />
mate.<br />
4
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | lands gallery<br />
sPecIes ProFIle : kaurI snaIl<br />
Pupurangi<br />
Paryphanta busbyi<br />
• Found on the mainland only north of<br />
<strong>Auckland</strong>, in the area where kauri historically grew.<br />
Has been translocated to Great Barrier, Poor Knights<br />
and the Hen and Chickens Islands.<br />
• Large and carnivorous, feeding mainly on worms.<br />
• Their heavy shells, as large as 75mm across, are<br />
firmly attached to their bodies, enabling the snails to<br />
climb vertically. They are also able to travel across<br />
several hundred metres across farmland in a night<br />
to reach bush.<br />
• Belongs to an ancient and primitive family of big<br />
land snails. Some species still occur in South Africa,<br />
Australia and the South-west Pacific, the greatest<br />
variety being found in New Zealand.<br />
• It does not actually live in kauri but prefers astelias,<br />
bushy undergrowth and scrub.<br />
• Lays large, white eggs with limey shells in<br />
depressions in the ground under leaf mould where<br />
the heat from decaying compost hatches them out.<br />
sPecIes ProFIle : large dragonFly<br />
kaPokaPoWaI<br />
uropetala carovei<br />
• Dragonflies have a very long, narrow abdomen,<br />
antennae reduced to tiny threads, and two pairs of<br />
large, veined, gauzy wings which glitter in sunlight.<br />
• They are predators, taking flying insects on the wing.<br />
Their huge compound eyes, linked by nerves to the<br />
flight muscles, enable them to locate even very small<br />
prey and immediately to change direction to capture<br />
it. The victim is scooped up by the dragonfly’s thin<br />
legs, which are armed with spines, and taken to the<br />
mouth where it is masticated by the strongly toothed<br />
mouth parts.<br />
• Dragonflies and their relatives the damselflies have<br />
teeth (hence their family name Odonata, from the<br />
Greek for tooth).<br />
• New Zealand has 11 species of dragonflies and six<br />
damselflies. Dragonflies are larger and spread their<br />
wings when they are resting, whereas damselflies<br />
fold their wings loosely over their body.<br />
• Dragonflies have incomplete metamorphosis. The<br />
eggs hatch into larvae or nymphs which live in fresh<br />
water. Nymphs are voracious feeders, eating insects,<br />
tadpoles and even small fish; in their turn they are<br />
the target of predators such as frogs, birds and trout.<br />
After a series of moults the larva leaves the water,<br />
the larval skin splits and the adult emerges.<br />
• The best known native dragonfly is the giant black<br />
and bright yellow ‘devil’s darning needle’ Uropetala<br />
carovei. This large insect has a wing span of 130mm<br />
and is found in boggy seepage areas in forests.<br />
• Dragonflies are the fastest of all insects, capable<br />
of cruising at 40 km/hr and increasing their speed in<br />
bursts to 58 km/hr. They can also hover and<br />
make quick turns up, down or sideways.<br />
sPecIes ProFIle : nIkau Palm<br />
Rhopalostylis sapida<br />
• The southern most palm in the world, the nikau<br />
palm grows from North Cape down to Banks Peninsula<br />
on the east coast and Greymouth on the west. Reaching 10<br />
metres in height, it is New Zealand’s only palm.<br />
• The nikau’s ripe berries are an important source or<br />
food for kereru.<br />
• Several parts of the nikau were eaten by Maori: the<br />
immature flower; the berries when green; and the<br />
‘heart’ of undeveloped leaves, the cutting out of which<br />
unfortunately killed the tree.<br />
• Nikau leaves were traditionally used to thatch the<br />
top and sides of whare, and for weaving into bags and<br />
kete.<br />
• It is slow growing, taking some 30 years before<br />
bursting into flower. The flowers are borne on long<br />
spikes protruding from the stem on the ring scar just<br />
below the oldest leaf. The red berries take three years<br />
to ripen.<br />
• The nikau’s stem, up to 10 m tall, is marked with<br />
leaf scars which give it a distinctive appearance.<br />
sPecIes ProFIle : kaurI<br />
Agathis australis<br />
• The New Zealand kauri is unrivalled among<br />
New Zealand trees for its size and grandeur. It<br />
can grow up to 50 m or more tall, with a massive<br />
straight, unbranching trunk.<br />
• It is a tree with an ancient lineage. Its ancestors were<br />
contemporaries of the dinosaurs more than 130 million<br />
years ago. Today, kauri species exist around the western<br />
Pacific — in the Philippines, Borneo, Malaysia, New Guinea,<br />
Vanuatu, Australia, New Caledonia and Fiji. The family<br />
evolved in Gondwana.<br />
• In the forest the kauri plays host to a wide range of plant<br />
and animal life. High up in its crown grow epiphytes, perching<br />
plants which are extremely important food sources for<br />
birds. Important animals found in kauri forest include the<br />
red-crowned and yellow-crowned parakeets, brown kiwi,<br />
pied tit, kaka and Hochstetter’s and Archey’s frogs. Shorttailed<br />
bats are found in hollow logs on the forest floor.<br />
• Kauri trees normally grow some distant apart, with a<br />
ground cover of kauri grass and the giant, sharp-leaved<br />
ghania. Occasional shrubs and small trees include Kirk’s<br />
tree daisy, hangehange, mingimingi and neinei.<br />
• To Maori, kauri was ranked second only to totara. Its<br />
timber was used for boat building, carving and housing.<br />
Kauri gum was used for fire starting and heating, and as a<br />
chewing gum once it had been soaked in water and mixed<br />
with the milk of puha. The felling of a tree was an important<br />
occasion and was accompained by a ritual.<br />
5
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | lands gallery<br />
genus ProFIle: Frogs<br />
Leiopelma archeyi<br />
L. hochstetteri<br />
L. hamiltoni<br />
• New Zealand’s native frog species are survivors of<br />
frogs that evolved several hundred million years ago.<br />
They are virtually unchanged from frogs of around<br />
135 million years ago.<br />
• All three species of native frogs are endangered.<br />
Archey’s frog is found in Coromandel, and numbers<br />
in the thousands. Hochstetter’s frog is the most<br />
widespread and is found from East Cape northwards<br />
to Whangarei, and is also numbered in the thousands.<br />
Hamilton’s frog is confined to a 600 square metre<br />
patch of scree, called the Frog Bank, on Stephen’s<br />
Island in Cook Strait, and to forests on Maud Island.<br />
This population has been described as a separate<br />
species but differs little in form from the Stephens<br />
Island population. It is the rarest of the frog species,<br />
numbering around 200.<br />
• These most primitive frogs live in forests under<br />
rocks and stones. They require moisture but not<br />
swamps or ponds as other frogs do.<br />
• All native frogs are earless and croakless — at best<br />
they squeak and pipe softy. Another primitive feature<br />
they have retained is tail-wagging muscles, even<br />
though they have no tail.<br />
• For such small creatures they are relatively longlived,<br />
more than 23 years in the case of Hamilton’s<br />
frog.<br />
• Besides their protective colouring and freezing<br />
tactics, the native frogs may possess a third line of<br />
defence against predators — their unpalatability,<br />
derived from glandular secretions.<br />
• New Zealand’s native frogs do not go through a<br />
tadpole stage like other frogs; instead, adults lay<br />
eggs and the young metamorphose inside the egg sac<br />
— their own personal ponds. After hatching, still with<br />
remnant tails, they climb onto their father’s back and<br />
spend the final weeks of development there.<br />
sPecIes ProFIle :<br />
Peka Peka, bats<br />
Chalinolobus tuberculatus<br />
Mystacina tuberculata<br />
• New Zealand has two native land mammals — the<br />
long-tailed bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus) and the<br />
lesser Short-tailed bat (Mystacina tuberculata). Each<br />
has a body size of a person’s thumb and a wingspan<br />
of 300mm.<br />
• Until 1967 there was a third species, the greater shorttailed<br />
bat. It became extinct when rats invaded its home.<br />
• The short-tailed bat is the more endangered of the two<br />
species, but new populations are being found as new<br />
technology enables scientists to track them down.<br />
• The short-tailed bat is the only bat in the world to forage<br />
on the forest floor. It has several adaptations to assist this<br />
behaviour: robust hind legs with small claws and a way<br />
of neatly furling the delicate outer wing membrane under<br />
thicker sections of membrane so the wings can serve as<br />
front limbs. Its unusual hunting habit has also led to its<br />
decline, making it an easy target for predators such as cats<br />
and rats.<br />
• The long-tailed bat was presumed to have blown over from<br />
Australia 1 million years ago. Today it is widely distributed<br />
in native forests throughout the North and South Islands.<br />
• Both species of bat prefer to roost in old, hollow trees<br />
rather than caves. Fluttering fantail-like in search of insects<br />
along forest marigins, rivers and over lakes, they are often<br />
mistaken for birds or puriri moths.<br />
• Long-tailed bats keep nursery colonies, babies are carried<br />
to the different roosts each night. It is believed both bat<br />
species give birth to just one offspring a year, in December<br />
or January.<br />
• The endangered wood rose (Dactylanthus taylorii) has coevolved<br />
with the short-tailed bat and is often pollinated by<br />
it.<br />
• Bats rely on echolocation to detect prey and to navigate<br />
their way through forests in the dark. Bats emit highfrequency<br />
sounds, usually through their mouths, in rapid<br />
pulses at frequencies too high for the human ear to pick<br />
up.<br />
• During winter and sometimes during cool periods in<br />
summer New Zealand bats go into hibernation.<br />
• They are both nocturnal.<br />
• They feed predominately on insects and sometimes<br />
berries and nectar.<br />
6
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | oceans gallery<br />
oceans gallery<br />
New Zealand’s maritime environment extends from sub Tropical to sub Antarctic zones. The coastline is a<br />
diverse habitat including areas such as dunes, cliffs, muddy estuaries, ocean beaches, rocky headlands and<br />
sheltered bays. Each sustains living communities uniquely adapted to the conditions present.<br />
estuarIes<br />
Streams running to the sea often form estuaries at the<br />
interface — a transition area between freshwater and<br />
marine habitats. Although low in species diversity,<br />
estuaries are rich in organic sediments that support<br />
an abundance of life. In the north of New Zealand,<br />
estuaries are lined with mangroves. Mangroves<br />
contribute to the high productivity, their decomposing<br />
leaves releasing nutrients, the trunks providing<br />
shelter and accumulating sediments. At its highest<br />
reaches are the salt marshes. Lower down eelgrass<br />
and sandy mud cover large flat areas. Just under the<br />
muddy surface are beds of bivalve shellfish such<br />
as cockles and the wedge shell which is a detritus<br />
feeder that vacuums plankton off the surface of the<br />
mud on out-going tides. Gastropods such as the<br />
mud snail leave feacal trails on the muddy sand.<br />
Also patrolling are scavengers and algal<br />
grazers. Small crabs and worms are<br />
common.<br />
salt marsh<br />
Land as opposed to actual shore-<br />
line regularly inundated by sea-<br />
water, may take the form of salt<br />
marsh. Its lower most zone, about<br />
the mid-tide level, is often muddy<br />
and colonised by flat mat plants.<br />
Succulents, including clumps<br />
of glasswort, are found living<br />
here. Further inland, plant cover<br />
increases becoming a salt meadow<br />
of tight turf. At upper tidal<br />
levels Neptune’s necklace is the<br />
most common salt marsh algae.<br />
Its bead like bladders vary in size<br />
according to the substrate, larger<br />
when on bare unshaded mud and<br />
smaller on moist clay.<br />
Saltmarsh sea rushes, like mangroves continually<br />
produce new leaves and get rid of the old ones which<br />
are encrusted with salt. The glasswort dilutes salt<br />
by storing water in fleshy stems. Wirevine grows<br />
in a tangled mass. The water snail grazes on algal<br />
films in muddy brackish water at upper tidal areas.<br />
The harbour flea mussel is a small black mussel that<br />
lives on hard surfaces in brackish water, usually near<br />
the tidal limit.<br />
7
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | oceans gallery<br />
mangroves — trees In the tide<br />
The New Zealand mangrove migrated to our<br />
sheltered shores from tropical places further north.<br />
Mangrove roots are surrounded by oxygen poor mud<br />
and the tree is immersed in salty water twice each<br />
day. To survive in this challenging environment it has<br />
a number of special features. Pencil like projections<br />
emerging from the mud are special “air breathing”<br />
roots, pneumatophores. They are covered with<br />
corky water resistant bark and arise from an<br />
underground root system.<br />
Underground roots form a<br />
strong network that stabilises<br />
the tree against tidal<br />
currents. Leaves have water<br />
storing cells and a shiny cuticle<br />
with white hairs underneath to<br />
protect them from sunshine<br />
glare reflected off the water.<br />
Flowers occur in small clusters.<br />
Seeds are not dispersed<br />
in any of the usual ways. Instead<br />
an already germinated young<br />
plant, a propagule, is dropped<br />
from the plant. It can begin to<br />
grow where it dropped, or it<br />
may be carried by the tide to<br />
grow elsewhere.<br />
Mangroves support whole communities of organisms.<br />
The mud snail is found within mangrove scrub<br />
and on mudflats. It eats surface mud, digesting the<br />
organic parts and excreting the rest in a continuous<br />
string.<br />
The mud whelk can be found scavenging on both<br />
mud and mangrove flats. The mud flat horn shell<br />
is a herbivore and deposit feeder, locally dense in<br />
depressions. The cat’s eye feeds on algae when the<br />
tide is in. The modest barnacle is New Zealand’s most<br />
common encrusting organism. Larvae settle on any<br />
hard surface, including mangrove aerial roots. Rock<br />
oysters can also be found on pneumatophores and<br />
mangrove trunks. The spiny tubeworm is a common<br />
bristle worm, living inside a tough tube, often found<br />
in clusters.<br />
Mud snail<br />
Titiko<br />
Amphibola crenata<br />
Arabic volute<br />
Pupu rore<br />
Alcithoe arabica<br />
Spiny tubeworm<br />
Pomatoceros caeruleus<br />
Hermit crab<br />
Pagurus novazelandiae<br />
Stalk eyed crab<br />
Macrpthalmus hirtipes<br />
Snapping shrimp<br />
Alpheus novaezelandiae<br />
Cat's eye<br />
Atata<br />
Turbo smaragdus<br />
Large dog cockle<br />
Glycymeris laticostata<br />
Common cushion star<br />
Patiriella regularis<br />
8
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | oceans gallery<br />
crabs<br />
Rock borer<br />
Anchomasa similis<br />
Mason worm<br />
Thelepus spectabilis<br />
Hearth urchin<br />
Kina pakira<br />
Echinocardium australe<br />
Sea grass<br />
Zostera novazelandica<br />
The numerous holes in mud are home to tunneling<br />
crabs. They are most abundant among mangroves<br />
but can be found high up the estuary beyond the<br />
marine mud, burrowing into clay. The tunneling mud<br />
crab is endemic; it leaves its burrow to feed when the<br />
tide is out. It is territorial. Apart from the tunneling<br />
mud crab, the more common crabs of the estuary are<br />
the stalk-eyed mudcrab and hairy-handed crab. Both<br />
have similar habitats to the tunneling mud crab. The<br />
hermit crab is common, its softbody protected by a<br />
gastropod shell. The crab moves to a larger one as it<br />
grows. It eats organic matter and decaying animals.<br />
The harbour top shell is an algae eating herbivore<br />
that lives on mud. Cockles are often found in dense<br />
beds just below the surface on sandy mud flats. The<br />
Arabic volute is a carnivore, which suffocates its<br />
prey. The cushion star is a common omnivore with<br />
4–7 arms. The long tailed stingray feeds on molluscs<br />
and invertebrates. The snapping shrimp burrows<br />
into mud. Its nipper creates an audible “snapping”<br />
noise and it eats organic debris. Sand mason worms<br />
are mobile worms, feeding on fine organic particles.<br />
Its fragile conical tube is made from sand grains.<br />
The date shell lives deeply buried in softmud and is<br />
common amongst eelgrass. The heart urchin lives<br />
buried in soft sandy mud. Pipi form dense beds in<br />
coarse shelly sediments of harbours and near mouths<br />
of estuaries.<br />
Plants<br />
Life in and by the sea is not easy. Only specialised<br />
plants survive, plants that are able to cope with salty<br />
conditions. Taupata grows on dryland by the sea, above<br />
the high tide. Roots may still extend into the saltwater<br />
table and leaves can be sprayed with saltwater.<br />
Tough thick leaves with a glossy cuticle are typical<br />
adaptations against glare and water loss. Plants<br />
occasionally flooded by the tide include glasswort and<br />
the searush. Mangroves occur half in and half out of<br />
the tide. Salt glands in the leaves excrete salt absorbed<br />
by the roots. Completely covered by the tide — the only<br />
New Zealand flowering plant able to live below mid-<br />
tide is eelgrass. Flowering and pollination takes place<br />
under water. Behaving more like a seaweed, eelgrass<br />
absorbs nutrients directly through its leaves, which<br />
only have thin cuticles and no stomata.<br />
borers<br />
Wood borers<br />
Woodborers are both destructive and useful.<br />
Destructive in that they can cause extensive damage<br />
to the wood of boats and wharves, expensive copper<br />
sheathing is the only effective protection, useful<br />
because they break down deadwood that has drifted<br />
out to sea. Our oceans would be full of wood if not<br />
for these important recyclers. A type of isopod, and<br />
a relative of the garden slater uses “rasp and file”<br />
mandibles to tunnel beneath the surface of the wood.<br />
An amphipod lives in holes bored by the isopod.<br />
Teredo settles on wood as larvae bores into wood
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | oceans gallery<br />
Banded dotterel<br />
Tuturiwhatu<br />
Charadrius bicinctus<br />
Little blue penguin<br />
Eudyptula minor<br />
Black-billed gull<br />
Karoro<br />
Larus dominicanus<br />
Wandering albatross<br />
Toroa<br />
Diomedea exulans<br />
Pied stilt<br />
Poaka<br />
Himantopus<br />
himantopus<br />
Caspian tern<br />
Taranui<br />
Hydroprogne caspia<br />
Fairy prion<br />
Titi wainui<br />
Pachyptila turtur<br />
using razor-sharp shell valves and coats its burrow<br />
with calcium carbonate.<br />
Stone borers<br />
Rock boring molluscs (piddocks) have shell structures<br />
similar to the sharply ribbed drilling bit of an oilrig.<br />
They drill down by twisting and rocking the two shell<br />
valves against the stoney substrate, enlarging the hole<br />
as the shell grows. No food is derived from the stone,<br />
the substrate providing protection for the organism.<br />
The piddocks extend siphons up into the seawater to<br />
collect food. The date mussel uses chemicals instead<br />
of physical abrasion to sculpt its stony home. It<br />
protects itself from the acid with a thick, tough outer<br />
covering.<br />
bIrds oF tHe ocean and tHe sHorelIne<br />
Birds have adapted to take advantage of every habitat<br />
found along New Zealand’s shoreline. Mudflats are<br />
rich feeding grounds for huge numbers of birds. Cliffs,<br />
rocky ledges and stacks provide breeding sites for a<br />
wide variety of sea birds. The open ocean is a feeding<br />
ground for the larger varieties of petrels. For each<br />
of these distinct environments the birds found there<br />
have evolved specialised behaviours, physiological<br />
components and physical structures to allow them to<br />
cope with the demands of the conditions present.<br />
Wading birds<br />
Wading birds specialise in probing for food in the soft<br />
mud of estuaries and harbours.<br />
New Zealand is the destination for some of the<br />
world’s Arctic waders. Breeding in the Arctic, they<br />
undertake a spectacular journey from one end of the<br />
earth to the other, to spend the northern winter in the<br />
Southern Hemisphere e.g. bar-tailed godwit, lesser<br />
knot, turnstone, Pacific golden plover, red-necked<br />
stint, sharp-tailed sandpiper, whimbrel.<br />
Some Waders breed locally and migrate within<br />
New Zealand and feed alongside Arctic migrants<br />
e.g. South Island pied oystercatcher, pied stilt.<br />
Penguins<br />
Penguins are flightless seabirds found only in the<br />
Southern Hemisphere. Descended from flying birds,<br />
30
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | oceans gallery<br />
their wings are now short, stiff flippers. They fly<br />
underwater, propelled by flippers alone. Their short,<br />
densely packed feathers form a smooth, firm, water-<br />
resistant coat. Their legs are short and on land give<br />
them their distinctive waddle e.g. blue penguin (the<br />
world’s smallest penguin), Fiordland crested penguin<br />
and yellow eyed penguin.<br />
Plovers and dotterels<br />
These small waders have a rounded, plump body,<br />
short legs and a short bill and tail. The bill is adapted<br />
for picking up vertebrates from wet sand or mud.<br />
When feeding they characteristically “walk and<br />
stop”, or “run-stop-peck” e.g. tuturiwhatu pukanui<br />
(New Zealand dotterel), pohowera (banded dotterel),<br />
tuturuatu (shore plover), ngutu-parore (wrybill) and<br />
the Australian spur-winged plover.<br />
shags<br />
New Zealand has twelve breeding species of shag,<br />
about a third of the world’s shag species.<br />
They are mostly seen in sheltered coastal waters,<br />
but sometimes far inland near lakes, streams and<br />
rivers e.g. kawau (black shag), karuhiruhi (pied shag),<br />
kawaupuka (little shag), parekareka (spotted shag).<br />
They are excellent fishermen, diving into the water<br />
and seizing fish with their strong beak.<br />
gulls and terns<br />
Gulls and terns usually prefer coastal situations<br />
near shore. They are sociable, feeding in flocks and<br />
breeding in colonies. Terns are more aerial and dainty<br />
than gulls with narrower pointed wings and usually<br />
a deeply forked tail. Terns have shorter legs and<br />
smaller feet e.g. Arctic skua; black- backed gull, redbilled<br />
gull, black-billed gull, black fronted tern, fairy<br />
tern, and caspian tern.<br />
Petrels<br />
New Zealand has many petrels, a group that includes<br />
albatrosses, mollymawks, shearwaters, prions and<br />
storm petrels. Feeding at sea, their effortless gliding<br />
flight enables much of their lives to be spent far from<br />
land. Predators have now driven them to breed on<br />
inaccessible islands and headlands.<br />
Larger species build open nests, but most medium<br />
and small species nest in burrows. e.g. fluttering<br />
shearwater, black petrel, flesh-footed shearwater,<br />
mottled petrel, fairy prion, and broad-billed prion.<br />
albatrosses and mollymawks<br />
Nearly three-quarters of the world’s albatross species<br />
can be found in the New Zealand region. All have a<br />
graceful, soaring flight. Many follow boats especially<br />
fishing vessels. Large numbers of albatrosses come<br />
to grief by swallowing baited hooks. Mollymawks are<br />
small albatrosses e.g. royal albatross, wandering<br />
albatross, buller’s mollymawk, black browed<br />
mollymawk.<br />
sandy eXPosed beacHes and dunes<br />
Unprotected except by distant headlands, these<br />
beaches are formed by ocean waves and prevailing<br />
winds. An exposed sandy shore is one of the most<br />
exacting and extreme habitats, supporting a group of<br />
highly specialised plants and animals. These have to<br />
withstand drying by unchecked onshore winds, and<br />
cope with burning salt spray, high temperatures and<br />
low nutrients. Pakiri (north of <strong>Auckland</strong>) is an example<br />
of a sandy exposed beach.<br />
They are composed of sand, gravel, or a mixture of<br />
both. Gravel beaches tend to be steep and tiered;<br />
sand beaches have a gentler gradient. The highest<br />
part of the intertidal area is generally the steepest.<br />
Dunes occur above the spring tide line and out of<br />
reach of waves, formed by the action of wind. Fine<br />
sands are blown inland until they meet a dune crest,<br />
log or other obstruction — they gradually build up to<br />
form a dune line.<br />
While not as diverse as the rocky shore, open sandy<br />
beaches are rich in molluscs, especially bivalves.<br />
Shells found in the strand line usually come from<br />
animals that lived within and just beyond the wave<br />
zone. However, on-shore winds can cause pelagic<br />
ocean drifters to strand on the driftline. Larger items<br />
are carried further up the shore creating the upper<br />
strand line. Items tend to get progressively smaller<br />
all the way down to the lower strand line.<br />
31
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | oceans gallery<br />
Tuatua<br />
Paphies subtriangulata<br />
Ostrich foot<br />
Struthiolaria papulosa<br />
Knobbed whelk<br />
Kakara<br />
Austrofusus glans<br />
Cask shell<br />
Pupu tangimoana<br />
Tonna cerevisina<br />
By the wind sailor<br />
Velella velella<br />
Toheroa<br />
Paphies ventricosa<br />
Sandhopper<br />
Namu mawhitiwhiti<br />
Corophium acutum<br />
Portuguese man-of -war<br />
Physalia physalis<br />
Violet snail<br />
Janthina janthina<br />
Helmet shell<br />
Semicassis pyrum<br />
Both open and protected beaches are divided into<br />
three zones: upper, middle and lower. On the sandy<br />
shore these areas are characterised by the upper<br />
strand line, lower strand line and beneath the water<br />
line.<br />
Characteristic bivalves include the tuatua and the<br />
toheroa. Echinoderms and worms are also present.<br />
upper strand line<br />
Ostrich foot shells are common at below low tide on<br />
sandy and sandy-mud flats in estuaries and on the<br />
open coast. They are sometimes washed ashore in<br />
vast numbers.<br />
The knobbed whelk is a carnivore found from low tide<br />
to deeper water in fine sand or silty mud habitats<br />
throughout New Zealand. The shells are often washed<br />
up on beaches.<br />
The helmet shell is plentiful on open sandy beaches.<br />
It feeds on bivalves and sea urchins.<br />
The hairy trumpet lives on reefs among brown<br />
seaweed covered in a thick hairy coating.<br />
Violet janthina shells use a raft of bubbles to float on<br />
the surface of the ocean. They feed on other floating<br />
organisms, like the by-the-wind sailor and portuguese<br />
man-of-war.<br />
Rams horn shells are the internal shells of a small<br />
squid that live in water about 200–2000m deep.<br />
Thousands can be found washed up on open coastal<br />
beaches.<br />
Sand hoppers are amphipod crustaceans that spring<br />
up and down when you disturb a piece of seaweed or<br />
wood lying on the beach.<br />
By-the-wind sailors are colonies of hydroids that resemble<br />
jellyfish. They rely on wind to skim along the<br />
surface of the ocean. Portuguese man-of-war or<br />
bluebottles are large, gas filled sacs. These keep the<br />
colony of animals afloat and acts like a sail.<br />
Cask shells are very large, thin shelled molluscs<br />
that live in moderately deep-water. They are active<br />
carnivores feeding on burrowing bivalves and<br />
echinoderms.<br />
3
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | oceans gallery<br />
low strand line<br />
The pink sunset shell lives buried deep in the sand<br />
feeding on surface detritus with its long siphons.<br />
The necklace shell uses its teeth (radula) to drill holes<br />
in the shells of its victims.<br />
The sand dollar or snapper biscuit is a flattened<br />
urchin that is eaten by snapper.<br />
The wheel shell burrows in fine sand and eats the<br />
organic matter between the sand grains.<br />
beneath the water<br />
Paddle crabs emerge from their offshore sandy burrows<br />
to hunt at night. The paddles on the rear legs<br />
help the crab to swim and burrow.<br />
The fan scallop can swim by snapping its shell shut.<br />
The tuatua is a surf clam with a truncated end usually<br />
just above or lightly covered with sand.<br />
The geoduck lives about 20–40 cm in the sand, offshore,<br />
in calm water beyond breaking waves, so<br />
they are not normally subjected to dislodgement or<br />
predation.<br />
Necklace shell<br />
Tanea zelandica<br />
Fan scallop<br />
Chlamys zelandiae<br />
Cake urchin<br />
Kina papa<br />
Fellaster zelandiae<br />
Wheel shell<br />
Umbonium zelandicum<br />
small animals on a sandy beach<br />
From the strand line to the dunes, a sandy beach is no<br />
place to live unless you happen to be one of a select<br />
cluster of crustaceans, insects, spiders and their<br />
relatives, who have adapted to the harsh conditions.<br />
Here temperatures vary between extremes. Wind and<br />
salt spray suck away the moisture, the sand shifts<br />
and tears. The strand line is a transient environment.<br />
Seaweed and carrion (the bodies of birds, fish, seal)<br />
provide food for a specialised group of invertebrates,<br />
which speed up its decomposition. Other invertebrates,<br />
shore birds and lizards eat them in turn.<br />
The tiger beetle is a predator of small insects and is<br />
well camouflaged on greyish-white sand dunes.<br />
The sand scarab is a bulky beetle which leaves<br />
conspicuous tracks in the sand from its nocturnal<br />
wanderings. During the day it burrows deep in the<br />
sand, the plump larvae can be found under partly<br />
buried logs.<br />
The ground beetle has short stocky legs, which help<br />
this predator to burrow through sand.<br />
Our largest native earwig is the shore earwig. A<br />
scavenger and predator, it hides under driftwood, seaweed<br />
and stones. Females are often found brooding<br />
eggs.<br />
Kelp flies lay eggs in freshly stranded kelp. Their<br />
maggots thrive in the kelp and help to break it down.<br />
The black spider-hunter wasp stings and paralyses<br />
small wolf spiders, then takes them to its nest in<br />
the sand. An egg is laid on the body, which is later<br />
consumed by the developing wasp larva.<br />
The native bee burrows through the loose, hot, dry<br />
sand above high water to nest in the damp sand<br />
beneath.<br />
Sand hoppers are one of the main decomposers of<br />
stranded kelp. They flee predators by burrowing<br />
into the sand with their peculiar sand-digging leg<br />
paddles.<br />
The sand centipede can be found in damp sand under<br />
driftwood.<br />
33
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | oceans gallery<br />
The endangered katipo spiders make a tangled cob-<br />
web at the base of dune plants and debris.<br />
The black cockroach is found at the top of beaches,<br />
in driftwood piles, under stones and other debris. It<br />
makes an objectionable smell when disturbed.<br />
The common copper butterfly lives in the dunes where<br />
its caterpillars feed on leaves of the tough pohuehue<br />
vine. At most this butterfly lives for 10 days, so time is<br />
limited for egg laying.<br />
Convolvulus hawk moths suck flower nectar at dusk<br />
and caterpillars feed on native shore convolvulus.<br />
rocky sHore<br />
The hard shores offer very different habitats from<br />
those of sandy beaches and mudflats; consequently<br />
the animal and plant communities that occupy them<br />
are quite different. The ebbing and flowing tide<br />
influences an amazing variety of plants and animals<br />
compressed into just a few metres of rocky shoreline.<br />
In that narrow space species have evolved to cope with<br />
an array of environmental conditions, from dry most<br />
of the time to wet all the time. Just who lives where<br />
depends upon the particular conditions present.<br />
The surging water, crashing against the rock and<br />
rushing through crevices, makes the exposed, steep<br />
rocky shore a dangerous place. Animals and plants<br />
need to be well adapted to live there. Animals adapt<br />
in various ways. Often their bodies are streamlined<br />
to lessen the effect of onrushing water. Many have<br />
powerful means of clinging to the rock. Others are<br />
especially fleet of foot so they can take cover quickly.<br />
Those that have no special adaptations have to rely<br />
on the shelter provided by crevices, seaweed or other<br />
animals. An example of this type of shore is Piha on<br />
<strong>Auckland</strong>’s West Coast. The highest plants covered by<br />
water are karengo, while at low tide mark, streamers<br />
of kelp stand up from their tough, woody holdfasts.<br />
Agar weed on a rock overhang helps hide sponges in<br />
the tide pool. Paua and cooks turban shells graze on<br />
the seaweed forest. At high tide level the barnacles<br />
and snakeskin chitin are getting their brief twicedaily<br />
immersion. Above them, spray barely reaches<br />
the crusts of lichen. Beneath the karengo fronds,<br />
red anemones share a crevice with the purple rock<br />
crab just above the mussel zone where hunched-reef<br />
starfish tear prey off the rocks before receding with<br />
the tide. Blue maomao feed on small animals in midwater<br />
while a cruising snapper picks busily among<br />
the mussels.<br />
An example of a moderately sheltered rocky shore is<br />
Oneroa on Waiheke Island.<br />
At the highest point of a jagged outcrop of sandstone,<br />
a pohutukawa sends tenacious roots down into cracks<br />
that reach almost to the wave splash line. Clinging<br />
colonies of surface creatures: barnacles, oysters,<br />
little black mussels, tube worms and green mussels<br />
form bands across the rocks. Below the mussels, pink<br />
corralline algae is fringed by small red algae. Below<br />
that flapjack swirls in the swell.<br />
Neptunes necklace appears on low rocky surfaces in<br />
single clumps. Between rocky outcrops, storm debris;<br />
shells, seastars and dying weed from deeper places,<br />
collects on sand.<br />
Less exposed coasts e.g. Stanley Bay, Devonport,<br />
provide greater security and more variety. Wave action<br />
wears at softer mudstones creating undercut slabs<br />
and steps. Some slabs break off, the undersides rich<br />
with life; mostly small organisms that present little<br />
profile even to the gentle waves.<br />
The edge of the wave-cut platform is densely covered<br />
with neptunes necklace. Pink coralline algae covers<br />
large areas. Intertidal plant growth is good but less<br />
diverse than on moderate exposed shores. Piddocks<br />
(rock borers) are plentiful in the stone, their dwelling<br />
holes visible through broken slabs.<br />
34
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | oceans gallery<br />
Mumutawa pango<br />
Sand scarab<br />
Pericoptus truncatus<br />
Pepe parariki<br />
Common copper butterfly<br />
Papata<br />
Lycaena salustius Black cockroach<br />
Karengo<br />
Platyzosteria novaeseelandiae Porphyra columbina<br />
Agar weed<br />
Pterocladia lucida<br />
Neptunes necklace<br />
Homosira banksii<br />
Papapa<br />
Common tiger beetle<br />
Neocicindella tuberculata<br />
Papatua<br />
Snakeskin chiton<br />
Sypharochiton<br />
pelliserpentis<br />
Tamure<br />
Snapper<br />
Chrysophrys auratus<br />
Kotore moana<br />
Red sea anemone<br />
Actinia tenebrosa<br />
Ground beetle<br />
Megadromus vigil Mata Seashore earwig<br />
Karaka<br />
Cook’s Turban shell<br />
Cookia sulcata<br />
seaWeeds<br />
Seaweed (algae) comes in a wide range of forms,<br />
colours and sizes. Seaweed can be divided into<br />
three main groups — green (chlorophytal), browns<br />
(phacophyta) and reds (rhodophyta), they all possess<br />
chlorophyll and photosynthesis; the variation in colour<br />
is obtained from various pigments. They are generally<br />
zoned down the shoreline with greens near the top<br />
(uppertidal level), reds around the middle (intertidal)<br />
and browns near the bottom (subtidal). However there<br />
is considerable overlap. e.g. sea lettuce, karengo,<br />
neptune’s necklace.<br />
Anisolabis littorea<br />
Paua<br />
Haliotis iris<br />
Katipo spider<br />
Latrodectus katipo<br />
Lessonia kelp<br />
Lessonia variegata<br />
Gigartina (red algae), are commonly found in large<br />
numbers all around New Zealand’s coastline. Most<br />
species are probably endemic to New Zealand. There<br />
35
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | oceans gallery<br />
Kina<br />
Common sea urchin<br />
Evechinus chloroticus<br />
Flapjack<br />
Carpophyllum<br />
maschalocarpum<br />
are two main groups — those with large flat blades that<br />
can be up to one meter long; and smaller, branched<br />
ones, normally up to twenty centimeters high. Several<br />
are used commercially for the production of<br />
carrageenan (a clear, jelly-like substance).<br />
Carpophyllum (brown algae) is an endemic genus to<br />
New Zealand with four species. Plants are up to two<br />
meters long and form a very distinctive brown to black<br />
band at the low tide level. They possess a 180 degree<br />
twist at the base of the stalk — a feature only found in<br />
Carpophyllum species — which enhances the plant’s<br />
ability to stay attached during extreme wave action.<br />
All species possess rounded air filled bladders that<br />
assist in keeping the plant buoyant e.g. flapjack.<br />
Other brown alga includes bull kelp and bladder kelp.<br />
Bladder kelp is the fastest growing plant in the world,<br />
growing up to 50 centimetres per day.<br />
animals in seaweed<br />
Living in seaweed has several advantages. They are<br />
usually continually moist, dense enough to provide<br />
protection, but open enough to venture to and fro<br />
and a supply of algal tissue on hand. Many seaweed<br />
dwellers are tiny gastropods and crustaceans.<br />
Paua live beneath stones and ledges at low tide mark.<br />
They browse on red and brown seaweed and coralline.<br />
The blue-greens of paua shells are influenced by a<br />
diet of mostly brown algae, while the deep reds and<br />
Bladder kelp<br />
Macrocystis pyrifera<br />
browns of paua shells are<br />
influenced by a diet of mostly<br />
red algae and bladder kelp.<br />
Common bull kelp<br />
Durvillaea antarctica<br />
Top shells feed by scraping up little plants and debris<br />
thct settle on the surface of the seaweed. Catseye are<br />
found in neptune’s necklace and Corralina. Cooks<br />
turban graze on fronds of flapjack and kelp.<br />
The hairy seaweed crab camouflages itself by attaching<br />
seaweed and other various flora and fauna to<br />
its shell. During the day they hide amongst seaweed,<br />
rocks and bury themselves in sand.<br />
The kina is a type of sea urchin. Its usual food is<br />
seaweed.<br />
tHe underWater World<br />
Marine organisms continually battle for survival in<br />
the harsh world under the sea. Few marine animals<br />
die of old age because most are victims of predation.<br />
These organisms have had to adapt to all the different<br />
conditions that can be found in the sea; it is a case of<br />
adapt or die.<br />
Adaptations help organisms avoid predators, obtain<br />
food, produce more healthy young and withstand<br />
different environmental conditions. These special<br />
characteristics have allowed different types of<br />
organisms to inhabit every possible living space in<br />
the seas.<br />
36
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | oceans gallery<br />
Maroro<br />
Flying fish<br />
Cypselurus lineatus<br />
sub tidal cliff<br />
Paea<br />
Broadbill swordfish<br />
Xiphias gladius<br />
Wherever land and oceans meet abruptly a “wall of<br />
mouths” can be found — an environment teeming<br />
with creatures. The Poor Knights Islands marine<br />
reserve, remenents of a series of extinct volcanoes<br />
off the continental shelf of New Zealands northern<br />
east coast, is a good example.<br />
Here mixtures of currents, temperatures, nutrient<br />
flows and diminishing levels of sunlight with depth,<br />
provide the ecological “seabed” for a profusion of<br />
plant, sponge, coral, shell, and fish life. Diverse and<br />
colourful life forms can be found between depths of<br />
30–70 metres. Every piece of the wall is occupied with<br />
creatures crowding and encrusting one another in<br />
astonishing displays of community life.<br />
Yellowfin tuna<br />
Thunnus maccoyii<br />
offshore Fish<br />
Imagine the ocean as a multi-storey hotel. The fish<br />
that live in the top stories (near the surface) are called<br />
pelagic species. Those that live on the lower floors<br />
(in deep water) are demersal species. Then there are<br />
some that live in the basement (near the ocean floor).<br />
A huge variety of species inhabit this oceanic hotel<br />
but many share some common features: they range<br />
widely, are often large and are an important catch for<br />
commercial and recreational fishers.<br />
Ratahuihui<br />
Sunfish<br />
Mola mola<br />
Among the residents are the worlds fastest fish — the<br />
sail fish; the largest bony fish — the sunfish and the<br />
acrobatic flying fish.<br />
Tuna are swift surface fish of tropical and temperate<br />
waters. They migrate in large schools and are common<br />
around New Zealand. There are six species<br />
found in New Zealand e.g. yellow fin tuna. They are<br />
economically important.<br />
The upper jaw of a billfish is shaped like a long spear.<br />
This group of fish includes marlin, broadbill swordfish,<br />
sailfish and spearfish. They are wide ranging surface<br />
fish that feed on other fish and squid. About five<br />
species of billfish occur seasonally in New Zealands<br />
offshore waters, commonly around the northern part<br />
of the country. They are important recreational and<br />
commercial fish, and average 2–3.5 metres in length.<br />
Fins: power, keel and brakes<br />
Black marlin<br />
Makaira indica<br />
Fish control their movements with fins — much like a<br />
yacht uses it sail, keel and rudder. The tail fin pushes<br />
against the water, providing much of the forward<br />
power.<br />
Dorsal and anal fins act as keels to prevent the fish<br />
from rolling and pitching. Unlike the fixed fins of<br />
cartilaginous fish, bony fish fins can be unfurled to<br />
37
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | oceans gallery<br />
Kahawai<br />
Arripis trutta<br />
Oblong sunfish<br />
Ranzania laevis<br />
Carpet shark<br />
Pekapeka<br />
Cephaloscyllium<br />
isabella<br />
Trevally<br />
Araara<br />
Pseudocaranx denrex<br />
Leather-jacket<br />
Kokiri<br />
Parika scaber<br />
Elephant fish<br />
Reperepe<br />
Callorhynchus milii<br />
act as brakes and as paddles for low speed swimming<br />
or if treading water.<br />
Fins of different shapes have evolved to suit different<br />
lifestyles.<br />
To reduce drag, fast fish like the yellowtail kingfish<br />
and kahawai have “V” shaped tail fins.<br />
Finely scaled kingfish generate speed by rapidly<br />
flexing their rigid ‘V’ shaped tail. To fuel the necessary<br />
muscles, kingfish have oxygen rich fatty tissue, which<br />
readily gives up oxygen when required.<br />
Kahawai have large coarse scales that inhibit body<br />
flexing, Instead stiff movements of its broad tail<br />
produce power and movement.<br />
Broad, flat fins give good manoeuvrability and control,<br />
but little speed. e.g. the scarlet wrasse is a bottom<br />
fossicker which uses its pectoral fins for fine control<br />
while feeding. The tail acts as a rudder but is moved<br />
for bursts of speed and direction change.<br />
Fish needing rapid acceleration, such as predators<br />
that lunge at prey, take in the aerodynamic features<br />
of a dart, with fins set well back.<br />
Slow swimmers like seahorses are often armoured<br />
for protection.<br />
While most fish swim with side to side motions there<br />
are other ways of getting about. e.g. flexing large<br />
dorsal and anal fins — oblong sunfish; curving entire<br />
body in snake-like waves — snake eel; rippling dorsal<br />
and anal fins — rough leather jacket; waves passing<br />
along large wing-like pectoral fins — smooth skate;<br />
ripple body and fins — lemon sole.<br />
cartilaginous fish: sharks, rays and chimaeras<br />
New Zealand has 61 species of shark of which half<br />
are harmless dogfish.<br />
Cat sharks are the largest shark family named for<br />
their cat-like eyes e.g. carpet shark.<br />
Mackerel sharks include mako and great white<br />
sharks. Mako are a popular game fish, putting up a<br />
strong fight if caught.<br />
The great white is the largest and most feared of<br />
38
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | oceans gallery<br />
predatory sharks; large individuals will prey on<br />
marine mammals. Usually solitary.<br />
Cowshark have six or seven gill slits; most sharks<br />
have five.<br />
Kitefins belong to the large and important group<br />
of sharks, the dogfish. The pygmy shark at 27<br />
centimetres is one of the smallest sharks.<br />
New Zealand has 17 species of skates and rays, 9<br />
are endemic. Like many seabed dwellers they have<br />
flattened bodies. e.g. eagleray.<br />
Chimeras are cartilaginous fish with a single pair of<br />
gill openings, smooth skin and a large dorsal fin spine.<br />
The mouth is small, with teeth fused into plates e.g.<br />
elephant fish (makorepe).<br />
All cartilaginous fish are carnivores, their teeth<br />
adapted for different foods. Predatory sharks like<br />
mako or great white have sharp sometimes serrated<br />
teeth, like steak knives, for slicing through flesh.<br />
Shellfish feeders, like the elephant fish, have stout<br />
Basking shark<br />
Reremai<br />
Cetorhinus maximus<br />
Great white shark<br />
Mango tuatini<br />
Carcharodon carcharias<br />
flattened teeth to crack open prey. Two of the world’s<br />
largest fish, the whale shark and basking shark, don’t<br />
use teeth to feed at all ; instead they use modified<br />
gills to filter small animals from the water.<br />
When some large predatory sharks (like the great<br />
white) are attacking, the mouth opens and the lower<br />
jaw rolls forward; at the same time it rolls its eyes<br />
back and the final strike is made blind.<br />
Sharks have evolved special sensors (ampullae of<br />
lorenzini), that detect tiny electrical currents produced<br />
by their prey.<br />
Electric rays have further developed this sense. These<br />
stout bodied rays have electric organs in each wing to<br />
detect electric fields and stun prey.<br />
All cartilaginous fish fertilise their eggs internally.<br />
Males have claspers, used to place sperm in the<br />
female.<br />
Many produce live young, but some lay eggs.<br />
Mako<br />
Isurus oxyrinchus<br />
Eagle ray<br />
Whai manu<br />
Myliobatis tenuicaudatus<br />
3
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | oceans gallery<br />
sPecIes ProFIle : korara<br />
blue Penguin<br />
Eudyptula minor<br />
• Penguins occur only in the Southern<br />
Hemisphere. They are flightless seabirds<br />
with non-folding wings. Their food is principally fish,<br />
squid and crustaceans.<br />
• The little blue penguin is the most common New<br />
Zealand penguin occuring form Northland down to<br />
Stewart Island.<br />
• At 300mm in height, the little blue is the smallest of<br />
all penguins.<br />
• It is an impressive ocean traveller, having been<br />
recorded swimming 113km in 34 hours.<br />
• Unlike most other penguin species, the little blue<br />
tends to remain in one area, rather than disperse<br />
across the Southern Ocean during its non-breeding<br />
season.<br />
• The little blue has dropped in numbers close to large<br />
centres of population. The traditional causes of their<br />
decline stoats, dogs and vehicles still exact a toll,<br />
although efforts at conservation such as providing<br />
nesting boxes have had some success.<br />
sPecIes ProFIle : toroa<br />
royal albatross<br />
Diomeda epomophora<br />
• Albatrosses soar over the<br />
Southern ocean in search of<br />
food. Their streamlined bodies<br />
and long slender wings enable<br />
them to fly for weeks at a time without landing.<br />
• They invest much effort in breeding and raising<br />
chicks, so much so that some breed only every 2<br />
years. The royal albatross incubates its eggs for up to<br />
83 days. Once the chick is hatched the adults feed it<br />
regurgitated fish and squid gathered during lengthy,<br />
long-distance fishing expeditions.<br />
• In order to prepare itself for the years it will spend<br />
at sea before returning to its birthplace to breed (6-<br />
15years), the fledging requires great quantities of<br />
food. Between 216 and 303 days hatching, the chick<br />
is finally ready to fly.<br />
• Albatrosses are monogamous, needing both parents<br />
if breeding is to be successful. Eggs are continuously<br />
incubated and the chicks fed for a long time. They<br />
develop a genuine pair bond over their long lives.<br />
• A vital ingredient of the breeding cycle is the<br />
courtship ritual. It is very intricate, with much bill<br />
snapping and groaning.<br />
• Over the past 20 years some species of albatross<br />
have declined at a significant rate, unwitting<br />
casualties of the bluefin tuna fishing industry. 44 000<br />
albatrosses and petrels were being killed each year in<br />
the Japanese fishery which covers huge areas of the<br />
Southern ocean.<br />
sPecIes ProFIle :<br />
nePtunes necklace<br />
Homosira banksii<br />
• Our most common seaweed, a string<br />
of olive brown beads, is neptune’s necklace.<br />
• The beads vary a lot in shape and size, depending on where<br />
they grow, for this plant is extremely adaptable. It may be<br />
found on exposed or sheltered rocky shores, or carpeting<br />
the floor under mangrove forests.<br />
• Each bead of these neptune’s necklace plants is a knobbly<br />
bladder filled with water to prevent desiccation between<br />
tides.<br />
• Plants with the largest bladders live in the mangrove<br />
estuaries, lying open to direct sun among the breathing<br />
roots. They are exposed for most of each tidal cycle, so<br />
their water needs are especially great. These plants have<br />
far more branches than usual, and are also peculiar in not<br />
being attached to anything. The palisade of mangrove roots<br />
is enough to keep them in place as they rise and fall with<br />
the water movements.<br />
• The unattached form of this plant reproduces asexually,<br />
from broken fragments.<br />
• The attached form reproduces sexually, each is distinctly<br />
male or female. The sex organs look like tiny goose-pimples<br />
scattered all over the bladder. The plant squeeze out their<br />
clusters of eggs or sperm in sticky masses which break<br />
apart into a cloud. All plants release their eggs and sperm<br />
at the same time (when high tide washes over them), to<br />
maximise fertilisation.<br />
sPecIes ProFIle: eelgrass<br />
Zostera novazelandica<br />
• A flowering plant that is completely<br />
submerged by the tide.<br />
• Vast pastures of eelgrass can be found in all large<br />
sheltered harbours and can also be found on rocky<br />
coasts in minute havens of shelter, where a suitable<br />
bed of sediment has built up.<br />
• Stems are completely buried, fibrous roots spread<br />
widely and penetrate deep into the black sulphurous<br />
mud. All these underground parts of the plants<br />
interweave to form a firm sod-like mat, which<br />
consolidates the lower shore and extends beyond low<br />
tide and across tidal channels.<br />
• The leaves have a thick cuticle which seems to be<br />
an adaptation against desiccation when the leaves are<br />
left exposed to wind and sun.<br />
• Eelgrass help to accumulate sediments. It has an<br />
important biological role in the productivity of coastal<br />
waters beyond low tide mark. It draws out nutrients<br />
which would otherwise be bound in the deep airless<br />
mud that its roots penetrate. Eelgrass mobilises<br />
minerals by drawing them up into tissues, to be<br />
dispersed when the plant dies or is eaten.<br />
• It secretes considerable amounts of phosphorus, a<br />
mineral essential to the growth of planktonic plants.<br />
40
<strong>natural</strong> <strong>history</strong><br />
background notes | year –13 | oceans<br />
• Eelgrass oxygenates the water which is essential<br />
for all life found under the water<br />
• Eelgrass plants produce flowers, which are tiny and<br />
fertilised underwater, so they are not often seen.<br />
sPecIes ProFIle: kIna<br />
sPIny sea urcHIn<br />
Evechinus chloroticus<br />
• Have no real brain, or head.<br />
Kina may move in any direction.<br />
• Snapper, red moki, blue cod and crayfish feed on<br />
small urchins.<br />
• Lives under ledges and in crevices, clinging with its<br />
tube feet.<br />
• It is covered with spines, like a small hedgehog;<br />
in soft these may wear away a hollow where it is<br />
attached.<br />
• It does not move fast; in fact it does not have to<br />
move at all as it can wait for food to attach itself to<br />
its spines.<br />
• Where there is abundant seaweed, masses of kina<br />
devour large forests.<br />
• Some kina may be as old as 15 years, and grow as<br />
heavy as 1kg.<br />
• For Maori, kina are a delicacy. When the kowhai<br />
are in bloom is when the gonads or roe of the kina<br />
become bright and swollen.<br />
• Kina spawn in spring when eggs and sperm are<br />
produced by gonads of sexually mature kina (3–4<br />
years old). A few days before full moon they are<br />
released. The eggs and sperm fuse to create minute<br />
larvae that float away in the plankton until they settle<br />
2–3 months later.<br />
sPecIes ProFIle :<br />
common mud crab<br />
Helice crassa<br />
• Crabs are one of the important<br />
scavengers of the coastline, cleaning up organic<br />
scraps and in turn providing animals such as fish and<br />
birds with an important source of protein.<br />
• Like all crustaceans, crabs are joint legged, have two pairs<br />
of antennae and moult their shells as they grow larger.<br />
• Crabs protect themselves in a number of ways. Their<br />
shell-like cover or carapace acts like a suit of armour, and<br />
they can give a potential predator a painful nip with their<br />
powerful claws.<br />
• A mudflat at low tide reveals countless tiny burrows, the<br />
homes of common mud crabs.<br />
• Mud crabs are extremely wary of any large moving object,<br />
they scuttle for cover when approached.<br />
• Seabirds and kotare are predators of the mud crab, as<br />
well as fish.<br />
• Outside their burrows are heaps of tailings and tiny dung<br />
pellets, which the crab cleans out as the tide goes out. This<br />
allows easy access to the burrow when needed.<br />
• They feed on the minute particles of organic matter with<br />
which the mud is impregnated.<br />
41
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