2. The Maud Island Frog
The Maud Island Frog is one of only four native frogs in
New Zealand. They are found on Maud Island.
The Maud Island Frog is quite different from other
other frogs because:
It doesn’t have webbed toes
It doesn’t croak
It doesn’t have a tadpole stage
3. The Maud Island Frog
Click on the picture to watch a video about the Maud Island Frog
4. Tuatara
Tuatara are rare, medium sized reptiles that are found
only in New Zealand.
The tuatara is famous because it is the only survivor of an
ancient group of reptiles that roamed the earth at the
same time as dinosaurs.
They once lived throughout New Zealand but now only
survive in the wild on 32 offshore islands.
To help the population grow and keep them safer from
extinction, some tuatara have been taken to other, rat-free
islands including Matiu/ Somes Island in Wellington
harbour.
5. Interesting facts about the tuatara
They can hold their breath for an hour
They can live to be over 100 years old
Like other reptiles, tuatara are cold-blooded, which
means their temperatures change with the air
temperature
Tuatara are nocturnal but young ones often go hunting
for food during the day so that they aren’t eaten by
bigger tuatara at night
They shed their skin once a year
They often live in old burrows previously dug by
seabirds
6. Click on the picture to watch a video about the tuatara
7. The Short Tailed Bat
-Pekapeka-
There are two species of short-tailed bat. The greater short-
tailed bat (Mystacina robusta) was found on two islands off
Stewart Island but following an invasion of ship rats, it was last
sighted in 1967 and is probably extinct.
The short-tailed bat is one of the few bats in the world which
spends large amounts of time on the forest floor, using its
folded wings as `front limbs' for scrambling around.
Short-tailed bats are found in indigenous forests where they
roost, singly or communally, in hollow trees. The bats go into a
'torpor' in cold weather and stay in their roosts. They wake up
as soon as the weather becomes warmer.
Its diet consists of insects, fruit, nectar and pollen.
8. Click on the picture to watch a video about the pekapeka (native bat)
9. Maui’s Dolphins
Maui’s dolphins are a sub-species of Hector’s dolphins,
the world’s smallest dolphin. They are found on the west
coast of the North Island of New Zealand and nowhere
else in the world. It is one of the world’s rarest dolphins..
10. Maui’s dolphins eat a variety of species of fish
They are the only dolphins with a well-rounded, black
dorsal fin
• Female Maui’s dolphins
have just one calf every
two years
• Hector’s and Maui's
dolphins are known to
Māori by other names
including tutumairekurai,
aihe, pahu, popoto,
papakanua, upokohue,
tukuperu, tūpoupou and
hopuhopu.
