New Zealand’s Native Animals

The Maud Island FrogThe 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

The Maud Island Frog

Click on the picture to watch a video about the Maud Island Frog

TuataraTuatara 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.

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

Click on the picture to watch a video about the tuatara

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.

Click on the picture to watch a video about the pekapeka (native bat)

Maui’s DolphinsMaui’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..

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.