cross-posted from: https://no.lastname.nz/post/1904329

FERAL: The advance of destructive wild cats across New Zealand’s native heartland. Could hunters help stem the feral cat crisis?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.nz/post/21928125

An entomologist says the spread of Portuguese millipedes across Wellington - and beyond - is almost certain after residents on the south coast sounded the alarm about infestations of the invasive species.

Residents have described waking to find hundreds of scaly black millipedes around their homes, discovering them in shoes, bags and even their beds.

Biosecurity New Zealand said the invertebrate had been identified on the south coast and in Lower Hutt for about 20 years, but not much was known about it.

A local councillor is now calling for an urgent meeting with local authorities to discuss how to tackle the problem.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.nz/post/20824120

International media and scientific organisations are lapping up footage of a real life ‘Sharktopus’ filmed in the Hauraki Gulf.

Marine biologist Professor Rochelle Constantine said the encounter in December 2023 was a tale to top them all.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.nz/post/19585794

This is a black petrel, a tākoketai - a seagull-sized bird that only nests in New Zealand.

Once found across the North Island and near Nelson, the species has dwindled to a colony of about 5000 breeding pairs here on Aotea/Great Barrier Island, and a smaller colony on Hauturu/Little Barrier Island.

For nearly 30 years now, a team of conservationists have surveyed the Aotea colony, precariously located on the summit of Hirakimata/Mt Hobson, the island’s tallest mountain.

The birds of the colony are good breeders. On average, more than 70 percent of petrel parents monitored by the survey successfully fledge a chick each year.

But of the thousands of chicks that have been banded over the decades, only about 10 percent of them have ever been found again.

What happens to the rest is still largely a mystery.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.nz/post/17304016

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/23139121

The Nature of Kahurangi National Park and Northwest Nelson

At the top of the South Island, the Kahurangi National Park and adjoining areas are home to many plants and animals that aren’t found anywhere else on the planet. Kahurangi means precious; to be prized and award-winning writer Dave Hansford wants all New Zealanders to understand why the biodiversity and beauty of this region is exactly that, prized and precious.

His new work is more than a coffee table book with stunning pictures of the landscape and wildlife. It’s a plea to protect this sacred and wild land from the political, economic and social forces that jeopardize its future.

The book is called Kahurangi: The Nature of Kahurangi National Park and Northwest Nelson

The Taranaki Regional Council has launched a interactive map to make it easier for the public to log sightings of Australasian bittern.