Through the ZEALANDIA youth ambassador programme, young people in Wellington were given the opportunity to contribute to conservation with support from the ecosanctuary. Elizabeth Werner is 18 years old and from Tawa. She is passionate about science communication and loves to creatively express the issues facing the environment through public speaking, art, and dance. 

The male five-month old takahē chick at ZEALANDIA, has been named. 

The chick has been given the name Te Āwhiorangi which means ‘the encircler of heaven’. It references a sacred pounamu adze (cutting tool) that is said to be used by the atua (god) Tāne to cut the sinews that bound Ranginui (the sky father) and Papatūānuku (the earth mother). 
 
The name has been agreed by ZEALANDIA, Taranaki Whānui te Upoko o te Ika and the Department of Conservation's Takahē Recovery Programme.

A team from Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) came to ZEALANDIA on 2 April to set one of the regional State of the Environment (SoE) monitoring plots. GWRC Terrestrial Biodiversity SoE monitoring programme aims to monitor the state of biodiversity, pressure by weeds and animal pests and effectiveness of pest management. 

Hihi were first introduced into Zealandia in 2005 with 60 birds translocated from Tiri Tiri Matangi Island. Since then they have bred successfully every year and this week the 1000th hihi hatched at Zealandia was issued with its unique combination of coloured leg bands.

We recently announced that our resident takahē, Nio and Orbell, have hatched a chick! 

ZEALANDIA's Lead Ranger Conservation, Ellen Irwin, has compiled some common Qs & As around how we're responding to this exciting arrival.

The October 2018 weasel incursion of ZEALANDIA garnered a lot of publicity and many questions. We've compiled answers to some of the most common ones that we received.

You may not see very much of the newest arrivals in the valley, but they are being carefully monitored all the same.

Two hundred kākahi (New Zealand freshwater mussels) have just been translocated from Wairarapa Moana and the Parangarahu lakes to the Upper Lake with the help of iwi partners, Taranaki Whānui, Ngāti Kahungunu, and Rangitāne o Wairarapa. Two different kākahi  species were included in the translocation: Echyridella menziesi and Echyridella aucklandica.

Aotearoa is well known as a land of birds. Some of the earliest observations of the country’s natural history were ornithological: Joseph Banks famously described being “awakd by the singing of the birds ashore” on his voyage aboard the HMS Endeavour (1768-1771). Ngā manu (birds) often appear in whakataukī (Māori proverbs). The phrase: “He Kotuku rerenga tahi/ A white heron flies once” is used to refer to an auspicious occasion. Birds are taonga and part of the ‘kiwi’ identity. They have become part of our national brand, standing for the uniqueness of our way of life and the fragility of our ecosystems, and we treasure them for it.

ZEALANDIA is welcoming a new addition to the sanctuary - Kākahi (freshwater mussels) are being introduced to our upper lake for the first time!

While they don’t have feathers and eyes, we are REALLY excited. The two species of kākahi are considered as ‘At Risk – Declining’ by the Department of Conservation—and they have a very important role as an ‘ecosystem engineer’ in our waterways. They can help keep lakes clean and healthy.

ZEALANDIA has received the precious fruits of the rare plant, pikirangi or green mistletoe (Ileostylus micranthus). This species has disappeared from Te Māra a Tāne (the sanctuary valley) and Wellington City, and is rare in the wider Wellington region.