New Zealand has the highest proportion of endangered species than any other country.
Separation from Gondwana land millions of years ago allowed New Zealand to form unique species with no predators. When predators and pests (including humans!) arrived they had a devastating effect on our flora and fauna which had little defense. Humans hunted moa, introduced exotic species (plants and animals) which competed with native species, and burned and cleared land which destroyed habitat.
Stats:
52 species of bird have become extinct with the arrival of humans in NZ.
500 species of indigenous flora and fauna are on the brink of extinction (includes: bats, giant snail, giant tusked weta, kakapo).
40% of our reptiles are threatened with extinction.
We used to have 7 species of native frog. Now we have 4.
Kiwi populations have fallen to 1% of what they were 80 years ago
Kiwi populations are predicted to halve by 2016
Nearly 2 million hectares of conservation land are in a state of ecological collapse.
Possums
55 million possums in NZ eat 21,000 tonnes of food every night! This includes; berries, flowers, fruit, native bird's eggs and invertebrates like weta and land snails.
Some possums carry bovine tuberculosis; an infectious disease that is passed onto cattle and other animals causing wasting of the lungs and impacts on other internal organs.
Stoats
Stoats eat lizards, mice, weta, and insects. On average they can kill 40 kiwi chicks per day which adds up to 15,000 per annum.
35 per cent of the chicks are also the victims of other predators including ferrets.
Rats
There are 3 species of rat, Ship rat, Norway rat and Kiore.
Rats are good tree climbers and will eat chicks and bird eggs. They also eat lizards, weta and other invertebrates.
