Figure 1.--As an island nation spanning both temperate and sub-tropical areas, there is atremendous diversity of narine life in New Zealand coastal waters. These dolphins off Milford Sound were bow riding in front of a boat. |
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The Maori found a heavily forested land when they arrived on New Zealand. When the Europeans arrived in the mid-19th century, 80 percent of New Zealand was forested. Today despite extensive agricultural development, over 20 percent of the country is still covered by forests. These forests and undeveloped natural land are one of New Zealand's attractions as a major Pacific tourist destination. This large amount of wilderness which is home to many unique plants and animals.
The characteristic New Zealand forest is warm-temperate, evergreen rain forest of podocarps (rimu,
totara, matai and kahikatea) with associated evergreen tree species, giant tree ferns and
epiphytes. Other distinctive native trees include several varieties of beech, the cabbage tree, the
nikau palm and the giant kauri trees of the north. There are many flowering plants and trees unique
to New Zealand such as the kowhai, rata and the pohutukawa tree.
New Zealand's geographic isolated from other land masses, means that it has few of the advanced animal species that evolved on the large continental land masses. Apart from two species of bats, there are no native land animals. Instead, unique and often rare species of plants, birds and insects have developed on these isolated Pacific islands. Some birds including the kiwi, kakapo and weka thrived on the forest floor, because of the lack of mammals and became flightless.
The European settlers introduced various exotic animals such as the possum, which have had unforseen consequences. The native birds have now
become very rare because the now ubiquitous possoms eat bird eggs. Other native birds include the kea (mountain parrot), the kaka, the tui and the yellow-eyed penguin. Many seabirds live on New Zealand's shores including albatrosses,
shearwaters, petrels and penguins.
Virtually all New Zealand's native insects are found nowhere else. The world's heaviest insect, the
cricket-like giant weta, some of which are about the size of a mouse, is quite harmless. Several
species of giant snails and unusual frogs reside in isolated areas. The tuatara, an ancient reptile
with a lineage extending back to the age of the dinosaurs, is found only in New Zealand. There are
no snakes or poisonous creatures except for the very rare coastal katipo spider.
