[Ag-eq] re" a little peep into New Zealand ecology

[Jewel]

I looked up Hamilton's frog on Wikipedia, but found very little relevant information there.
I will ring Lindsay Haysley, the "tuatara man" at the Southland museum tomorrow to see if he can 
provide more details than Wiki gave.  The Southland museum, amongst others,  has a very successful 
tuatara breeding colony:  to the point that there are sufficient juveniles to start free-living 
populations on off shore predator-free islands, and it is hoped that they can be reintroduced to the 
mainland where they have not existed for many many years.   Incidentally, the Tuatara also lives on 
Stevens' island and predates Hamilton's frog which does surprise  me a little as Tuatara are very 
slow:  they can go 90 seconds between one breath and the next:  while I think of frogs being quite 
quick on their feet.  The H frog has the IUCN classification of critically endangered but I doubt 
that the Tuatara is to blame for this!"  after all, tuatara share the burrow with the broad-billed 
Prion and do take Prion chicks when they get the opportunity and those are not hard to find as the 
parents are out at see all day leaving their children at home, alone and unprotected, but the prion, 
though not prolific is in no grave danger of extinction.
Hamilton's frog used to live on the mainland and may have been moved to Stevens' island as it is one 
of our predator-free islands:  that is:  free of predators such as cats and rats!

       Jewel