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

[nfoster at extremezone.com]

Jewel:

is your background in biology or some other science?

You seem to know so much about New Zealands's environment.

Nella

Quoting Jewel <jewelblanch at kinect.co.nz>:

> 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
>
>
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