Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The siphon whelk Penion ormesi is a large, marine snail species endemic to New Zealand. New Zealand has a high number of endemic species, [17] such as: 80% of all vascular plants; 70% of all native terrestrial and freshwater birds; All bats; All native amphibians; All reptiles; 90% of freshwater fish; 90% of insects and molluscs 75% of marine ...
Fauna of New Zealand. The kiwi is a national symbol of New Zealand. The animals of New Zealand, part of its biota, have an unusual history because, before the arrival of humans, less than 900 years ago, the country was mostly free of mammals, except those that could swim there (seals, sea lions, and, off-shore, whales and dolphins) or fly there ...
Approximately 71% of the bird species breeding in New Zealand before humans arrived are widely accepted as being endemic. [ 1 ] There is also a smaller group of species are not fully endemic, but are breeding endemic, in that they breed only in New Zealand, but migrate or range elsewhere.
From the time of first human settlement until 1994, 43 (or 46%) of the 93 endemic land, freshwater and coastal bird species have become extinct, as have 4 of the 22 endemic seabird species (making 41% of all endemic species extinct), according to a 1997 report.
The weka, also known as the Māori hen [2] or woodhen (Gallirallus australis) is a flightless bird species of the rail family. It is endemic to New Zealand. Some authorities consider it as the only extant member of the genus Gallirallus. [3] Four subspecies are recognized but only two (northern/southern) are supported by genetic evidence. [4]
This is a list of the native living mammals of New Zealand. It does not include introduced species, nor extinct Saint Bathans fauna. There are around 51 native mammal species in New Zealand, of which three are critically endangered, three are endangered, three are vulnerable, and one is near threatened. [1]
Before the arrival of humans in the 13th century or earlier, New Zealand's only endemic mammals were three species of bat, and the ecological niches that in other parts of the world were filled by creatures as diverse as horses, wolves and mice were taken up by birds (and, to a lesser extent, reptiles, insects and gastropods).
Hector's dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori) is one of four dolphin species belonging to the genus Cephalorhynchus.Hector's dolphin is the only cetacean endemic to New Zealand, and comprises two subspecies: C. h. hectori, the more numerous subspecies, also referred to as South Island Hector's dolphin; and the critically endangered Māui dolphin (C. h. maui), found off the West Coast of the North ...