Freshwater fish decline not unique to NZ



One of NZ's most endangered species, the Giant Kōkopu. Photo: Shaun Crooks



It turns out that New Zealand isn't the only country to have a rapidly declining population of freshwater fish. A study carried out in North America predicts 86 species and subspecies will go extinct by 2050. The article pins pollution as a major contributor to freshwater fish decline, an issue that is key in waterway degradation in New Zealand as well.

Read: Freshwater Fish Are Dying at Alarming Rates

Don't be discouraged by the doom and gloom predictions of this article, though, help keep our waterways and our fish stock healthy by taking simple steps like keeping rubbish and other pollutants out of streams and rivers. It may sound too simple to solve such a serious issue, but every positive effort helps.

For more information on what you can do, read: New Zealand's native freshwater fish (DOC publication)

Weta midwives



Photo: Robert Kitchin/Fairfax NZ



If you caught last Saturday's Manawatu Standard article about the baby cave weta at Te Manawa, you may have noticed that Ange and I have been coined 'weta midwives' due to our successful breeding of cave weta babies.

If you didn't catch it, read it here: Skittish cave dwellers

After reading this article, you might come away thinking "Wow, these guys don't really know much about cave weta at all". And you would be pretty much correct. Cave weta are tricky to study and little has been formally documented about this species, in addition to the difficulty with what constitutes a single species of weta in the first place. Luckily Steve Trewick and his team at Massey are on the case to try to shed more light on weta genetics, and in the meantime, we at Te Manawa will continue collecting as much info as we can on the topic of captive management and breeding.

You may interested to know that since the publishing of this article last week, we have been able to spot nine babies and the biggest babies are growing fast! It will be very exciting to track the progress of these babies as they grow and develop.

If you are visiting Te Manawa and want to spot the babies, you will need to ask a Visitor Host to point them out for you. Or, you can also catch one of us Animal Keepers every Saturday and Sunday afternoons at 3pm when we do our Public Fish Feeding.