Zealandia (Wildlife Sanctuary)

Visitor center and entrance to the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary

Zealandia (Wildlife Sanctuary) is a nature conservation area in Wellington , New Zealand . It was established in 1995 as the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary and renamed Zealandia in 2010, based on the continental plaice Zealandia. Here one tries to restore the biodiversity on an ecological island of 225 hectares of forest. The sanctuary includes a former wellington water abstraction area between Wrights Hill , bordering Karori , and Kowhai Park .

The key feature is a 8.6-kilometer protective fence designed to keep fourteen species of alien mammals from the possum to the house mouse out of the area. The fence was completed in 1999 and thereafter the fourteen species in the area within the fence were wiped out. This fence was the first of its kind in the world, as it also excluded predators and was not only directed against the spread of an animal species like the Rabbit-Proof Fence in Australia. The fence served its purpose; in 2006 none of the extinct species except the house mouse re-entered the protected area.

This sanctuary inspired similar projects across New Zealand, including the 98 hectare Bushy Park in Wanganui , the 7.7 hectare remnant of a stone slab forest from Riccarton Bush / Putaringamotu in Christchurch, and the 3,500 hectare Maungatautari Restoration Project in Waikato.

Lower Karori Reservoir , looking northeast

Flora and fauna are currently recovering from the state of decline that existed before they were placed under protection. The valley's primeval forest was burned down in the 1850s and 1860s and the land was used as farmland until 1906. The natural forest has since been recovering but is still in the early stages of succession in most areas , with small, tenacious trees such as mahoe ( Melicytus ramiflorus ) dominating. Species of the original flora that are missing or rare today are large stone vines such as Rimu ( Dacrydium cupressinum ), Matai ( Prumnopitys taxifolia ), Miro ( P. ferruginea ), Kahikatea ( Dacrycarpus dacrydioides ) and Totara ( Podocarpus totara ). These will be resettled. North Island ironwood (Northern Rātā, Metrosideros robusta ) has also almost disappeared from the valley, and several seedlings have been planted. However, there is already a large variety of native tree species that serve the local fauna as the basis of life, including a mature population of the New Zealand tree fuchsia ( Fuchsia excorticata ).

The sanctuary is now a major tourist destination in the city of Wellington and is responsible for the rapidly increasing sightings of birds such as the Tui and Bellbird ( Anthornis melanura ) in the western suburbs of Wellington.

species

Toutouwai, one of the species found in the reserve.

• Native birds that have been introduced since 2000:
  • Maori bell honeyeater (Korimako, Anthornis melanura )
  • New Zealand duck (Pateke, Anas chlorotis )
  • North Island kākā ( Nestor meridionalis )
  • Dwarf kiwi (Kiwi pukupuku, Apteryx owenii )
  • Maori fruit pigeon (Kererū, Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae )
  • Long-legged flycatcher (Toutouwai, Petroica longipes )
  • Saddle star , northern subspecies (Tieke, Philesturnus carunculatus rufusater )
  • Maori duck (Papango, Aythya novaeseelandiae )
  • Yellow banded honey eater (Hihi, Notiomystis cincta )
  • North Island Maori Flycatcher (Miromiro, Petroica macrocephala toitoi )
  • North Island Wekaralle ( Gallirallus australis )
  • White-headed (Popokatea, Mohoua albicilla )

• Other native species that have been introduced since 2000:
  • 70 bridge lizards ( Sphenodon punctatus ) were transferred here from Stephens Island in December 2005.
  • 100 giant weta
  • 21 Maud Island frogs ( Leiopelma pakeka )

• Other native species that spread on their own:
  • Gray fanned tail (Piwakawaka, Rhipidura fulginosa placabilis )
  • Gray Warbler (Riroriro, Gerygone igata )
  • Tui ( Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae )
  • Spring parakeet (Kakariki, Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae )
  • Forest gray gecko ( Hoplodactylus granulatus )
  • Skink

Species the fence is designed to exclude

• Black rat
• Domestic cat
• Deer
• dogs
• Ferrets
• Goats
• Hedgehog
• House mouse
• Brown rat
• Pacific rat
• Pigs
• Possum
• ermine
• Weasel

Web links

Commons : Karori Wildlife Sanctuary  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Zealandia website

Individual evidence

1. ^ Wildlife reserve our new Zealandia. Retrieved August 18, 2019 . 

Coordinates: 41 ° 17 ′ 25.7 ″  S , 174 ° 45 ′ 11.6 ″  E