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Cats In New Zealand
Cats are a popular pet in New Zealand. Cat ownership is occasionally raised as a controversial environmental issue, conservation issue due to the Cat predation on wildlife, predation of endangered species, such as birds and lizards, by feral cats. Population of cats The domestic cat (''Felis catus'') first arrived at New Zealand on James Cook, Captain James Cook's ship ''HMS Endeavour'' in the mid-18th century, but were established by European settlers a century later. Domestic cats Companion animals are popular in New Zealand, with 60% of households having either a cat or a dog. In 2020, Companion Animals New Zealand reported that there are around 1.2 million domestic cats in New Zealand, with around 41% of households having at least one cat. Trends in cat ownership are: Stray and feral cats The estimated populations of stray and feral cats are 200,000 and 2.4 million respectively. Legislation, code of practice and bylaws There are extensive sections of the Animal Welfare Ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of island countries, sixth-largest island country by area and lies east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. The Geography of New Zealand, country's varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including the Southern Alps (), owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. Capital of New Zealand, New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland. The islands of New Zealand were the last large habitable land to be settled by humans. Between about 1280 and 1350, Polynesians began to settle in the islands and subsequently developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight and record New Zealand. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Motuihe
Motuihe Island (official name: Motuihe Island / Te Motu-a-Ihenga) lies between Motutapu and Waiheke islands in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand, near Auckland. The island measures , of which around are remnants of coastal forest. The island is a recreation reserve controlled by the Department of Conservation (DOC) and administered by the Motuihe Trust. It is a popular spot for day trips, accessible from Auckland by seaplane or by private boat. The island is known for its beautiful beaches.Motuihe Recreation Reserve . Department of Conservation. Retrieved 27 February 2008.Motuihe Project ". Motuihe T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mackenzie Basin
The Mackenzie Basin (), popularly and traditionally known as the Mackenzie Country, is an elliptical intermontane river basin, basin located in the Mackenzie District, Mackenzie and Waitaki Districts, near the centre of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the largest such basin in New Zealand. Historically famous mainly for sheep farming, the sparsely populated area is now also a popular tourism destination. The basin was named in the 1850s by and after James Mckenzie (outlaw), James Mckenzie, a shepherd and would-be farmer of Scottish origin. Mckenzie was captured for allegedly stealing sheep; he herded his flocks in what was then an area almost totally empty of any human habitation, though Māori people, Māori previously lived there intermittently. After his capture, the area was soon divided up amongst new sheep pasture stations in 1857. Geography The basin extends approximately north to south, and east to west. The Southern Alps constitute its western edge. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Stilt
The black stilt (''Himantopus novaezelandiae'') or kakī (Māori language, Māori) is a wading bird found in New Zealand. It is one of the world's rarest birds, with 169 adults surviving in the wild as of May 2020. Adult kakī have distinctive black plumage, long pink legs, and a long thin black bill. Black stilts largely breed in the Mackenzie Basin in the South Island, and are threatened by introduced Cats in New Zealand, feral cats, ferrets, and hedgehogs as well as habitat degradation from hydroelectric dams, agriculture, and invasive weeds. Taxonomy and systematics Black stilts are one of several species in the genus Stilt, ''Himantopus'', classified along with avocets in the family Recurvirostridae. Although genetically and behaviourally distinct from Black-winged stilt, pied stilts (''Himantopus himantopus''), they are able to successfully hybridise with them. Hybridisation and dilution of the gene pool is one reason black stilts are threatened with extinction. Black an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Island Saddleback
The North Island saddleback (''Philesturnus rufusater'') is a forest-dwelling passerine bird species endemic (ecology), endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It was once considered conspecific with the South Island saddleback. The IUCN lists the species as Near Threatened, while it is listed as a "relict" species in the New Zealand Threat Classification System. Saddlebacks are known in Māori language, Māori as ''tīeke''. Taxonomy and systematics René Lesson first described the species in 1828 from a specimen collected in the Bay of Islands four years earlier, using the binomial name ''Icterus rufusater''. The Specific name (zoology), specific name ''rufusater'' refers to the saddleback's plumage – a combination of the Latin words ''rufus'' 'reddish-brown', and ''ater'' 'black'. Their placement in the genus ''New World oriole, Icterus'' has since been revised, and the two saddleback species are now in their own genus, ''Philesturnus''. The name of this genus, created ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raoul Island
Raoul Island (''Sunday Island''; ) is the largest and northernmost of the main Kermadec Islands, south south-west of 'Ata Island of Tonga and north north-east of New Zealand's North Island. It has been the source of vigorous volcanic activity during the past several thousand years that was dominated by dacite, dacitic explosive eruptions, with the largest being Volcanic explosivity index, VEI-6. The area of the anvil-shaped island, including fringing islets and rocks mainly in the northeast, but also a few smaller ones in the southeast, is . The highest elevation is Moumoukai Peak, at an elevation of . Although Raoul is the only island in the Kermadec Islands, Kermadec group large enough to support settlement, it lacks a safe harbour, and landings from small boats can be made only in calm weather. The island consists of two mountainous areas, one with summits of and , and the other with a summit of , the two separated by a depression which is the caldera of the Raoul volcan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mangere Island
Mangere Island (Moriori: ) is part of the Chatham Islands archipelago, located about east of New Zealand's South Island and has an area of . The island lies off the west coast of Pitt Island, south-east of the main settlement in the Chathams, Waitangi, on Chatham Island. Mangere and nearby Tapuaenuku ( Little Mangere) are the eroded remains of an ancient volcano of Pliocene age. Whakapa, the island's highest point, is above sea level. Forested until the 1890s, the island was largely cleared for sheep grazing. Rabbits and then cats were also introduced but later died out. Farmed until 1966, the island was then purchased by the New Zealand government and gazetted as a Nature Reserve.Mangere Island restoration (from the Department of Conservation website) The last sheep were removed in 1968 and [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stewart Island / Rakiura
Stewart Island (, 'Aurora, glowing skies', officially Stewart Island / Rakiura, formerly New Leinster) is New Zealand's third-largest island, located south of the South Island, across Foveaux Strait. It is a roughly triangular island with a land area of . Its coastline is indented by Paterson Inlet (east), Port Pegasus (south), and Mason Bay (west). The island is generally hilly (rising to at Mount Anglem) and densely forested. Flightless Birds of New Zealand, birds, including penguins, thrive because there are few introduced predators. Almost all the island is owned by the New Zealand government, and over 80 percent of the island forms Rakiura National Park. Stewart Island's economy depends on fishing and summer tourism in New Zealand, tourism. Its permanent population was recorded at 408 people in the 2018 New Zealand census, 2018 census. Most residents live in the settlement of Oban, New Zealand, Oban on the eastern side of the island. Ferries connect Oban to Bluff, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kākāpō
The kākāpō (; : ; ''Strigops habroptilus''), sometimes known as the owl parrot or owl-faced parrot, is a species of large, nocturnal, ground-dwelling parrot of the superfamily Strigopoidea. It is endemic to New Zealand. Kākāpō can be up to long. They have a combination of unique traits among parrots: finely blotched yellow-green plumage, a distinct facial disc, owl-style forward-facing eyes with surrounding discs of specially-textured feathers, a large grey beak, short legs, large blue feet, relatively short wings and a short tail. It is the world's only Flightless bird, flightless parrot, the world's heaviest parrot, and also is nocturnal, herbivorous, visibly sexual dimorphism, sexually dimorphic in body size, has a low basal metabolic rate, and does not have male Parental care in birds, parental care. It is the only parrot to have a Polygyny in animals, polygynous Lek mating, lek breeding system. It is also possibly one of the world's longest-living birds, with a re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lyall's Wren
Lyall's wren or the Stephens Island wren (''Traversia lyalli'') was a small, flightless passerine belonging to the family Acanthisittidae, the New Zealand wrens. Now extinct, it was once found throughout New Zealand, but when it came to the attention of scientists in 1894, its last refuge was Stephens Island in Cook Strait. Often claimed to be a species driven extinct by a single creature (a lighthouse keeper's cat named Tibbles), the wren in fact fell victim to the island's numerous feral cats. The wren was described almost simultaneously by both Walter Rothschild and Walter Buller. It became extinct shortly thereafter. Taxonomy The bird's scientific name commemorates the assistant lighthouse keeper, David Lyall, who first brought the bird to the attention of science. It was described as a distinct genus, ''Traversia'', in honour of naturalist and curio dealer Henry H. Travers, who procured many specimens from Lyall. ''Traversia'' is a member of the family Acanthisittidae ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Feral Cat
A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact; it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens of generations and become a local apex predator in urban, savannah and bushland environments, and especially on islands where native animals did not evolve alongside predators. Some feral cats may become more comfortable with people who regularly feed them, but even with long-term attempts at socialization of animals, socialization, they usually remain aloof and reject human touch. Of the 700 million cats in the world, an estimated 480 million are feral. Feral cats are devastating to wildlife, and conservation biologists consider them to be one of the worst invasive species on Earth. They are included in the list of 100 of the World's Worst Invasive Alien Species, the world's 100 worst invasive alien species. Attempts to control feral cat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invasive Species
An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native species that become harmful to their native environment after human alterations to its food web. Since the 20th century, invasive species have become serious economic, social, and environmental threats worldwide. Invasion of long-established ecosystems by organisms is a natural phenomenon, but human-facilitated introductions have greatly increased the rate, scale, and geographic range of invasion. For millennia, humans have served as both accidental and deliberate dispersal agents, beginning with their earliest migrations, accelerating in the Age of Discovery, and accelerating again with the spread of international trade. Notable invasive plant species include the kudzu vine, giant hogweed (''Heracleum mantegazzianum''), Japanese knotw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
