davidb

He there, Im not exactly a newbie, but as I havent posted in ages and everyone has probably forgotten about me I thought I'd just check in so those who had remembered about me know i'm alive! I don't have any fish tanks at home at the moment, but i'm still live-animal curator at the Auckland Museum (come in if you havent been in ages- level 1). I'm on a sabattical from that at the moment though, and I'm working at Whakanewha regional park on Waiheke for three months as a summer ranger doing biodiversity work. Doing my Masters research in the Cook Islands this year looking at how local people can do endangered species conservation in developing regions. Would be good to hear how you all are and I'll try to pop in once in a while

looks cool- will look even better when the plants grow

looks like a type of flatworm but im not an expert on worms

got bigger sized pics bro?

yellow northland green gecko Wellington green gecko Forest gecko Duvecals gecko Tuatara

“NZ Life in Cold Blood” - a two part seminar by Ben Barr & Dylan van Winkel Ben Barr: Investigating chevron skink (Oligosoma homalonotum) ecology and the benefits of rodent control on Great Barrier Island. The chevron skink (or chevy as Ben calls it) is Nationally Endangered and is only found on Little Barrier and Great Barrier Islands. The threats to chevron skink are currently unknown, therefore its very existence hangs in the balance. Chevies went missing for over 70 years before turning up on Great Barrier Island in the 1970's. Since then just over 300 records have been reported, which makes this a very enigmatic species. Ben’s research was aimed at learning more about the ecology and behaviour of these incredible animals, with results suggesting that the biggest adults might be too much for a rat to handle, and flooding makes them head for the hills. Dylan van Winkel: Translocating Duvaucel’s geckos (Hoplodactylus duvaucelii) and native bird predation on lizards. New Zealand’s native herpetofauna are highly susceptible to introduced mammalian predators and as a result, the distribution of many species has contracted to only a few offshore islands. Translocating threatened species to protected, predator-free islands may help to secure further populations. However, very little is known about the post-translocation response of lizards, following an inter-island translocation. Using radio-transmitters, a variety of survey methods, and a lot of persistence Dylan and co-workers managed to describe how Duvaucel’s geckos behaved and responded to a translocation from Korapuki Island (Mercury Islands, Coromandel) to Tiritiri Matangi and Motuora Islands (Hauraki Gulf). Predation by native birds (e.g. kingfishers, morepork) will also be discussed, in the context of maximising translocation success. DATE & TIME: Thursday 20 August 6:30 – 8:00 pm Grasslands Room, Auckland Zoo. Meet 6:25 pm sharp at Auckland Zoo front gate off Motions Road, Western Springs. COST (per seminar): ZSA Members and Auckland Zoo Staff - Free Auckland Zoo Volunteers, OAP and tertiary students on presentation of Student ID card - $5.00 General Entry - $ 10.00 (Door fee provides donation for work of the Zoological Society of Auckland) Tea, coffee, soft drinks and biscuits are provided before and after the seminar, during which time there will be opportunities to ask questions and mingle.

i agree with LA. I do successfully keep 2x BTs with a BD in a 80x80x80 though

my entries! a two week old dotterel chick going for its first swim The neighbours cat the baby chimp at wellington zoo

yes that's a majano

if you were blind you would be nippy too

as repto says. closer to 14 I find

banded kokopu?

still need someone bulldogod? I can look after again. sorry doing post grad so dont have time to check forums often but PM me if you need...

i have had forest geckos breed inside, cant remember if I have had greens breed inside too, pretty sure. if you are worried about cats put the cage on stilts

yes there was one instance where a PhD student was doing their research and had radiotagged a number of kiwi. from extrapolation (as obviously the dog didn't only go for radiotagged kiwi) we can estimate that the single dog wiped out 400 kiwi. Dogs are a far bigger threat to kiwi than mustelids. Kiwi are pretty large and hardy in comparison to many other natives, which is why they have been doing so well in Northland. Of the mustelids stoats are the biggest threats, not only do they kill for fun but they can swim over a km. You can tell the relative hardiness of different birds by looking at when they became extinct on the mainland. Many native snipe and other small ground dwelling birds became extinct when the kiore arrived 750 years ago, then saddlebacks etc went when the larger rats arrived, it is thought that mustelids caused the extinction of huia and are definatly the cause of the decline in kakapo on the mainland. Whio too, are primarialy threatened by stoats and feral cats. And I havent even got into possums.... possums eat invertebrates, endangered endemic mistletoe, rata and various other trees, they eat birds eggs and I have even see photos of them eating baby birds- vicious little bastards. Hedgehogs are underrated as a pest IMO too. I have caught many a hedgehog in traps surrounding dotterel nests, as the hedgehogs have a great sense of smell and just walk over and eat the dotterel eggs. They are also a big killer of native inverts along with rats. Ill leave pigs, deer and feral cats for another day haha!