MEDIA RELEASE
Monday 30 August 2010

You Gotta Love the Baby Bugs at Butterfly Creek!

The theme for Conservation Week 2010 is ‘Love New Zealand’ and the Department of Conservation is encouraging everyone to show your country you love it! The keepers at Butterfly Creek would encourage you to show some love for one of our coolest native bugs, the wetapunga or Giant Weta.Â

Despite a name that means ‘god of ugly things’, this monster insect deserves a bit of affection, as they are really quite docile. They are unique to New Zealand and have been around for millions of years, a real living dinosaur!

The Greenfingers Bugs About exhibit at Butterfly Creek features the only display of the mighty wetapunga, an endangered giant weta species which grows to the size of sparrow and is only found only on Little Barrier Island.Â

This exhibit is part of a unique captive ‘rear and release’ programme for the wetapunga in association with the Department of Conservation. Operating for just over 1 year, we have already had great success with almost 200 hatchlings emerging in February and March of this year. Of these, around 50 have survived and are being prepared for the outside world. Once they have reached between 5 and 10 grams in weight, they will be released onto Motoura and Tiri Tiri Matangi Islands, hopefully establishing strong populations in these locations.

During Conservation Week, our resident entomologist, Paul Barrett, will be conducting daily talks at 10.30am about the wetapunga programme and this will give people the rare chance to see one of these young insects.

Butterfly Creek offers a range of all-weather experiences for children and adults alike. Other attractions include the two giant saltwater crocodiles, Scar and Goldie, baby alligators, the Tropical Butterfly House, New Zealand’s largest fresh water and tropical marine aquaria and a great farm animal petting zoo – not forgetting of course the Red Admiral Express Train, café and playground.

For further details go to www.butterflycreek.co.nz

Background

Butterfly Creek
Butterfly Creek is a popular zoological attraction located near the airport in South Auckland and built over and around a working wetland. Butterfly Creek features a tropical butterfly house with over 700 free-flying exotic butterflies along with turtles, fish and birds. Also at Butterfly Creek are two giant salt-water crocodiles, baby alligators, New Zealand’s largest fresh water and tropical marine aquarium, tarantula, cockroaches, bees, centipede and now the wetapunga (or giant weta).

Paul Barrett, Butterfly Creek’s entomologist and weta expert, has worked with the Department of Conservation for the past five years on survey trips to Little Barrier Island to collect wetapunga specimens for a captive breeding programme. This programme is part of a translocation proposal to gather information on the wetapunga life history and create a self-sustaining population source for future releases to re-establish this threatened species on pest-monitored islands such as Tiritiri Matangi or Motuora.

The breeding programme has purpose-built facilities at Butterfly Creek into which 16 weta have been relocated, commenced mating and egg-laying.Â

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