A white christmas at Mt Bruce!

Back last year we reported on the birth of Manukura, the world's first white kiwi hatched in captivity. Well, it's happened again, with a second all white kiwi chick hatching just before Christmas!

The happy event once more happened at Pukaha Mt Bruce's national Wildlife Centre and on the photographic evidence I have to say that new arrival may be even cutier than Manakura. Once again, the perfect little chick has been named by local Maori iwi Rangitane o Wairarapa, Mauriora, meaning 'sustained life'

“We were gob-smacked really,” said centre manager Kathy Houkamau. “While every kiwi is precious, to have a second white chick is a delightful gift, especially at this time of year. We thought Christmas had come early in May when Manukura arrived but now it’s come twice.”

Apparently, a small number of North Island brown kiwi carry a white gene, but a white chick only results if both male and female each carry the gene. In an area the size of Pukaha forest (940 hectares), having two white chicks born is nothing short of extraordinary. It is known that both chicks have the same father and it is suspected, the same mother also - so could more white kiwis be still to come?! Watch this space...

For those keen to catch sight of a white kiwi, Manakura the older sibling, is in permanent residence at the Kiwi House at Pukaha Mt Bruce - the perfect detour for those en route to Wellington.

It's good to see that New Zealand's most iconic species is fully embracing the brilliant 100% Pure marketing strategy and thereby helping to boost the profile of kiwi recovery programmes and the like throughout NZ. Nice!

Posted on January 17, 2012 in Current Affairs , Kiwi , Nature , Wildlife | Permalink | Comments (0) | E-mail this

Forget the big five meet the small five!

Mark Carwardine recently searched for the 'Small Five' when visiting New Zealand - ‘the land of the long white cloud’. The 'Small Five' trip enabled Mark to witness a group of charming rare and endangered wildlife consisting of the Tuatara, described as a living fossil, Hector's dolphin the smallest of its species, the notoriously cheeky Kea, a beautiful yellow eyed penguin and the iconic New Zealand Kiwi!



His first stop was a tiny island with a big secret, just off the coast of Auckland called Tiritiri Matangi. Home to the reptile Tuatara, Mark had a close encounter with the creature, following a successful stumble in the dark!

Next up was Hector's dolphin, the smallest and rarest marine dolphin in the world.

Mark’s third sighting was the Kea alpine parrot, who took a liking to Mark’s car at a spectacular mountain overlook, just outside Arthur’s Pass in the heart of the Southern Alps. He had this to say about the encounter: “A gang of five kea landed on the roof and bonnet of the car intent on doing their best to cause mischief.”

Fourth was the beautiful yellow-eyed penguin where he had wonderful close encounters with the penguins at the appropriately named Penguin Place near Dunedin, which has a unique system of hides, tunnels and covered walkways to view the birds up-close.

Finally to see the infamous but elusive Kiwi, Mark visited Stewart Island in the south of the island. Finding one in the middle of the night, he “crept up to it, lay down on the grass and realised that it was no more than a foot in front of his face”, wow!

In a couple of weeks Mark had covered all of the small five, not forgetting the many other unique and interesting other animals he sighted along the way. The trip was a huge success and had some wonderfully memorable experiences. If you would like to follow in his footsteps you can find out more about the 18-day self-drive holiday, New Zealand’s ‘small five’ safari here.  

Mark Carwardine is a Zoologist, author, photographer, conservationist and TV presenter.

Posted on January 13, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (0) | E-mail this

Victory for New Zealand

The rugby world cup drew to a fitting close yesterday with the All Blacks prevailing in a tense final against Les Bleus. The rugby may be over, but you just know that the celebrations are only just beginning in a nation where this sport means everything.

I don't think anyone would have expected the scoreline, which effectively consisted of three scores (taking the converted try as one). It was a truly absorbing and emotional final in which the French certainly played their part, but the plaudits ultimately go the most consistent team of the tournament, the All Blacks.

I was on the edge of my seat and with only 20 minutes to go and genuinely felt that the unspeakable might happen with the kiwis letting another World Cup slip through their fingers. I suspect I was not alone in this thought and it shows the tremendous courage and concentration of the team that they kept their cool and held on to that one point lead through to the nail-biting end.

I shed the odd tear as the medals and trophy were presented and was especially happy to see Dan Carter receive his, though my 'man of match' was the Waikato man, Stephen Donald.

So, with the tournament over, is now a good time to visit New Zealand? I'd say it was an excellent time as the buzz from this victory is going to run and run. And with our 10% discount running until the end of October, go on - join the celebrations.

Posted on October 24, 2011 in Current Affairs , Sports | Permalink | Comments (0) | E-mail this

Penguin Rescue

Here at DTW we find it hard to resist penguin tales - as past blogs may indicate - and as a fan of knitwear too, the one that just came to my attention is, in my opinion, one of the best yet.

It seems that Skeinz, a natural yarn shop in Napier recently put out a request for help in knitting jumpers for penguins - little blues to be precise. This genuine appeal was made to assist with the ongoing relief effort being conducted to minimise the envrionmental impact of the recent oil spill around the Bay of Plenty.

Quite apart from looking amazingly cute, the idea behind the jumpers is two-fold: to keep the penguins warm where the oil may have impacted the effectiveness of the natural "wetsuit" afforded by their feathers, and also to prevent them from ingesting any toxic substance through preening. Comparisons have been drawn to the plastic head cones used on cats and dogs, if somewhat more stylish.

It seems that saturation has now been reached in terms of jumpers recieved, but you can follow ongoing developments on Skeinz's very own blog.

The number of penguins affected is so far quite small, though larger numbers of other seabirds have been caught in the spill. The situation may be serious but this is one example of finding a positive in the negative.

Posted on October 21, 2011 in Current Affairs , Nature , Weblogs , Wildlife | Permalink | Comments (0) | E-mail this