Part 2/10:
Just a short distance from Auckland lies Little Barrier Island, known in Maori as Hauturu-o-Toi, a significant wildlife sanctuary and home to a complex ecosystem featuring the wetapunga, or giant weta. The wetapunga is considered one of the heaviest insects on Earth, a remarkable representative of New Zealand’s native species which have evolved to gigantic proportions.
Leigh Joyce from the Department of Conservation, alongside Nicola Toki, a government ambassador for endangered species, journey to this island to study the wetapunga’s unique characteristics. This ancient relative of grasshoppers, which has persisted for over 180 million years, has become endangered primarily due to human-induced predators such as rats.