Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Some more natives


Kekeno, the New Zealand Fur Seal
These are the most common seal in New Zealand and love to sunbath on the rocks around the coastline. Her main diet is squid and fish, and she is the deepest diving fur seal in the world. She has been known to dive as deep as 238 m. Although most dives are shorter - usually 1-2 minutes in duration. When she is ready to breed, she returns to the same area year-after-year. However, it may not be to the same male. Bull seals defend their territory against rival males and strive to collect as large a harem as they can maintain. The females are already pregnant when they haul themselves ashore - having carried the embryo for around 360 days. Although gestation is 9 months, the fertilised egg does not implant until 3 months after mating. After she has birthed her pup she will mate with the bull before heading out to forage for her youngster. Seal pups are left in large creche groups without adult supervision whilst their mothers go out to forage. Their fathers have nothing to do with them.



Little Spotted Kiwi
The smallest of the kiwi species, the little spotted kiwi was hunted almost to extinction on the mainland. Humans hunted her for her skin and feathers, stoats and rats found her a tasty meal. Like all kiwis, she feeds on grubs and bugs and other invertebrates, plucked up from the forest floor. In breeding season she and her mate dig a burrow and line it with plant matter. The egg is the heaviest, proportionally, of any bird and weights about 26% of the bird's weight. Whilst she is "pregnant" her stomach is much compressed and she cannot eat as much. Once she finally lays the egg she is hungry and exhausted. It now becomes her mate's job to incubate it for 63-76 days. One hatched the youngster remains in the burrow for several weeks and is fed by its parents.

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