Native Animals Of New Zealand

Animals of Aotearoa is a must-have compendium for children curious about New Zealand¿s wild animals. Based on the award-winning and best-selling `Explore and Discover¿ children¿s series about New Zealand¿s natural history, this book is packed full of illustrations and information about our native animals, both common and rare, as well as many well-known introduced animals. The book includes land and sea birds, frogs and lizards, many kinds of fish and other marine creatures, insects and invertebrates. This is an essential and beautiful reference book for all New Zealand kids. Children can pore over the pages on their own or read it with an adult, but with such engaging images and fun facts, this is a reference book we will all wish we¿d had as a child.

The Handbook of New Zealand Mammals is the only definitive reference on all the land-breeding mammals recorded in the New Zealand region (including the New Zealand sector of Antarctica). It lists 65 species, including native and exotic, wild and feral, living and extinct, residents, vagrants and failed introductions. It describes their history, biology and ecology, and brings together comprehensive and detailed information gathered from widely scattered or previously unpublished sources. The description of each species is arranged under standardised headings for easy reference. Because the only native land-breeding mammals in New Zealand are bats and seals, the great majority of the modern mammal fauna comprises introduced species, whose arrival has had profound effects both for themselves and for the native fauna and flora. The book details changes in numbers and distribution for the native species, and for the arrivals it summarises changes in habitat, diet, numbers and size in comparison with their ancestral stocks, and some of the problems they present to resource managers. For this third edition, the text and references have been completely updated and reorganised into Family chapters. The colour section includes 14 pages of artwork showing all the species described and their main variations, plus two pages of maps.

A portable, photo-packed guide for all visitors to the country. New Zealand's dramatic scenery is home to some equally dramatic wildlife, featuring a host of endemics found nowhere else in the world. From giant wetas and the ancient Tuatara to a suite of beautiful birds, including flightless wonders such as the Kiwi and Kakapo, these animals help make New Zealand one of the world's greatest wildlife-tourism destinations. Although there have been severe losses due to introduced predators, the country has a fiercely determined conservation sector, and the future looks bright. This fully revised and updated second edition of Julian Fitter's classic photographic field guide illustrates most of the vertebrate species to be found on the islands, there, as well as a large number of typical invertebrates and flora, with the photography accompanied by concise species texts. Reader-friendly and portable yet covering everything the visitor is likely to see, this book is an invaluable companion for anyone visiting these biodiverse Pacific islands.

First published in 2000, the Collins Field Guide to New Zealand Wildflife quickly became a classic of its kind. Familiar to both national and international travellers keen to identify the birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, freshwater fish and invertebrates commonly encountered in this country, its combination of authoritative yet clear and precise textual descriptions and stunning photographs proved an instant winner. Now, more than 10 years on, this classic field guide has been updated and extended to make it even more useful to travellers with an interest in natural history and ecology. Retaining its useful glovebox-friendly format, the significantly expanded text will also include the latest research findings and changes in classification and nomenclature that have occurred in the past 10 years, along with new photographs where appropriate. Including both native and introduced species, each entry succinctly describes both habits and habitats, distribution, classification, breeding patterns, food and recognition tips to assist amateur identification.

A comprehensive text that draws together accumulated knowledge on an introduced species that once promised New Zealand a fur trade, but now costs a small fortune to manage. The information within this book will be useful to anyone interested in brushtail possums, from students and those with an academic interest, to those involved with wildlife.

Most New Zealanders will easily recognise and identify our unique wildlife - whether it's a tree weta, common dolphin or a kiwi. We know quite a lot about them - how and where they live, what they do, what they eat and so on. But what makes them tick? What does an insect's eye actually see? Does an earthworm have 'guts'? Does the flightless kiwi have any wings under all those feathers? Author and illustrator Dave Gunson delves deep inside some of our best-known species to see what's really going on in there, and to find out just how our native creatures work!