Orokonui Ecosanctuary is a 307 hectare community-led, not-for-profit biodiversity conservation project. It is home to many threatened species and habitats and has a long term goal to ensure its species thrive.
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Ecosanctuaries provide habitat free of exotic predators. Some ecosanctuaries are isolated islands while others are enclosed in predator-proof fencing. The 84 ecosanctuaries in New Zealand have been described as modern day “Noah’s Arks”.
Together they comprise an important part of a program entitled “Predator Free by 2050” (https://predatorfreenz.org/). This is a national effort to eliminate all imported exotic predators from New Zealand. While this may appear to be a daunting task, it’s a major environmental movement and New Zealanders are serious about achieving this goal.
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Orokonui Ecosanctuary opened 20 km north of central Dunedin on Mount Cargill in 2007. It is enclosed by an 8.7 km long, 2 m tall pest-resistant fence. Once enclosed, an extensive program was employed to remove all predators within the sanctuary.
Since there were no terrestrial mammals in New Zealand prior to the arrival of the first humans, endemic wildlife was limited to birds, reptiles, insects and other invertebrates. Birds and reptiles are on display at Orokonui.
As well as exotic animals, immigrants also brought a host of exotic vegetation. Ecosanctuaries are also being used to return vegetation to native species only. A large variety of native trees, shrubs and grasses are also on display.
The following sections present information on:
- Birds,
- Reptiles and Frogs, and
- Vegetation.
Birds
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In this section on birds, what is not seen is as important as what is seen. This sign warns you to ensure that this gate remains closed so that no takahē can pass through. This is important since takahē are fiercely territorial and need a lot of space. Territories ranging between 4–100 ha, depending on the availability and quality of their food. In confined spaces separating them helps avoid injuries that might occur in territorial conflicts.
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While we saw the sign, we didn’t see any takahē.
This image was sourced from https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-animals/birds/birds-a-z/takahe/.
Takahē are flightless and are the world’s largest living rail (a family that includes the American coot) weighing between 2.3 – 3.8 kg. Having been declared extinct around 1900, they were rediscovered in 1948 in a remote mountainous area in the SW South Island, a find that launched New Zealand’s longest running endangered species program.
Their population stood at 440 as of October 2021. If Predator Free by 2050 is successful, perhaps they will once again roam freely throughout New Zealand.
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As with the Paparoa Wildlife Trust, Orokonui works with Willowbank Wildlife Reserve to raise chicks in the Orokonui creche to sizes large enough to survive release to the wild.
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This kiwi chick is radio tagged so that it can be monitored as it rears.
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Another important bird being reared and monitored at Orokonui is the kākā, a large forest-dwelling parrot. Kākā which once ranged throughout New Zealand had seriously declined by 1930 due to deforestation and mammalian predation.
A major research project was initiated in the 1980s to assist in the recovery of the kākā, and substantial advances have been made since 1995. Kākā were first released into Orokonui in 2008. There are now more than 60 kākā found within the ecosanctuary.
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Kākā have a varied diet of leaves, fruit, berries, sap, insects, pollen, and nectar. Kākā at Orokonui are supplemented with two types of food; pellets and bottles of sugar water which are provided at four locations spaced at 20-m intervals in one area of the sanctuary.
The sugar water mimics the sap and nectar from the kākā diet while the pellets supplement the solid foods portion of the diet.
![](https://grampafacts.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/img_9780-2-moa-at-feeder.jpg?w=1024)
Research at the feeding stations show that the food supplements a small portion of the kākā diet.
Feeding stations are maintained to increase the likelihood of visitors encountering the kākā.
Orokonui provides habitat for at least 18 species of birds that occurred in New Zealand prior to human arrival. These can be viewed at https://orokonui.nz/birds/ .
Reptiles and Frogs
The herpetofauna animal group includes reptiles and frogs. New Zealand has tuatara, geckos, skinks, and four species of native frog. Of native New Zealand species, only tuatara, geckos and skinks are present at Orokonui.
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This fellow is a Tuatara, the closest living relative of lizards and snakes. Although not dinosaurs, they are the sole survivors of a 230 million-year-old group of reptiles known as the Rhynchocephalia (beakheads). They were once widespread globally but disappeared about 100 million years ago.
Tuatara were widely distributed within New Zealand before predators and land clearance forced them to offshore islands only. Tuatara were introduced to Orokonui in 2012, establishing the first free-roaming tuatara population on the South Island in several hundred years.
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This is the Orokonui Ecosanctuary lizard sanctuary. As well as contributing to gecko and skink research and advocacy efforts, this habitat presents visitors with an opportunity to view geckos and skinks for visitor viewing.
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This is a jewelled gecko, one of the most distinct of New Zealand’s nine species of green geckos. It occurs only on the South Island and there only within Otago and Canterbury.
Populations have been housed at Orokonui since 2009. Some individuals have chosen to stay in one spot since relocation here.
Green geckos are regarded as guardians (kaitiaki) of the forest homes in the Māori world (Te Ao Māori). Their distinct preference for exact locations may have contributed to their playing this role in local Māori traditions.
We didn’t see any green geckos during our visit. This is a photo of a display within the enclosure.
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This Southern Striped Gecko was one of several visible in the enclosure during our visit.
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This Otago Skink was also one of several visible during our visit. The Otago Skink is the largest of the 120 species of geckos and skinks in New Zealand, reaching 300 mm (11.8″).
Fun facts:
- Most reptiles in the world reproduce by laying eggs. All but one species of reptiles in NZ bear their young live.
- There are 6,000 species of lizards in the world. In NZ there are 120, and they only include skinks and geckos.
Vegetation
Tāne Mahuta is the Māori God of the Forest
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The Cabbage Tree is a very distinctive New Zealand species. Looking like a palm tree, it is a type of tree lily as is the yucca. It can live for hundreds of years and is one of the worlds largest tree lilies, reaching heights of 20 m and trunk diameters up to 2 m.
Natural and planted groves of cabbage trees were harvested by Māori for food and fibre. Leaves, young stems and roots could be prepared as food. Leaves also produced tough fibre which was used in ropes, cooking mats and baskets, waterproof rain capes and cloaks, and sandals.
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Here Lynne is with Red Tussock grass. These are long lived plants that seed profusely at irregular intervals. Southern Māori used tussock fibres to make leggings to protect their legs from speargrass.
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This is the Māhoe or Whitey Wood, a small fast-growing tree in the family, named because the trunk and branches are often white. It’s bright green leaves bear clusters of small white flowers that yield violet-blue fruit.
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Here Lynne is with a tree called a rimu. The following two photos show the upper trunk of the tree and it’s bark.
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Mature rimu trees emerge high above the forest canopy and can live 1,000 years. It’s periodic crops of red fruit (every 5 – 6 years) are a favoured food of native birds, and may trigger breeding activity in kakapo, New Zealand’s largest and most endangered parrot.
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The bark of the rimu has a very distinct scaly nature. Rimu trees provided most of New Zealand’s construction and furniture timber until the 1960s. These trees are now protected and their harvest is prohibited on public lands and permitted on private lands only under specific conditions.
We arrived at Orokonui in the mid-afternoon and took in as much as we could before the closing time of 4:30. As with so many of the things we saw in New Zealand, we would have liked to have more time to absorb the full extent of this spectacular ecosanctuary. We would recommend dedicating a full day to Orokonui.