Dave Laux (right) Ectotherm team leader at Auckland Zoo looking for awakōpaka skink (inset) in Fiordland November 2023. Photo / David Laux, Auckland Zoo
Dave Laux (right) Ectotherm team leader at Auckland Zoo looking for awakōpaka skink (inset) in Fiordland November 2023. Photo / David Laux, Auckland Zoo
Auckland Zoo, Department of Conservation and Ngāi Tahu are collaborating in a race against time to save a critically endangered native species.
The awakōpaka skink, only discovered in 2014, numbers less than 20 individuals and faces being wiped out following a beech mast, or heavy seeding event, in their Fiordland home.
Less than 20 awakōpaka skink are known to exist. Photo / Dave Laux, Auckland Zoo
The abundant food from the mast has caused a population explosion in mice, stoats and other mammalian predators who all threaten the skinks’ survival.
Five male awakōpaka were transported to Auckland Zoo from their rugged boulder habitat near the Homer Saddle that covers just a few hectares last November. And now the search is on for females to start a breeding programme.
The rugged boulder habitat near the Homer Saddle that awakōpaka skinks call home in Fiordland. Photo / Dave Laux, Auckland Zoo
“We are building on a highly successful track record with other critically endangered skinks like the cobble and Kapitia skinks from the West Coast,” said Richard Gibson, head of animal care and conservation and Auckland Zoo. “Our ability to also care for these first awakōpaka skinks paves the way for progressing to a full-on breeding programme.
“It’s essential we grow a safety net population when we’re just minutes from midnight in terms of their extinction risk.”
Sonja Murray, a senior ectotherm keeper, cares for the awakōpaka skink at Auckland Zoo. Photo / Priscilla Northe, Auckland Zoo
The five male awakōpaka skinks are being cared for in a special climate-controlled facility at the zoo, designed to reflect their wild high-altitude climate where humidity and temperature can change dramatically.
Zoo staff are also taking the opportunity to learn more about the species for the next stage of their conservation management.
Gibson says that 92 per cent of Aotearoa’s 124 native lizards are under threat and the awakōpaka is probably the most threatened.
New Zealand's native lizards have fallen off the radar as conservation strategies concentrate on other wildlife. Photo / Priscilla Northe, Auckland Zoo
“Lizards have long fallen below the ‘conservation radar’ due to current conservation strategies targeting more high-profile wildlife,” Gibson said.
Michael Skerrett of Ngāi Tahu says the iwi is very much in support of this mahi for the awakōpaka skink.
“Biodiversity drives the planet, and it’s really, really important that we work together to protect and save these species, like awakōpaka skink, that are so highly endangered,” said Skerrett, who has more than 30 years experience in the environment and on environmental issues.
