Environment News

Wētāpunga Conservation Programme

October 14 , 2026 15 hrs 0 min 23 0

A 15-year conservation breeding programme has released approximately 11,000 wētāpunga into the wild in New Zealand.
Wētāpunga (Deinacrida heteracantha) is New Zealand’s heaviest insect and one of the heaviest insect species in the world.
Butterfly Creek and Auckland Zoo led the programme with support from New Zealand’s Department of Conservation.
The programme carried out 45 translocations to 10 sites, including eight predator-free islands and two mainland reserves.
Self-sustaining wild populations have been established on Motuora and Tiritiri Matangi islands, where at least four to five generations have been born in the wild.
Its conservation classification improved from “Threatened Nationally Endangered” in 2004 to “Threatened Nationally Increasing” in 2022.