The Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. It is the largest animal known to have ever existed. The Blue whale was once abundant in nearly all the Earth's oceans until the end of the 19th century. It was hunted...
The kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus) is a species of large, flightless, nocturnal parrot found only in New Zealand. It is the world's only flightless parrot, the world's heaviest parrot, and also is nocturnal, herbivorous, visibly sexually dimorphic in...
The Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. The common name of this species refers to the usually green fat found beneath its carapace, not to the color of its carapace, which is olive to black....
The kea (Nestor notabilis) is a species of large parrot in the family Nestoridae found in New Zealand. The kea is the world's only alpine parrot. Now uncommon, this mountain-dwelling bird was once killed for bounty due to concerns by the...
The Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) is a cetacean belonging to the parvorder of baleen whales. It is the second-longest species of cetacean on Earth after the Blue whale. American naturalist Roy Chapman Andrews called the fin whale "the greyhound...
The Sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis) is a baleen whale, the third-largest rorqual after the Blue whale and the Fin whale. It inhabits most oceans and adjoining seas and prefers deep offshore waters. The whale's name comes from the Norwegian word...
The South Island takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri) is a flightless swamphen. It is the largest living member of the rail family. It is often known by the abbreviated name takahē, which it shares with the recently extinct North Island takahē. Takahē...
Hector's dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori ) is one of four dolphin species belonging to the genus Cephalorhynchus. Hector's dolphin is the only cetacean endemic to New Zealand, and comprises two subspecies: C. h. hectori, the more numerous...
The New Zealand kākā (Nestor meridionalis ) is a large species of parrot of the family Nestoridae found in New Zealand's native forests. The species is often known by the abbreviated name kākā, although it shares this name with the recently extinct...
The yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes ), known also as hoiho or tarakaka, is a species of penguin endemic to New Zealand.Previously thought closely related to the little penguin (Eudyptula minor ), molecular research has shown it more...
The New Zealand sea lion (Phocarctos hookeri ), once known as Hooker's sea lion, and as pakake or whakahao (male) and kaki (female) in Māori, is a species of sea lion that is endemic to New Zealand and primarily breeds on New Zealand's subantarctic...
The blue duck or whio (Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos ) is a member of the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae endemic to New Zealand. It is the only member of the genus Hymenolaimus. Its exact taxonomic status is still unresolved, but it appears to...
The grey-headed albatross (Thalassarche chrysostoma ) also known as the grey-headed mollymawk, is a large seabird from the albatross family. It has a circumpolar distribution, nesting on isolated islands in the Southern Ocean and feeding at high...
The black robin or Chatham Island robin (Petroica traversi ) is an endangered bird from the Chatham Islands off the east coast of New Zealand. It is closely related to the South Island robin (P. australis ). It was first described by Walter Buller...
The erect-crested penguin (Eudyptes sclateri ) is a penguin endemic to the New Zealand region and only breeds on the Bounty and Antipodes Islands. It has black upper parts, white underparts and a yellow eye stripe and crest. It spends the winter at...
The northern royal albatross or toroa, Diomedea sanfordi, is a large seabird in the albatross family. It was split from the closely related southern royal albatross as recently as 1998, though not all scientists support that conclusion and some...
The Antipodean albatross (Diomedea antipodensis ) is a large seabird in the albatross family. Antipodean albatrosses are smaller than wandering albatrosses, and breed in predominantly brown plumage, but are otherwise difficult to distinguish from...
The Far Eastern curlew (Numenius madagascariensis ) is a large shorebird most similar in appearance to the long-billed curlew, but slightly larger. It is mostly brown in color, differentiated from other curlews by its plain, unpatterned brown...
The yellowhead or mōhua (Mohoua ochrocephala ) is a small insectivorous passerine bird endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. Once a common forest bird, its numbers declined drastically after the introduction of rats and stoats, and it is now...
The black stilt (Himantopus novaezelandiae ) or kakī (Māori) is a wading bird found in New Zealand. It is one of the world's rarest birds, with 169 adults surviving in the wild as of May 2020. Adult kakī have distinctive black plumage, long pink...
Māui dolphin, Maui's dolphin, or popoto (Cephalorhynchus hectori maui ) is a subspecies of the Hector's dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori )—New Zealand's only endemic cetacean. Māui dolphins are only found off the west coast of New Zealand's North...
The New Zealand rock wren (Xenicus gilviventris ) is a small New Zealand wren (family Acanthisittidae) endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. Its Māori names include pīwauwau ("little complaining bird"), mātuitui, and tuke ("twitch", after its...
The Australasian bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus ), also known as the brown bittern or matuku hūrepo, and also nicknamed the "bunyip bird", is a large bird in the heron family Ardeidae. A secretive bird with a distinctive booming call, it is more...
Malherbe's parakeet (Cyanoramphus malherbi ), usually known as the orange-fronted parakeet (Māori: kākāriki karaka), is a small parrot endemic to New Zealand. In New Zealand it is always known as the orange-fronted parakeet, a name it shares with a...
The Indian yellow-nosed albatross (Thalassarche carteri ) is a member of the albatross family, and is the smallest of the mollymawks. In 2004, BirdLife International split this species from the Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross; however Clements has...
Archey's frog, Leiopelma archeyi, is an archaic species of frog endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of only three extant species belonging to the taxonomic family Leiopelmatidae. It is named after Sir Gilbert Archey, the former...
The magenta petrel (Pterodroma magentae ), or Chatham Island tāiko, is a small seabird in the gadfly petrel genus, Pterodroma. Found exclusively on Chatham Island, New Zealand it is one of the rarest birds in the world, believed to be extinct for...
The shore plover (Thinornis novaeseelandiae ), also known as the shore dotterel or by its Māori name of tuturuatu, is a small plover endemic to New Zealand. Once found all around the New Zealand coast, it is now restricted to a few offshore islands....
The jewelled gecko (Naultinus gemmeus ) is a threatened species of lizard in the family Diplodactylidae. The species is endemic to the South Island of New Zealand.Subgroups or populations of the jewelled gecko living in Otago, Canterbury, and...
The New Zealand storm petrel (Fregetta maoriana ) is a small seabird of the family Oceanitidae. Thought to be extinct since 1850, a series of sightings from 2003 to the present indicates the presence of a previously unknown colony. As of 2010, it is...
The New Zealand dotterel (Charadrius obscurus ) is a species of shorebird found only in certain areas of New Zealand. It is also called the New Zealand plover or red-breasted dotterel, and its Māori names include tūturiwhatu, pukunui, and kūkuruatu....
Hutton's shearwater (Puffinus huttoni ) or the kaikōura tītī, is a medium-sized ocean-going seabird in the family Procellariidae. Its range is Australian and New Zealand waters, but it breeds only in mainland New Zealand. Its conservation status is...
The black-fronted tern (Chlidonias albostriatus ), also known as sea martin, ploughboy, inland tern, riverbed tern or tarapiroe, is a small tern generally found in or near bodies of fresh water in New Zealand, where it forages for freshwater fish,...
The Pitt shag (Phalacrocorax featherstoni ), also known as the Pitt Island shag or Featherstone's shag is a species of bird in the family Phalacrocoracidae. It is endemic to Pitt Island. Its natural habitats are open seas and rocky shores. It is...
The harlequin gecko (Tukutuku rakiurae, formerly Hoplodactylus rakiurae ) is a species of gecko, a lizard in the family Diplodactylidae. The species is endemic to Stewart Island/Rakiura in the far south of New Zealand, where it was discovered in...
The Otago skink (Oligosoma otagense ) is a rare, endangered species of large skink in the family Scincidae, found in the rocky canyons and grassy patches of Central Otago, New Zealand.
The chevron skink (Oligosoma homalonotum ) (Māori: niho taniwha ), is a large species of skink endemic to New Zealand, found only on Great and Little Barrier islands in the Hauraki Gulf. A cryptic forest dweller, it can hide underwater, and is under...
The Westland petrel (Procellaria westlandica ), (Māori: tāiko ), also known as the Westland black petrel, is a moderately large seabird in the petrel family Procellariidae, that is endemic to New Zealand. Described by Robert Falla in 1946, it is a...
Opisthoteuthis chathamensis is a species of cirrate octopus restricted to demersal habitats surrounding the Chatham Rise in New Zealand. It is commonly known as the roughy umbrella octopus.
The Chatham oystercatcher or Chatham Island oystercatcher (Haematopus chathamensis ) is a species of oystercatcher. It is a wading bird endemic to the Chatham Islands, New Zealand. This species is rated by the IUCN as endangered, and has a current...
The Whenua Hou diving-petrel (Pelecanoides georgicus whenuahouensis ) is a highly endangered subspecies of the South Georgia diving petrel that is endemic to New Zealand.The subspecies was first described by Johannes H. Fischer and collaborators in...
The Stephen's Island gecko (Toropuku stephensi), also known commonly as the Cook Strait striped gecko, Stephen's sticky-toed gecko, and the striped gecko, is a species of gecko in the genus Toropuku in the family Diplodactylidae. The species is...
