Following an urgent translocation, five nationally critical awakōpaka skinks are being cared for at Auckland Zoo as part of a collaborative effort by the zoo, the Department of Conservation (Doc) and Ngāi Tahu to save the rare creature from extinction.
First discovered in 2014, the awakōpaka skink — the name means the skink that "lives in the footprints of mighty glaciers" — has a known population of fewer than 20 individuals. The lizards live within just a few hectares of rugged boulder habitat near the Homer Saddle in Fiordland.
A predicted beech mast — or heavy seeding event — threatened to drive mammalian predators such as mice and stoats to levels dramatically affecting the balance and health of the ecosystem and threatening the species’ survival.
"Having awakōpaka skink at the zoo is a huge responsibility and we acknowledge the trust that Ngāi Tahu and Doc have placed in us caring for these taonga," Auckland Zoo head of animal care and conservation Richard Gibson said.
"It’s essential we grow a safety-net population when we’re just minutes from midnight in terms of their extinction risk. It is also an invaluable opportunity for us to learn everything we can about this little-known species to inform next conservation management steps," he said.
They are frequently observed lying fully exposed beneath basking lamps that provide the seasonally hot day-time temperatures they would experience in the wild.
"Since helping collect the first five male skinks with Doc staff last November and settling them into the zoo’s climate-controlled facility — designed to reflect their wild climate where temperatures can vary dramatically — it’s great to see all five skinks thriving.
"We are building on a highly successful track record with other critically endangered skinks."
While critical, breeding the skinks at the zoo was only a small part of the conservation conundrum, Mr Gibson said.
More than 90% of New Zealand’s 124 lizard species are threatened or at risk of extinction.
Lizards have long fallen below the radar due to current conservation strategies targeting more high-profile wildlife.
Doc science adviser and herpetologist James Reardon said moving a small number of skinks to Auckland Zoo was the first step in creating some insurance against a wild extinction while also offering an opportunity to learn more about their biology.
"Awakōpaka skinks are vulnerable to a range of threats, including climate change, but mice are our biggest concern. Most of the time they’re present in pretty low numbers but the combination of beech and tussock seeding, and weather conditions can create plagues easily capable of decimating this skink population."
