“New Zealand is as close as we will get to the opportunity to study life on another planet.” – Jared Diamond

Elsewhere in the world, most species are threatened by pollution and habitat loss. The situation in New Zealand is further complicated because of our unique and relatively isolated evolution, for here the ghosts of the supercontinent, Gondwana still roam.

New Zealand – Aotearoa sits on what has been described as the ‘seventh continent’ of Zealandia, a mass of continental crust that stretched and sank beneath the ocean after breaking away from Gondwana some 85-130 million years ago. Living fossils such as the tuatara and Archey’s frog, creatures that pre-date the dinosaurs, are evidence that at least some parts of Zealandia have remained above the surface of the ocean ever since.

Isolated from other landmasses, over millions of years these ghosts of Gondwana were joined by a few hardy creatures carried by waves and winds from Australia, South America, the Pacific Islands, and (once largely ice-free) Antarctica.

Elsewhere, the demise of the dinosaurs heralded the rise of mammals.  Not so in New Zealand. Here, ecological niches were instead filled with birds, three tiny insectivorous and fruit-eating bats, and invertebrates.

Their evolution was a product of turbulent and often violent change. Around 40 million years ago, the tectonic forces that once stretched Zealandia began to change direction. Parts of Zealandia were pushed together along the Alpine Fault. Since then, a staggering 20 kilometres-thick section of the Earth’s crust has been thrust upwards. In the warm wet world of Miocene, rainfall eroded the mountains, what we now call the Southern Alps – Kä Tiritiri o te Moana, almost as fast as they grew. Glaciers came and went; carving out valleys along which flowed braided rivers that deposited the eroded material to form wide plains.

When humans arrived, these globally rare ecosystems were disrupted for reasons explained here and extinctions soon followed.

Today, on the plains away from the coast, despite having received little protection, only the braided rivers still have what little remains of our extraordinary history.

While more than 80 species of birds are found along braided rivers, a rare handful have adapted to breed almost exclusively in this dynamic and ever-changing environment. Less obvious but equally integral to these ecosystems are the native reptiles, invertebrates, fish, and plants. But their populations are declining, fast. Several species are at now at risk of extinction for reasons outlined in threats.