Exploring our native animals through dance

Developing Practical Knowledge in Dance

LO1: Students can perform locomotor movements using a variety of different body bases to represent the features and movements of an extinct or endangered animal. (PK) 

LO2: Students can perform locomotor and non-locomotor movements with changes of weight to represent a free, trapped, extinct, or endangered animal. (PK) 

LO3: Students can perform locomotor and non-locomotor movements with changes of flow to represent a free, trapped, extinct, or endangered animal. (PK) 

Developing Ideas in Dance

LO4: Students can compose movement sequences to communicate knowledge, ideas, and feelings about endangered or extinct animals. (DI) 

body base: the part of the body supporting a dancer in a balanced position (e.g., two feet or one hand and one foot) 

body parts: arms, legs, head, fingers, ankles, elbows, knees, shoulders, toes, wrists 

body shape: the form the body takes at a particular moment in dance (e.g., curved, straight, open, closed, symmetrical, asymmetrical) 

contrast: a choreographic device where dance elements are altered to create oppositions, (e.g., high vs. low, big vs. little) 

dance elements: body awareness, space, time, energy, and relationships 

energy: a dance element that focuses on the weight, texture, and flow of movement (e.g., in floating, swinging, sudden, smooth, sharp, percussive, vibratory, and explosive movements) 

formations: shapes or patterns created in space by dancers 

locomotor movement: movement in which the body travels across space (e.g., running, creeping, rolling) 

movement phrase: a series of movements linked together to make a distinctive pattern 

movement sequence: a series of movements, longer than a phrase but shorter than a section of a dance 

non-locomotor movement: movement in which the body remains anchored to one spot by a body part (e.g., bending, twisting, stretching) 

transition: the point at which a movement, phrase, or sequence of a dance progresses into a subsequent movement, phrase, or sequence 

In preparation for this unit, you will need to download, print, and laminate two sets of cards: a set of bird and animal images from the collection of the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa, and a set of vocabulary cards. 

Use the links below to download the images of native birds and animals. You might use them all or just a selection. When you go to the website, please note the information regarding how to credit the images and Te Papa’s request that you explain how you will use them.  

North Island Brown Kiwi 

Upland Moa skeleton 

Skulls of Hector's and Māui's dolphins 

Wandering Albatross, 1993 

Embroidered Picture of a Huia, c. 1900

South Island, Kokako, 1833 

'White Spotted Greyling', (upokororo) 1889 

Pekapeka (Short-tailed Bat) 

Tuatara (Litho Tint) 

Giant Eagle 

Hutton's Rail 

See Materials that come with this resource to download:

• Blue weight card (.doc)
• Green flow card (.doc)

Music suggestions

While the focus of this unit is on dance and movement rather than music, there are many potential options if you wish to accompany the students’ movements with music. Those suggested below are organised according to the platforms where you can find them.  

Available on iTunes and Spotify: 

• Songs from the album Forest and Ocean by Hirini Melbourne 
• The Greystone by Pacific Heights (mostly instrumental) 
• Te Kōtare Waiata collection (links for some appropriate songs are given below) 
• Purea Nei by Anika Moa 

Available as links on YouTube: 

• Songs from the album Forest and Ocean by Hirini Melbourne (these are located separately but can be found by searching the title and composer) 
• Ko te Ngāhere (from Te Kōtare Waiata) 
• E Kēreru (from Te Kōtare Waiata) 
• Kahawai (from Te Kōtare Waiata) 
• Purea Nei by Anika Moa 
• Pai calls the whales (From Whale Rider the movie)  
• Haere Ra - Farewell by Oceania 

Available from Kiwi Kidsongs Online 

• Koromiko 
• Karanga Weka 

Additional resources

Te Aka Māori Dictionary: Te Aka has encyclopaedic entries that include the names of plants and animals (especially native and endemic species). You could also use it to research the kupu Māori of the words you use to describe movement. 

The section 'Our native animals: background information' provides information about each of the birds and animals featured in this unit and what makes them special.  

Use a combination of published resources and local knowledge to learn more about the birds and animals that are your focus, their significance within te ao Māori and the reasons they are now threatened or extinct. 

Public Domain Review: The Human Alphabet gives examples of how the human body can be used to make letters. You can find other images and videos online to help with the first two activities. 

Organise the students to stand in one or two lines down the left side of the dance space. Hold up one of the cards with the images of native birds and animals and call out the creature’s name. Ask the students to ‘write’ the word on an invisible whiteboard, using their bodies to create enormous letters, in sequence, as they move sideways across the dance space. It might help to show them some examples, such as those on Public Domain Review: The Human Alphabet. 

Prompt the students to try the following variations: 

• Use different body parts for each letter, moving them to ‘write’ (i.e., form the shape of) the letter (e.g., hand, right foot, head, shoulder, knee, or hip).   
• Use two body parts at the same time to write the letters (e.g., a hand and a knee or an elbow and a foot). 
• Arrange the body (or two or three bodies) to form a ‘still image’ that represents a letter. 
• With these still images, vary the body base for different letters.  

Example: to spell MOA using still images, the students could represent: 

• M with a body base of the left foot, the left arm extended diagonally out to the side, and the right leg extended out to the side 
• O with a body base of two feet together and the head and torso bent over towards the floor 
• A with a body base of two feet wide apart and standing with the arms folded. 

Suggested music

Ask the students to work in groups of three or four. Give each group a card with one of the images and instruct the students to: 

• allocate themselves one letter each (or more for longer words) 
• each takes responsibility for composing a short ‘spell-it-out’ movement phrase with an interesting body base for their letter(s)  
• teach each other their phrase 
• work together to create a short sequence where they spell the entire word by using different body parts for each letter. 

As the students work, encourage them to: 

• consider their formations – where they are in relation to each other 
• find ways to link each letter with the next one so that they achieve a smooth transition  
• finish with a movement or action typically made by the bird or animal they are representing. 

Prompt formative feedback by: 

• encouraging the students to take photos of each other ‘spelling’ their icons during the learning process  
• filming the final dances as they are performed for the class.  
• viewing photographs and video footage of the dances with the class as prompts for peer and self-assessment discussions. 

Reflective questions could include: 

• What was this group’s bird or animal? How do you know? 
• What body bases did they use? 
• How did they use transitions to link the movements of the letters? 
• Feed forward: How could they develop the dance further? 

Give the students time to use the feedback they have received to further develop their dances.  

Extension suggestions

The dances could be performed one after the other for a syndicate assembly. 

You could project the relevant images onto a wall behind the students as they perform. 

Organise the students to each sit in their own space around the dance space. 

Show the students the picture of the North Island Brown Kiwi. Instruct them as follows:  

• Imagine that you are a kiwi picking your way through the bush. Make the shape of the kiwi in the picture with your body. 
• Which body parts are you using to make a beak? 
• What body parts are on the ground? What is your body base? [Probably, two feet] 
• Move around like a kiwi to a new spot. 
• Pretend you are searching for worms under leaf litter. Keep your beak on the ground. Has your body base changed? 

North Island Brown Kiwi, Apteryx mantelli, collected no data, New Zealand. Acquisition history unknown. CC BY 4.0. Te Papa (OR.025020) 

Show the students the picture of the tuatara. Instruct them as follows: 

• You have become a tuatara! Make the shape of a tuatara with your body.  
• What body parts are on the ground? What is your body base? [Probably, two hands and two feet] 
• How fast do tuataras travel? Move around like a tuatara to a new spot by travelling as slowly as you can.  
• Tuataras often lie still for ages. See if you can freeze in one position for 10 seconds … 15 seconds … 20 seconds! 

Show the students the picture of the albatross. Instruct them as follows: 

• You have now become an albatross, standing [or sitting] on a high cliff, looking out to sea. 
• What body parts are on the ground? What is your body base?  
• How can you show that you have very long wings? 
• Is there another way to show this? 
• Find a way to travel as if you are walking across the rocks and then taking off into the sky. 
• Albatrosses glide above the ocean. Move as smoothly as you can as you fly above the waves. 

Putting it together 

Ask the students to link the three different movements they have created into a short sequence. They will need to decide on the order of each movement (e.g., albatross-tuatara-kiwi or tuatara-kiwi-albatross).) Allow them sufficient rehearsal time to feel confident in the clarity of their dance sequences. 

Remember that the focus of this unit is on movement representation, energy, and flow rather than maintaining a traditional dance beat. If you are using music and you notice children trying to count or ‘find the beat’, remind them that it is not necessary for this type of dance.

Introduce the weight vocabulary cards and use the following questions to discuss the difference between movements that are strong or weak, heavy or light: 

• Would a kiwi move through the forest with heavy or light footsteps? 
• If a kiwi was pecking into the leaf litter for grubs, would its movements be strong or weak? 
• Imagine you are watching an albatross try to take off into the air on a windy day. Would its wing movements be strong or weak? 
• Would an albatross walk across the grass with heavy or light footsteps? 
• Would the jaw movement of a tuatara be strong or weak as it crunches a grasshopper? 
• Would a tuatara walk with heavy or light footsteps? 

Hatteria Punctata. Plate 20. From the book The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Erebus & Terror 1839 - 1843. Vol. 2 Reptiles, Fishes, Crustacea, Insects, Mollusca, 1845, by J Ford. Te Papa (RB001206/020a) 

Give the students some time to develop their albatross, tuatara, and kiwi sequences from the previous activity, selecting from the ‘weight words’ to vary between movements that are strong, weak, heavy, or light. 

Get the students to partner up and take turns performing their sequences. Challenge them to identify the ‘weight words’ selected by their partner and where they are being used in the dance. 

Organise the students to work in groups of three and have them show each other their sequences from the previous activity.  

Ask the students to create a ‘kiwi, tuatara, and albatross dance’ by performing their individual sequences at the same time.  

Instruct the students to consider: 

• their formations – where they are in relation to each other 
• the direction they face and their use of space 
• how fast or slowly they will perform their sequences and how this relates to the bird or animal they are representing  
• an interesting still shape to finish with. 

Get each group to perform its joined-up sequence for the class. 

Use questions such as the following to prompt reflection: 

• What was the order of each dancer’s bird sequence? 
• What body bases did they use? 
• Where in the dance did you see weak or light movements? 
• Where in the dance did you see strong or heavy movements? 
• How did each dancer transition between movements? 
• How could they develop their dance further? 

Give the students more time to develop their dances, using the feedback they have received.  

Extension suggestions 

The students could: 

• perform each sequence twice to make it longer 
• change the formations for the second time 
• take longer to perform one section 
• each introduces a moment of stillness somewhere in their dance 
• move further away from each other (or closer together) for one section 
• perform for another class or an assembly. 

Auckland Islands Wandering Albatross, Diomedea antipodensis gibsoni, collected 17 June 1993, off East Cape, New Zealand. Gift of Ministry of Fisheries, date unknown. CC BY 4.0. Te Papa (OR.024952) 

Introduce the flow vocabulary cards and use the following questions to discuss the difference between movements that are ‘free’ and those that are ‘bound’.  

• If you were ‘free’ to move anywhere and anyway you wanted, what kinds of movements could you make? 
• What does ‘bound’ mean? [restricted, held back, tied, trapped] 
• What kinds of movements could you make if you were ‘bound’? 

Organise the students to work in a suitable space by themselves. Instruct them, as follows:  

• Show me a shape that is big and open. 
• Show me another big, open shape. 
• Copy someone else in the class. 
• Walk around the room wherever you like, without touching anyone. 
• Move in a different way. 
• Travel across the room as if you are an albatross skimming across the sea. 
• Travel to a new place in the room with long moa strides. 
• You are a Māui’s Dolphin leaping out of the water. 

Use questions such as the following to prompt reflection: 

• Were your movements big or small? 
• Were you ‘free’ or ‘bound’? How did it feel? 
• How could you further develop your ‘free’ and ‘bound’ dance movements? 

Organise the students to work in a suitable space by themselves once more. Instruct them, as follows: 

• Show me a shape that is small and closed. 
• Show me another small, closed shape. 
• Copy someone else in the class. 
• Travel across the room as if your legs are tied together. 
• Find a different way to move with your legs bound. 
• Imagine that you are an albatross that is caught in a long line behind a fishing boat. Try to move.  
• You are now a Māui’s Dolphin trapped in a set net. See if you can find a way to move. 

Use questions such as the following to prompt reflection: 

• Were your movements big or small? 
• Were you ‘free’ or ‘bound’? How did it feel? 
• How can you further develop your ‘free’ and ‘bound’ dance movements? 

Organise the students to work in groups of four. Each group should form two pairs. Ask the students to name themselves ‘Pair 1’ or ‘Pair 2’. 

Discuss the meaning of the word ‘contrast’ and what contrast could mean in a dance context (e.g., opposite in size, two different levels, open or closed movements, curled or stretched movements). 

Call out a body base instruction to one of the pairs (e.g., one foot and two hands). These two students follow this instruction to make an interesting still shape as quickly as possible. The other pair then studies what the first pair have created and create an equally interesting but contrasting shape. 

Possible non-locomotor contrasts are: 

• up/down 
• twisted/straight 
• angular/curved 
• forward/backward 
• near/far 
• heavy/light 
• strong/weak 
• free/bound 
• moa/tuatara 
• Hector’s dolphin/albatross. 

Extension suggestion 

Get the students to repeat the activity, but this time create short locomotor (travelling) movement phrases. 

Possible locomotor contrasts are: 

• meeting/parting 
• rolling/walking 
• expanding/shrinking 
• pushing/pulling 
• kiwi/giant eagle 
• a Māui’s dolphin moving freely through the water/a Māui’s dolphin caught in a set net. 

Once the students have gained confidence in this activity, take digital photos of the contrasting shapes to display in the classroom. 

Use questions such as the following to prompt reflection: 

• How clear are the contrasts made by the dancers? 
• What are some other possibilities? 
• Where is the focus of the dancers? (In which directions were they looking?) 
• How did their focus help to communicate the contrast? 
• Describe how the dancers showed a specific contrast (e.g., moa/tuatara). Discuss how effective the contrast was.  

The aim of this activity is to reinforce and revise the dance vocabulary the students have explored in this unit. It can also be used as a warm-up for each dance lesson. 

Organise the students into two concentric circles.  

Ask the students in each circle to move in opposite directions (that is, those in one circle move clockwise and those in the other move anti-clockwise). They are to do so using locomotor movement as directed by you (e.g., sliding, skipping, hopping).    

You may choose to do this activity to music or the beat of a drum. When the music or drum stops, the students stop and face the person opposite them. They have now become a pair. 

Set the pairs tasks, such as the following: 

• Form a shape on two levels. 
• Form a connected shape with a body base of one leg, a bottom, and two hands. 
• Form contrasts (e.g., up/down; curved/straight; heavy/light; strong/weak; free/bound) 
• Create still and moving shapes in response to pictures of creatures you show them.  

If there is an uneven number of students in the class, ask one student to play the drum or manage the music. Get them to swap out with another student so that they also get to participate in the dance tasks. 

This image shows a North Island Brown Kiwi (Apteryx mantelli) preserved by taxidermy. A flightless bird, it has brown feathers streaked with a reddish tinge. 

The long, thin bill is ivory in colour, with nostrils located at the end - a feature unique to the kiwi. 

The bird here is a male, about 40 cm high, and would have weighed about 2.2 kg. Females generally weigh closer to 2.8 kg. 

Source: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 

Description

This image is an example of an endangered species included on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Mainland populations of the North Island brown kiwi may have decreased by as much as 86% in 36 years (three bird generations), because of predation and loss of habitat. 

It is one of five species of kiwi found in New Zealand. The North Island brown kiwi is generally found in the upper parts of New Zealand’s North Island, namely in Northland and the Coromandel Peninsula, where it inhabits dense, subtropical, and temperate forests. 

The male kiwi incubates the newly laid egg for two-to-three months. The female produces one of the proportionally largest eggs of any bird, comprising 15–20 percent of her body weight. 

The kiwi is the smallest living member of the ratites, a notable group of flightless birds that have no ridge (keel) on their sternum (breastbone), to which wing muscles would be attached in birds that fly. 

Kiwis mate for life, keeping in touch with their partners through the loud calls, and are symbols of New Zealand's national identity. 

This is a complete skeleton of an extinct Upland Moa (Megalapteryx didinus). It was discovered in 1987 in the Oparara Valley, a remote area near Karamea on the north-west coast of New Zealand's South Island. The moa was a flightless bird, and it is believed this one became trapped in a limestone cave over 15,000 years ago. When alive, this moa stood about 1 metre tall and weighed around 56 kilograms. 

Source: Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa 

Description

The moa was unique to the high country of the South Island of New Zealand and became extinct mainly through the hunt for food by humans. 

The moa was a low-slung bird with its head held only slightly above the level of its back – its stance is unlike that of the ostrich species, with which comparisons were made. The moa was a member of the ratites (which include ostriches and emus)—a notable group of early birds that have no ridge (keel) on their sternum (breastbone), to which wing muscles are attached in birds that fly. 

Moa are thought to have evolved from flying ancestors whose breast muscles and wings degenerated when they increased in size and improved their ability to run. 

The roof of the limestone cave in which the bones were found had collapsed in several places, creating vertically sided potholes up to 50 metres deep. Once the flightless moa had fallen in, there was no chance for escape. 

The moa was the tallest bird known, with some growing up to 4 metres in height. Although the upland moa is one of the smallest moa, it is still larger than most birds alive today. 

These skulls represent the two recognised subspecies of Hector’s dolphin, a coastal dolphin found only in New Zealand waters. 

On the right is a skull of a Hector’s dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori hectori). There appears to be some genetic distinction between this species and the skull on the left, which is that of Māui's dolphin (cephalorhynchus hectori māui). This subspecies of the Hector’s dolphin lives off the west coast of the North Island. The skull measures 30.2 cm in length. It is both genetically and physically distinct from the South Island population, the main distinction being size. 

Māui’s dolphins are slightly larger than South Island Hector’s dolphins. Both skulls have a pointed beak shape. The Hector’s dolphin has close to a full set of teeth, while the Māui’s dolphin has no teeth present. There is a prominent protrusion of bone from the eye sockets on both skulls. 

Source: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 

Description

These skulls are of two subspecies, which are among the rarest dolphins in the world. They are members of the Delphinidae family, of which there are 35 species worldwide. The skulls demonstrate the atypical mammalian structure of the dolphin skull and an evolutionary change that makes it easier for the efficient exchange of air at the sea surface while the animal stays largely submerged. 

As mammals, dolphins breathe air, and the nasal cavity that leads to the dolphin's blowhole is situated towards the top of the skull. 

The Hector’s dolphin is the only dolphin endemic to New Zealand waters. Genetic analyses show that this dolphin can be broken into four populations. The population of the Māui's dolphin off the west coast of the North Island is distinct enough to be considered a separate subspecies. 

The main physical difference is that the Māui’s dolphin is slightly larger, and there is also a suggestion of variation in colour pattern, but this requires further investigation. 

One of the shortest members of the dolphin family, an adult Hector's dolphin grows to a length of about 1.5 m for females, while males are a little smaller. 

In contrast, Māui’s dolphins may be as long as 1.62 m. Common dolphins reach about 2.6 m in length. 

The Hector’s dolphin also has a distinctive rounded dorsal fin (similar in shape to one of Mickey Mouse’s ears) compared to the usual falcate-shaped dorsal of most other dolphin species found in New Zealand waters. 

The Hector’s dolphin is listed as endangered in the IUCN (the World Conservation Union) Red List of Threatened Species, and the Māui's subspecies is listed as critically endangered. There are only an estimated 3,000–4,000 Hector's dolphins and 75–130 Māui’s dolphins remaining. 

Living close to shore, these dolphins are susceptible to threats from humans and at risk from marine pollution and recreational boating activities, but especially from gillnet fishing. This is an inshore method of fishing involving nets that can be 500 m long. Discarded nets, called 'ghost nets' can float around in the ocean and catch all sorts of wildlife, including Hector's and other small dolphins. 

Although able to live for up to 20 years, Cephalorhynchus hectori does not breed very often, only producing one calf every 2–4 years. Hector’s and Māui’s dolphins do not commence breeding until they are 7–9 years old and the subspecies do not interbreed. This makes the consequences of human activities such as fishing even more devastating. New Zealand’s first marine mammal sanctuary was established for Cephalorhynchus hectori in 1988 around Banks Peninsula. The sanctuary stopped commercial set netting in an area of 1,170 square kilometres and restricted the use of the area by amateur set netters. 

In September 2003, commercial set netting was banned from northern Taranaki to Maunganui Bluff on the west coast of the North Island, including inside the heads of the Manakau Harbour, to protect the small population of Māui’s dolphins. This dolphin species was named after Sir James Hector, one of the most influential New Zealand scientists of his time. In 1865, he was appointed director of the Geological Survey and Colonial Museum in Wellington and examined the first specimen of the dolphin ever found. 

This is a wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans), one of the world's most celebrated birds. The bill is yellow and pink in colour, and the tail is mostly white with black tips. Wandering albatrosses often appear exclusively white from a distance, but usually they are not. There are darker wavy lines on the breast, neck, and back, and the wings change colour from black to white with age. This specimen was preserved by taxidermy by Noel Hyde after it was caught on a tuna longline off the East Cape of New Zealand in 1993. 

Source: Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa 

Description 

With a wingspan of up to 3m, the wandering albatross has the largest wingspan of any living bird. They use this enormous wingspan to glide effortlessly on updrafts of wind and spend most of their life in flight (unlike most other birds). 

Their body length can be up to 1.35 metres, and females are slightly smaller than males. The wandering albatross may fly thousands of kilometres on a single foraging trip. One bird was recorded as having flown 6,000 kilometres in 12 days. 

Albatrosses feed in different areas according to their age and sex, the stage in their breeding cycle, and the population they originate from. 

The albatross is a species in decline. It is slow to breed, and its population has dropped significantly since 1985, mostly because of commercial fishing practices. 

This is an embroidered picture of a female huia bird (Heteralocha acutirostris) on a branch taking nectar from the flowers of a rata (a native New Zealand tree). The dark-coloured bird has white-tipped tail feathers and light orange wattles at the base of its beak. 
The work has a stylised Māori design around the edges of the embroidery and a frame also carved with Māori designs. 
It is made from coloured silks on linen, and the frame is kauri (another native New Zealand tree). A small piece of paper attached to the lower right corner of the linen reads, 'This Bird Was Worked, and the Frame Made and Carved, By an Old Crippled Maori Named "Rungomai", At Tokomaru Bay – East Coast’. 

It was made around 1900 and measures 48 cm x 70 cm. 

Source: Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa 

Description 

The huia is an extinct species of bird, about the size of a magpie, which was found only in the North Island of New Zealand. It was one of the most ancient New Zealand birds, and only the moa and kiwi are thought to be older. 

Land clearing and the introduction of rats and dogs (natural predators of the huia) by both Europeans and Māori and the hunting of the birds for their feathers and beaks as personal adornments, led to a steep decline in the number of huia. The last sighting of the huia was in 1907. 

Māori considered the huia to be tapu (sacred) and to wear a beak or feathers, especially the white-tipped tail feathers of the huia, as ornamentation was a great honour bestowed only on rangatira (chiefs).  

The bird in the image is a female huia. The male huia had a markedly different beak style (short and stout as opposed to long, slender, and curved). No other bird is known to have such a marked distinction in beaks within its own species. The male used his bill to chisel into outer layers of decaying or live wood whereas the female used her bill to probe into areas inaccessible to the male to find insects and their larvae and spiders. 

In the last two centuries, more than 100 species of birds have disappeared from the Earth, having an impact on people, their communities, and their cultures. 

Birds are important for seed dispersal, insect and rodent control, scavenging, and pollination. 

This is a hand-coloured engraving of a South Island Kōkako (Callaeas cinerea cinerea), a sleek, blue-grey forest bird of moderate size. We know this is a South Island Kōkako as its wattle is orange-red in colour. The North Island Kōkako has a blue wattle. 

Like all kōkako, it has distinctive and colourful fleshy wattles below the beak and a velvet-black ‘mask’ directly below the eyes. The wings are small and weak for a bird of its size, as it prefered to get about by running and jumping about on its long legs rather than by flying or gliding. 

There are pencil sketches of the bird's anatomy towards the bottom of the engraving. 
JSC Dumont d’Urville engraved the plate based on a painting by ornithological artist Jean Gabriel Pretre (c1800–50). It measures 40cm x 26.5cm. 

Source: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 

Description

The kōkako is thought to be extinct. There have been no confirmed sightings of the South Island Kōkako since the 1960s, although 400 pairs of North Island Kōkako survive. Forest clearance and the introduction of predators such as rats, stoats, and possums were the main causes of the bird's demise. 

The kōkako belongs to the endemic New Zealand wattlebirds (Callaeidae), an ancient family of birds that includes the North and South Island saddleback and the extinct huia. 
There are many Māori legends about the kōkako . 

It was the kōkako that gave (the Māori trickster hero) water as he fought the sun. It filled its wattles with water and brought it to Māui to quench his thirst. Māui rewarded the kōkako by making its legs long and slender, enabling the bird to bound through the forest with ease in search of food. 

This is a watercolour of the New Zealand upokororo or grayling (Prototroctes oxyrhynchus) by the flora and fauna artist F.E Clarke (1849–99), made in 1889. The fish is long and slim, with slivery-blue hues on the underside. Yellow-brown shades on the back, head, and tail fin pattern into spots along the back. The words "White Spotted Greyling. (Nat: Size) (Prototroctes Saleii) Hokitika R., October 26, 1889" are written beneath the image. It measures 12 cm x 27 cm. 

Source: Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa 

Description

This is a painting of the once-abundant New Zealand grayling, which is now extinct. Apart from four specimens at the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa, there are fewer than a dozen museum examples in the world. This image is the only reliable clue to the fish's colouring – it has been described variously as silvery with slightly brown hues on the back, as a rich red-brown speckled with grey, and golden yellow. This lack of exact information is presumably due to the fact that a specimen preserved in formalin or alcohol loses its colour. 

Little is known about the fish. It lived in streams and estuaries, where it grazed on algae, grew to 45 cm and weighed up to 1.5 kg. 

Like other native species, the fish probably grew and spawned in fresh water and then, as newly hatched larvae, were washed out to sea to live for several months. The upukororo was a valuable food source for Māori, who caught it in long woven traps called hinaki. It became extinct following European settlement. The grayling was widespread in the early years of settlement and was even used as bulk fertiliser on market gardens, but by the late 1870s, numbers were declining, and by 1930, it was considered extinct. The introduction of trout almost certainly contributed to its disappearance, combined with the clearing of vegetation along rivers, resulting in increased light penetration and raised water temperatures. The fish is misnamed. It was not related to the European or US grayling, but belonged in a separate family, together with one other Australian species. 

This is an image of a pekapeka ('Mystacina tuberculata', lesser short-tailed bat) preserved by taxidermy. One of only two native land mammals in New Zealand, it is endangered like New Zealand's other land mammal, the long-tailed bat. Short-tailed bats weigh just 12–15 grams, have large, pointed ears, and are a mousy-grey colour. They live in native forests. 

Source: Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa 

Description

This image illustrates the bat’s wings, which can be folded and used for scrambling around on the forest floor. 

Unlike most bats, which catch their prey in the air, the short-tailed bat developed into a ground hunter because of early New Zealand's unique predator-free conditions. 
It spends large amounts of time foraging on the forest floor. 

The pekapeka has sharp, carnivorous teeth. These teeth indicate that the main part of its diet is insects, although it also eats fruit, nectar, and pollen. 

It is a native animal adapted to New Zealand conditions. The pekapeka goes into torpor in cold weather and stays in its roost, hibernating for up to 10 days, feeding again when the weather warms. 

It is now seriously affected by human settlement – habitat loss (clearing of land for farming) and the introduction of predators such as rats, stoats, and cats have led to a dramatic decline in numbers. 

This is a litho tint of a tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus), a native New Zealand reptile, resting on a rock with grass and water in the foreground. Two views of the skull appear above it. 

This litho tint was numbered plate 20, measuring 25 cm x 31.5 cm and was published in London by E.W. Janson in 1845. 

Source Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa 

Description

This image is an example of a litho tint (a tinted print made by repelling ink from a smooth stone surface) created after a journey of discovery made by Captain Sir James Clark Ross, a British Royal Navy captain who set sail in 1839 to study the Earth’s magnetism in Antarctica. 
The tuatara is a unique native animal from New Zealand. It has not changed its form much in over 200 million years and is the only survivor of a large group of reptiles that roamed the Earth at the same time as dinosaurs. 

It possesses a classic diapsid skull. These skulls have large holes on their lateral and dorsal surfaces to fit in jaw muscles. 

The word tuatara means ‘peaks on the back’ and refers to the feather-like spikes that run the length of the animal’s back. 

It is an example of a native New Zealand animal affected by human occupation. Introduced predators have had a dramatic impact on tuatara populations, and they now survive only on predator-free islands along the east coast of the North Island and in the Marlborough Sounds at the north of the South Island. 

It has a low metabolic rate and longevity. Some records indicate that individuals may live to be over 100 years old. 

This is a fibreglass model of the extinct New Zealand giant eagle known as Haast’s eagle (Harpagornis moorei). It was the largest eagle ever recorded and had talons as big as tigers claws, a low, narrow skull, and an elongated beak. 

Males weighed up to 10 kg while females weighed up to 14 kg. Harpagornis was capable of reaching speeds of up to 80 km per hour when diving. Its dark wings and tail feathers had white feathers distributed through them, giving a striped effect, while its body was predominantly brown. Its wingspan measured up to 2.6 metres across. 

Source Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa 

Description

This is a fibreglass model of the now extinct New Zealand native eagle, Harpagornis moorei. It was the largest eagle ever known and was capable of killing a 200kg 2m-tall moa with its powerfully muscled legs that cushioned its body from the sudden force of a strike. 

It had talons capable of stabbing several centimetres into flesh and puncturing bone. Fossilised moa pelvic bones show gashes and punctures from eagle claws. 

One consequence of Polynesian settlement and hunting was the eventual extinction of the giant eagle. Hunting deprived Harpagornis of its food supply. 

Harpagornis also became a food source for humans, as evidenced by the eagle's bones, along with tools made from them, being found in middens. 

Haast’s eagle lived on the South Island of New Zealand, occupying large territories of up to several hundred square kilometres before becoming extinct sometime around 1400. There were, however, claims of sightings as late as the 19th century. 

The giant eagle was first described by Julius Haast of the Canterbury Museum from bones found in a swamp near Glenmark, North Canterbury (east coast of the South Island), in 1871. 

Some Māori believed that the giant eagle was descended from the star Rehua. The Harpagornis was also regarded as the ancestor of ceremonial kites, or manu tukutuku, which typically took the form of birds. Ethnographer Elsdon Best recorded that it was a legendary bird of this magnitude that was reputed to have carried off and devoured people. 

This is a chromolithographic print of a pair of Hutton's rails (Chatham rail, matirakahu, Cabalus modestus). The print was created from an engraving based on a watercolour by the Dutch artist J.G. Keulemans and was published in 1905. 

One bird stands alert on a rock while a smaller one crouches below. A larger rock and shadowy grasses and ferns form the background, while smaller rocks, leaves, and fern fragments add to the natural setting. The words "Hutton’s Rail, Cabalus modestus" are printed below the image. The print measures 36.0 cm x 27.0 cm. (Current scientific classification for Hutton’s rail - Phylum: Chordata, Class: Aves, Order: Gruiformes, Family: Rallidae.) 

Source: Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa 

Description

The rail became extinct between 1896 and 1900. 

Soft down feathers helped the chick to conserve body heat, and these were replaced by adult feathers as the chick matured. 

It is one of three specimens of a small flightless rail that were collected from Māngere Island in the Chatham group, about 800 km east of New Zealand, by Henry Travers in 1871. Travers delivered them to F.W. Hutton (1836–1905) at the Colonial Museum in Wellington, and Hutton immediately recognised them as a new species. 

Only 26 specimens of rail were ever found, all on Māngere Island. Recent palaeontological research has shown that the species was widespread throughout the larger Chatham Islands before Moriori people and rats arrived about 600 years ago. 

By 1897, fires and cats had exterminated the last of Hutton’s rails. 

Rails became flightless after arriving on the Chatham Islands hundreds of thousands of years ago; When mammalian predators and humans reached the oceanic islands, rails were among the first species to disappear.