New Zealand’s endemic wētāpunga insect population has reached an official recovery status following success of a multi-year breeding initiative. Researchers released findings on 2 October documenting the achievements of the programme, which has facilitated the release of 11,000 individuals into wild habitats. The wētāpunga is considered the world’s heaviest insect, with females potentially weighing as much as a mouse and reaching body lengths up to 10cm, with leg spans approaching 20cm.
The species was once distributed across portions of the North Island but faced significant population declines due to predation from introduced species and habitat destruction. By the 1990s, the insects were classified as endangered and are now presumed extinct in mainland New Zealand’s wild state. Currently, the population is concentrated on several predator-free islands in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf and off the Northland coast.
Two primary facilities—Butterfly Creek wildlife facility and Auckland Zoo—have spearheaded breeding efforts over the past 15 years, developing and refining husbandry techniques to support large-scale rearing. Young wētāpunga are raised in communal creches and fed a specialized diet comprising fresh foliage, fish flake protein, and leaf litter, with the protein component proving essential for nymph survival. Once insects reach sufficient size for self-protection, they are transferred to new habitats across predator-free islands and mainland reserves north of Auckland.
Monitoring data from two islands have documented the establishment of self-sustaining populations with multiple generations born in the wild, marking a significant conservation milestone. Forty-five separate translocations to wild habitats have been completed, representing an unusually high number for species recovery efforts. The conservation classification for the wētāpunga has been upgraded from nationally endangered to nationally recovering, a status rarely achievable for New Zealand’s threatened species.
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