introduced predators

This paper reviews the timing and spread of weasels and stoats across the South and North Islands of New Zealand during the late nineteenth century, entirely from historical records. The flavour of the debates and the assumptions that led to the commissioning of private and government shipments of these animals are best appreciated from the original documents.

The European hedgehog is a significant predator species of rare and endangered ground-nesting birds in the riverbeds of the Waitaki Basin, South Island, New Zealand. Studies focusing on the movements and habits of this species have generally been limited to broad-scale radio-tracking studies or incidental trap-catch data. Within our study, we aimed to investigate the finer scale movement patterns of the hedgehog in relation to vegetation structure by using spool-and-thread tracking.