Tasman Sea
The Tasman Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about 2,800 kilometres from north to south; the sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, the first recorded European to encounter New Zealand and Tasmania. The British explorer Captain James Cook extensively navigated the Tasman Sea in the 1770s as part of his first voyage of exploration; the Tasman Sea is informally referred to in New Zealand English as The Ditch. The diminutive term "The Ditch" used for the Tasman Sea is comparable to referring to the North Atlantic Ocean as "The Pond"; the south of the sea is passed over by depressions going from west to east. The northern limit of these westerly winds is near to 40°S. During the southern winter, from April to October, the northern branch of these winds from the west changes its direction toward the north and goes up against trade winds. Hence, the sea receives frequent winds from the southwest during this period.
In the Australian summer the southern branch of the trade winds goes up against west winds and produces further wind activity in the area. The sea circumscribes a water body of 2,300,000 kilometres in area; the depth of the sea is 5,493 metres. The base of the sea is made up of globigerina ooze. A small zone of pteropod ooze is found to the south of New Caledonia and to the southern extent of 30°S, siliceous ooze can be found; the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Tasman Sea as follows: On the West. A line from Gabo Island to the Northeast point of East Sister Island thence along the 148th meridian to Flinders Island. On the North; the parallel of 30°S from the Australian coast Eastward as far as a line joining the East extremities of Elizabeth Reef and South East Rock to the Southward along this line to the South East Rock. On the Northeast. From the South East Rock to the North point of Three Kings Islands thence to North Cape in New Zealand. On the East. In Cook Strait.
A line joining the South extreme of the foul ground off Cape Palliser and the Lighthouse on Cape Campbell. In Foveaux Strait. A line joining the Light on Waipapapa Point with East Head of Stewart Island. On the Southeast. A line running from South West Cape, Stewart Island, through The Snares to North West Cape, Auckland Island, through this island to its Southern point. On the South. A line joining the Southern point of Auckland Island to South East Cape, the Southern point of Tasmania; the Tasman Sea's mid-ocean ridge developed between 85 and 55 million years ago as Australia and Zealandia broke apart during the breakup of supercontinent Gondwana. It lies midway between the continental margins of Australia and Zealandia. Much of Zealandia is submerged, so the ridge runs much closer to the Australian coast than New Zealand's; the Tasman Sea features a number of mid-sea island groups, quite apart from coastal islands located near the Australian and New Zealand mainlands: Lord Howe Island Ball's Pyramid Norfolk Island, in the extreme north of the Tasman Sea, on the border with the Coral Sea Middleton Reef Elizabeth Reef North: Coral Sea Northeast and East: Pacific Ocean East: Cook Strait South and Southeast: Southern Ocean West: Bass Strait A deep-sea research ship, the RV Tangaroa, explored the sea and found 500 species of fish and 1300 species of invertebrates.
The tooth of a Megalodon, an extinct shark, was found by researchers. Moncrieff and Hood were the first to attempt a Trans-Tasman crossing by plane in 1928; the first successful flight over the sea was accomplished by Charles Kingsford Smith that year. The first person to row solo across the sea was Colin Quincey in 1977; the next successful solo crossing was completed by his son, Shaun Quincey, in 2010. Axis naval activity in New Zealand waters Crossing the Ditch List of seas Coral sea Rotschi, H..
Beilschmiedia tawa
Beilschmiedia tawa, the tawa tree, is a New Zealand broadleaf tree common in the central parts of the country. Tawa is the dominant canopy species in lowland forests in the North Island and the north east of the South Island, but will often form the subcanopy in primary forests throughout the country in these areas, beneath podocarps such as kahikatea, matai and rimu. Individual specimens may grow up to 30 metres or more in height with trunks up to 1.2 metres in diameter, they have smooth dark bark. The word "tawa" is the Maori name for the tree. Tawa trees produce small inconspicuous flowers followed by 2 - 3.5 cm long fruit of a dark red plum colour. With such large fruits the tawa is notable for the fact that it relies on the New Zealand pigeon and the North Island kokako for dispersal of its seed; these are the only remaining birds from New Zealand's original biota large enough to eat the fruits of this tree and pass the seeds through their guts and excrete them unharmed. Tawa can support significant epiphyte gardens in their canopies, which are one of the few habitats known to be frequented by the enigmatic, arboreal striped skink.
This tree gives its name to a northern suburb of Tawa. One of the few hardwood trees in the country with good timber, the wood of this tree can be used for attractive and resilient floorboarding. Although protected in conservation areas and by robust environmental legislation, licences are granted for the odd fallen tree to be milled for its timber; the kernel of the tawa berry was used by Māori as food. The berries were steamed in an umu for two days washed to remove the turpentine-flavoured pulp; the dried kernels were stored. When required, they were soaked in hot water and pounded, sometimes flavouring being added to the mashed meal. Beilschmiedia tarairi H. H. Allan, 1961. Flora of New Zealand Vol. 1. Government printer. J. Dawson and R. Lucas, 2000. Nature guide to the New Zealand Forest. Godwit. W. Mary McEwen, 1978."The food of the New Zealand Pigeon". New Zealand Journal of Ecology. 1: 99–108. Retrieved 29 June 2007. A. E. Wright, 1984. "Beilschmiedia Nees in New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Botany.
22: 109–125. 1984. Doi:10.1080/0028825x.1984.10425238. Retrieved 7 October 2010. Knowles, Barbara and A. E. Beveridge. "Biological flora of New Zealand 9: Beilschmiedia tawa". New Zealand Journal of Botany. 20: 37–54. Doi:10.1080/0028825x.1982.10426403. Retrieved 5 June 2007. Kelly, Dave. "Slow Recovery of Bielschmiedia tawa after severe frosts in inland Taranaki, New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Ecology. 10: 137–140. Retrieved 5 June 2007
Stitchbird
The stitchbird or hihi is a rare honeyeater-like bird endemic to the North Island and adjacent offshore islands of New Zealand. It became extirpated everywhere except Little Barrier Island but has been reintroduced to three other island sanctuaries and two locations on the North Island mainland, its evolutionary relationships have long puzzled ornithologists, but it is now classed as the only member of its own family, the Notiomystidae. The stitchbird was described as a member of the Australian and New Guinean honeyeater family Meliphagidae, it had remained classified as such until recently. Genetic analysis shows that it is not related to the honeyeaters and their allies and that its closest living relatives are within the endemic New Zealand Callaeidae. In 2007 a new passerine family was erected to contain the Notiomystidae; the stitchbird is a small honeyeater-like bird. Males have a dark velvety cap and short white ear-tufts, which can be raised somewhat away from the head. A yellow band across the chest separates the black head from the rest of the body, grey.
Females and juveniles are duller than males, lacking the black head and yellow chest band. The bill is rather thin and somewhat curved, the tongue is long with a brush at the end for collecting nectar. Thin whiskers project out and forward from the base of the bill. Stitchbirds are active and call frequently, their most common call, a tzit tzit sound, is believed to be the source of their common name, as Buller noted that it "has a fanciful resemblance to the word stitch". They have a high-pitched whistle and an alarm call, a nasal pek like a bellbird. Males give a variety of other calls not given by the female. Research has suggested that they face interspecific competition from the tui and New Zealand bellbird, will feed from lower-quality food sources when these species are present; the stitchbird lands on the ground and visits flowers on the large canopy trees favoured by the tui and bellbird. Their main food is nectar, but the stitchbird's diet covers over twenty species of native flowers and thirty species of fruit and many species of introduced plants.
Important natural nectar sources are haekaro, puriri and toropapa. Preferred fruits include Coprosma species, five finger, tree fuchsia and raukawa; the stitchbird supplements its diet with small insects. The stitchbird nests in holes high up in old trees, they are the only bird species that mates face to face, in comparison to the more conventional copulation style for birds where the male mounts the female's back. The stitchbird was common in the pre-European colonisation of New Zealand, began to decline quickly afterwards, being extinct on the mainland and many offshore islands by 1885; the last sighting on the mainland was in the Tararua Range in the 1880s. The exact cause of the decline is unknown, but is thought to be pressure from introduced species black rats, introduced avian diseases. Only a small population on Little Barrier Island survived. Starting in the 1980s the New Zealand Wildlife Service translocated numbers of individuals from Hauturu to other island sanctuaries to create separate populations.
These islands were part of New Zealand's network of offshore reserves which have been cleared of introduced species and which protect other rare species including the kakapo and takahe. The world population is unknown. There are translocated populations on Tiritiri Matangi Island, Kapiti Island, Zealandia and the Waitakere Ranges. Attempts to establish populations on Hen Island, Cuvier Island and Mokoia Island failed. There is a captive population at Mount Bruce; the Tiritiri Matangi population is growing but more than half the chicks that hatch there die of starvation due to the lack of mature forest, most of the island having been revegetated only since 1984–1994. Only the Little Barrier Island population is thought to be stable as of 2007; this species is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN because of its small range and population. In 2005, 60 stitchbirds were released into Zealandia near Wellington and in October that year, three stitchbird chicks hatched there, the first time for more than 120 years that a stitchbird chick had been born on mainland New Zealand.
The hatchings were described as a significant conservation milestone by sanctuary staff who were hoping further chicks would be born there. In autumn 2007, 59 adult birds from the Tiritiri Matangi population were released in Cascade Kauri Park, in the Waitakere Ranges near Auckland and by the end of the year the first chicks had fledged there. Angehr, George R.: Stitchbird, NZ Wildlife Service Anderson, Sue. "Stitchbirds copulate front to front". Notornis. 40: 14. Archived from the original on 28 June 2007. Barker, F. K.. "Phylogeny and diversification of the largest avian radiation". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 101: 11040–11045. Doi:10.1073/pnas.0401892101. PMC 503738. PMID 15263073. BirdLife International: Hihi returns home after 125 years. Includes photo of adult male. Version of 23 February 2007. Retrieved 26 February 2007. Buller, Walter L.: Fam. TIMELIPHGIDÆ — Pogonornis Cincta. —, in his A History of the Birds of New Zealand, Second Edition. London: Walter Buller. Retrieved 26 April 2
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and second most populous urban area of New Zealand, with 418,500 residents. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the major population centre of the southern North Island, is the administrative centre of the Wellington Region, which includes the Kapiti Coast and Wairarapa, its latitude is 41°17′S, making it the world's southernmost capital of a sovereign state. Wellington features a temperate maritime climate, is the world's windiest city by average wind speed; the Wellington urban area comprises four local authorities: Wellington City, on the peninsula between Cook Strait and Wellington Harbour, contains the central business district and about half the population. As the nation's capital since 1865, the New Zealand Government and Parliament, Supreme Court and most of the public service are based in the city. Architectural sights include the Government Building—one of the largest wooden buildings in the world—as well as the iconic Beehive.
Wellington is home to several of the largest and oldest cultural institutions in the nation such the National Archives, the National Library, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, numerous theatres. It plays host to many artistic and cultural organisations, including the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Royal New Zealand Ballet. One of the world's most liveable cities, the 2016 Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranked Wellington 12th in the world. Wellington's economy is service-based, with an emphasis on finance, business services, government, it is the centre of New Zealand's film and special effects industries, a hub for information technology and innovation, with two public research universities. Wellington is one of New Zealand's chief seaports and serves both domestic and international shipping; the city is served by the third busiest airport in the country. Wellington's transport network includes train and bus lines which reach as far as the Kapiti Coast and Wairarapa, ferries connect the city to the South Island.
Wellington takes its name from Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington and victor of the Battle of Waterloo: his title comes from the town of Wellington in the English county of Somerset. It was named in November 1840 by the original settlers of the New Zealand Company on the suggestion of the directors of the same, in recognition of the Duke's strong support for the company's principles of colonisation and his "strenuous and successful defence against its enemies of the measure for colonising South Australia". One of the founders of the settlement, Edward Jerningham Wakefield, reported that the settlers "took up the views of the directors with great cordiality and the new name was at once adopted". In the Māori language, Wellington has three names. Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara refers to Wellington Harbour and means "the great harbour of Tara". In New Zealand Sign Language, the name is signed by raising the index and ring fingers of one hand, palm forward, to form a "W", shaking it from side to side twice.
The city's location close to the mouth of the narrow Cook Strait leads to its vulnerability to strong gales, leading to the city's nickname of "Windy Wellington". Legends recount that Kupe explored the district in about the 10th century; the earliest date with hard evidence for Maori living in New Zealand is about 1280. Situated near the geographic centre of the country, Wellington was well placed for trade. In 1839 it was chosen as the first major planned settlement for British immigrants coming to New Zealand; the settlement was named in honour of Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington and victor of the Battle of Waterloo. European settlement began with the arrival of an advance party of the New Zealand Company on the ship Tory on 20 September 1839, followed by 150 settlers on the Aurora on 22 January 1840. Food processing plants, engineering industries, vehicle assembly and oil refineries were located in the NE which caused the main industrial growth in Hutt valley; the settlers constructed their first homes at Petone on the flat area at the mouth of the Hutt River.
When that proved swampy and flood-prone they transplanted the plans, drawn without regard for the hilly terrain. In 1865, Wellington became the capital city in place of Auckland, which William Hobson had made the capital in 1841; the New Zealand Parliament had first met in Wellington on 7 July 1862, on a temporary basis. There had been some concerns that the more populous South Island would choose to form a separate colony in the British Empire. Several Commissioners invited from Australia, chosen for their neutral status, declared that Wellington was a suitable location because of
Mustelidae
The Mustelidae are a family of carnivorous mammals, including weasels, otters, martens and wolverines, among others. Mustelids the largest family in the order Carnivora, suborder Caniformia. Mustelidae comprises about 56-60 species across eight subfamilies. Mustelids vary in size and behaviour; the least weasel can be under a foot in length, while the giant otter of Amazonian South America can measure up to 1.7 m and sea otters can exceed 45 kg in weight. The wolverine can crush bones as thick as the femur of a moose to get at the marrow, has been seen attempting to drive bears away from their kills; the sea otter uses rocks to break open shellfish to eat. The marten is arboreal, while the European badger digs extensive networks of tunnels, called setts; some mustelids have been domesticated: the ferret and the tayra are kept as pets, or as working animals for hunting or vermin control. Others have been important in the fur trade—the mink is raised for its fur; as well as being one of the most species-rich families in the order Carnivora, the family Mustelidae is one of the oldest.
Mustelid-like forms first appeared about 40 million years ago coinciding with the appearance of rodents. The direct ancestors of the modern mustelids first appeared about 15 million years ago. Within a large range of variation, the mustelids exhibit some common characteristics, they are small animals with elongated bodies, short legs, round ears, thick fur. Most mustelids are solitary, nocturnal animals, are active year-round. With the exception of the sea otter, they have anal scent glands that produce a strong-smelling secretion the animals use for sexual signaling and for marking territory. Most mustelid reproduction involves embryonic diapause; the embryo does not implant in the uterus, but remains dormant for some time. No development takes place as long; as a result, the normal gestation period is extended, sometimes up to a year. This allows the young to be born under more favorable environmental conditions. Reproduction has a large energy cost and it is to a female's benefit to have available food and mild weather.
The young are more to survive if birth occurs after previous offspring have been weaned. Mustelids are predominantly carnivorous. While not all mustelids share an identical dentition, they all possess teeth adapted for eating flesh, including the presence of shearing carnassials. With variation between species, the most common dental formula is 3.1.3.13.1.3.2. The martens and tayra are arboreal, while badgers are fossorial. A number of mustelids are have aquatic lifestyles, ranging from semiaquatic minks and the several species of river otters to the aquatic sea otter; the sea otter is one of the few nonprimate mammals known to use a tool while foraging. It uses "anvil" stones to crack open the shellfish, it is a "keystone species", keeping its prey populations in balance so some do not outcompete the others and destroy the kelp in which they live. The black-footed ferret is dependent on another keystone species, the prairie dog. A family of four ferrets eats 250 prairie dogs in a year; the skunks were included as a subfamily of the mustelids, but are now regarded as a separate family.
The mongoose and the meerkat bear a striking resemblance to many mustelids, but belong to a distinctly different suborder—the Feliformia and not the Caniformia. Because the mongooses and the mustelids occupy similar ecological niches, convergent evolution has led to some similarity in form and behavior; the oldest fossil of the mustelids were dated at the end of the Oligocene to the beginning of the Miocene. “There is debate regarding which fossils from these epochs represent possible ancestral forms that led to Mustelidae and which fossils represent the first modern mustelids.” From the fossil record we can see that Mustelids appeared in the late Oligocene period in Eurasia and migrated throughout the continents. The Mustelids inhabit every continent except Australia; the mustelids migrated all throughout the continents. The Mustelids made their way to South America via the Bering land bridge. Several mustelids, including the mink, the sable and the stoat, boast exquisite and valuable furs, have been accordingly hunted since prehistoric times.
Since the early Middle Ages, the trade in furs was of great economic importance for northern and eastern European nations with large native populations of fur-bearing mustelids, was a major economic impetus behind Russian expansion into Siberia and French and English expansion in North America. In recent centuries, fur farming, notably of mink, has become widespread and provides the majority of the fur brought to market. One species, the sea mink of New England and Canada, was driven to extinction by fur trappers, its appearance and habits are unknown today because no complete specimens can be found and no systematic contemporary studies were conducted. The sea otter, which has the densest fur of any animal, narrowly escaped the fate of the sea mink; the discovery of large populations in the North Pacific was the major economic dr
Tararua Range
The Tararua Range referred to as the Tararua Ranges or the Tararuas, is one of several mountain ranges in the North Island of New Zealand. They form a ridge running parallel with the east coast of the island between East Cape and Wellington; the Tararua Range runs northeast-southwest for 80 kilometres from near Palmerston North to the upper reaches of the Hutt Valley, where the northern tip of the Remutaka Range begins. It is separated in the north from the southern end of the Ruahine Range by the Manawatu Gorge; the highest peak in the Tararuas is Mitre at 1570 m. Other prominent peaks include Mount Bannister at 1537 m and Mount Hector at 1529 m, named after the scientist Sir James Hector, its Māori name is Pukemoumou, or'hill of desolation'. The Tararua Range is divided into a southern distinct regions; each of these is dominated by Hector in the south. A total of ten rivers rise on the mountain slopes, providing water for the surrounding rural and urban areas from Palmerston North to Wellington.
A number of ranges radiate out from the mountains, the largest of, the Main Range linking the twin clusters of northern and southern peaks. The summits of the ranges average between 1,300 and 1,500 metres in height; this consistency indicates. About 10 million years ago parts of this low-lying area were thrust up, creating a mountainous backbone for the southern part of the North Island. Subsequent erosion contributed to the present pattern of parallel ranges divided by deep river valleys; the ranges provide a back-drop for the Kapiti coastal plain. The 15 peaks in the Tararuas of 1,500m or higher are: Logan 1,500m, Bannister 1,537m, South Bannister 1,513m, Arete 1,505m, Lancaster 1,504m, Brocket 1,538m, Mitre 1,571m, Peggys Peak 1,545m, Girdlestone 1,546m, North King 1,535m, Middle King 1,521m, South King 1,531m, McGregor 1,540m, Angle Knob 1,510m, Mount Hector 1,529m; the western slopes of the ranges are subject to prevailing moisture-carrying winds, channelled by Cook Strait to the south. These are the source of an annual rainfall of 5,000 mm, resulting in the dominance of conifers and shrubs on the western side of the ranges.
By contrast, the pattern on the eastern side is one of open beech forest in a drier environment. In spite of a reputation of being composed of gloomy bush, impenetrable leatherwood, wet snow tussocks on mist-shrouded tops, the Tararua Range has a wide diversity of vegetation, ranging from alpine tussock grasslands and subalpine shrublands to forests of montane miro/kamahi, or beech or lowland broadleaf forests with emergent podocarps and kamahi; the forest in the northern part of the Tararuas consists of tawa and miro indigenous woodlands. Further south species such as beech are seen. Along the west slopes of the ranges facing the Tasman Sea, mixed native species such as rimu, matai and kahikatea are dominant; the rugged terrain and harsh weather of the Tararua Range served to discourage any substantial attempt at penetration by early Maori. Although there is archeological evidence of exploration by moa hunters as early as the twelfth century, the mountains remained a massive physical divide between the tribal settlements located along rivers and coastlines to the east and west.
Some of the Ngati Mamoe are reputed to have taken refuge in the Tararua mountains after they were displaced by the Rangitane and Muaupoko iwi. The Ngati Mamoe survivors attained a mythical status as the patupaiarehe of the Taruruas. In the 1820s the Muaupoko in turn were forced to flee to the ranges when under attack by the Ngati Toa led by Te Rauparaha. In spite of such intrusions, the mountain range remained the home of distant gods or hostile wild men; as such, it was a special place to be avoided. In the 1870s a large portion of the ranges was sold to the New Zealand Government by a coalition of the Iwi in possession of the surrounding region. Excluded from this "Tararua Block" purchase was an area of 1,000 acres reserved to protect the sacred lake Hapuakorari, the exact location of which remained uncertain. European settlers, like their Maori counterparts, found the steep ridges and deep valleys of the Tararua Range difficult of access and intimidating in scale; the range accordingly escaped the development of the fertile plains.
In 1881 36,000 acres of the Tararua Block, including key catchment areas for four rivers, was classified as State Forest, subject to protection. Additional watersheds were added over the following decades, to create a Crown conservation reserve in excess of 250,000 acres; the scenic beauty of the Tararuas made the mountains a popular subject for paintings during the Victorian period - though romanticized and undertaken from a distance. By the 1920s, with the neighboring countryside settled, the potential of the ranges as an area for outdoor recreation rather than for exploitation began to be recognized; the 116,535 hectare. It is administered by the New Zealand Department of Conservation and extends from the Pahiatua Track in the north, to the Rimutaka Saddle in the south; the main entrance on the eastern side of the ranges is at Holdsworth, on the west side from Otaki Forks. The only all-weather road right across the range is the "Pahiatua Track", which joins Palmerston North and Pahiatua, it is now used more since the Manawatu Gorge road was permanently closed due to recurring large landslides.
The Tararua R
