Weta sign of good control of predators
Nestled in the heart of the Totara Reserve in the Pohangina Valley is an unlikely location for a fivestar hotel.
The hotels are weta houses, a project by Horizons to show how predator-free the park is, says Horizon’s biodiversity adviser Neil Gallagher.
“Part of the reason for the weta house project is that we can monitor rat numbers.
“Weta are indicators of a predator-free environment and healthy weta numbers in the boxes will be an indicator that pest control is working in the park,” Neil said.
“Lots of weta is a good thing. We always focus on things we can see, the trees and the birds but what about the things that we can’t see, those insects that call the bush home too? That’s why we have these houses. We want people to open the door and have a look during the day. There’s a perspex panel which will protect the weta as they sleep.
“Open the door, have a look and then close it again once you’ve seen what’s inside.”
The weta houses, made from untreated macrocarpa with holes the insect will crawl in to, are mounted on to trees.
Horizons ecologist Dr Lizzie Daly says weta are nocturnal, live in trees and like warm, moist places. She said visitors to Totara Reserve can open the door of the weta house and look to see who’s home.
“It is likely that we will not only have weta inside but also spiders and cockroaches, nice cockroaches — native cockroaches, and other invertebrates in the forest, and very occasionally small lizards will hang out inside the houses.”
Lizzie said the Wellington and Auckland tree weta overlap in the Manawatu¯ region. There are loads of different weta, Lizzie said as she held a female weta that sat calmly on her hand.
“One of the great things about weta is because they are predated on by rats and other introduced predators, weta numbers tend to reflect pest numbers. So when you have really low pest numbers you will often have larger weta populations and this can be measured through these houses.”
Lizzie said these “creepy crawlies” often get a bad rap.
“They do look quite scary when you come across them, and that’s probably quite good for them . . . but if it’s a female you can pick her up and put her under a tree.”
Weta play a huge role in our biodiversity, she says.
“We’ve got everything from really small ground weta which live in burrows in the ground to large weta which are the size of a bird.
“It’s common knowledge that weta can bite and jump, but don’t be scared, they are part of the grasshopper family that have close relatives in South America and Australia.
“When they’re a bit scared they’ll often rub their back legs and they make that sort of rasping sounds, meaning ‘I’m not so happy’. Weta are beautiful little things. They’re also pretty special as they wear their ears on their knees.”