Environment · Hauraki Gulf and Bay of Islands, New Zealand
New Zealand's giant wētāpunga recovers after 11,000 releases
Is New Zealand's giant wētā, the wētāpunga, still endangered?
A paper in the New Zealand Journal of Zoology documents the recovery of wētāpunga, New Zealand's heaviest insect. Zoos bred tens of thousands, and 11,000 were released to 10 new wild sites in 45 translocations. The species' threat status has improved from Nationally Endangered to Nationally Increasing.
What happened?
A paper in the New Zealand Journal of Zoology has documented a large recovery programme for wētāpunga, also called the Little Barrier giant wētā. It is New Zealand’s heaviest insect. The Department of Conservation (DOC) says it is also the heaviest orthopteran in the world, the insect group that includes crickets and grasshoppers.
Why was it in danger?
Introduced rats, stoats and other pests caused a dramatic decline. Every wētāpunga population died out except the one on Te Hauturu-o-Toi, Little Barrier Island.
Surveys there between 2005 and 2009 found that this last population was too small to move wild wētā directly to new sites.
How did the recovery work?
The answer was breeding in captivity. Tens of thousands of wētāpunga were bred at Butterfly Creek and Auckland Zoo. Auckland Zoo alone bred and released 8,874 between 2014 and 2025.
This allowed 45 translocations of 11,000 wētā to 10 new wild sites. The first releases were on Motuora and Tiritiri Matangi islands in the Hauraki Gulf, in 2010 and 2011. Wētā later went to eight predator-free islands in the Hauraki Gulf and Bay of Islands, and most recently to two fenced mainland sanctuaries.
Ngāti Manuhiri, kaitiaki of wētāpunga and mana whenua of Te Hauturu-o-Toi, supported the programme throughout.
What are the results?
Intensive monitoring on Motuora and Tiritiri Matangi shows at least four generations of wētāpunga have been born there. DOC says this is recognised internationally as confirmation that the wētā has established on both islands.
The species’ conservation status improved from Threatened – Nationally Endangered in 2004 to Threatened – Nationally Increasing in 2022.
“This species was endangered at the start of the programme, it is now not endangered - it is recovering,” lead author Dr Chris Green told 1News.
What happens next?
Green says the same methods could help other critically endangered invertebrates, such as the Canterbury knobbled weevil. DOC says populations on other islands are well on their way to establishing, though this is not yet confirmed. No estimate of the total wild population is available.
Sources & reporting notes
We checked the Department of Conservation release of 2 October 2026 and a 1News report. The improved threat status dates from a 2022 assessment; the new development is the paper documenting the recovery. 1News calls the status 'Nationally Recovering'; we use DOC's wording. No estimate of the total wild population is given.
- Department of Conservation · 2 October 2026
DOC's account of the paper, the breeding and release programme and the change in threat status.
- 1News (TVNZ) · 4 October 2026
Report confirming the 11,000 releases, with quotes from the lead author.
- Department of Conservation · Wētā
Background on New Zealand's wētā species.
Have a correction or a confirmed update? Contact our editorial team.
Common questions
- What is a wētāpunga?
- Wētāpunga, or the Little Barrier giant wētā, is the largest of New Zealand's giant wētā and the heaviest orthopteran in the world, according to the Department of Conservation.
- Is the wētāpunga still endangered?
- Its threat status improved from Threatened – Nationally Endangered in 2004 to Threatened – Nationally Increasing in 2022. It is still classed as threatened, but its numbers are increasing.