Eat or be Eaten

Have you ever watched your cat hunt a mouse or a bird for dinner? Have you seen a spider eat an insect caught in its web? Have you watched lions and tigers stalking antelopes on TV? Lots of animals hunt, catch and eat other animals to provide them with energy, and this is called predation.

You may think of predators as mostly big animals, because usually animals kill prey that are smaller than themselves. But even very small animals are predators of things like insects. Sometimes crafty animals can even kill something bigger than they are. Think of what large animals humans sometimes eat!

Introduced stoats hunt many native birds

In New Zealand, humans have introduced a lot of predators that were not here originally. We have released cats, dogs, ferrets, stoats, weasels, possums, wasps, pigs and more. Some of these predators such as cats and stoats especially like to feed on native birds, because they are easy to catch and do not have adaptations to defend themselves against these predators. This is because before humans arrived, the only land mammals in New Zealand were bats.

All of these new predators mean that many of our native birds and also lizards, frogs and invertebrates are in real danger of becoming extinct. In fact, some species are already gone forever, but we still have the chance to save the remaining species. Scientists are trying to protect them by killing predators like stoats, cats, rats and possums.

What animals eat tui?

Just like many other New Zealand birds, the tui's most dangerous enemies are animals that humans have introduced. Creatures like stoats and cats find tui a tasty meal.

The easiest time for them to catch tui is when young chicks have just hatched from their eggs and are still too young to fly away.

Possums are predators of bird eggs

The predators also sometimes attack adult birds when they are sitting on their nests to keep eggs safe and warm.

Other predators like rats and possums have a harder time killing adult birds but they find tui eggs absolutely delicious! A mother tui that leaves her nest to find food must be careful that these egg robbers don't visit while she is away.