Get a Life (Easy version)

All living things change and develop differently. Some animals, like sandflies, only live for a few months. Some plants, like kauri trees, grow for thousands of years. The way that each species changes from birth until death is called its life cycle.

Some animals change into different forms during their life cycle. This process is called metamorphosis. The huhu beetle has four different forms. It starts off as an egg. The egg hatches into a grub that looks like a worm. The grub will change into a pupa, with a protective covering around it. The pupa changes into an adult beetle that looks like a totally different creature.

Once a plant or animal becomes an adult, it begins to make babies of its own. This keeps the life cycle going.

The life cycle of a tui

Adult and tui and nest (click for enlargement)

Every summer, female tui lay two to four eggs in a nest of twigs. The nest sits in a tree fork or on the branch of a shrub. The eggs are white with light brown splotches. They take about 14 days to hatch.

Tui nest with chicks (click for enlargement)

When the chicks hatch, their parents will feed them small insects and nectar. Later they will be given fruit, spiders and moths. The chicks will leave the nest after about 21 days. This is called fledging.

Tui nest (click for enlargement)

The young birds now start to find food for themselves. They stay close to their parents for a few months. Once they are old enough, many tui make their own nests near where they were born.

Tui often travel in groups with their family. These trips help the young tui learn where to find food. This will help them in winter when food is hard to find.

How does the tui help plants?

Tui help plants reproduce by drinking flower nectar and eating fruits. Birds help move pollen between flowers when they drink nectar. This helps plants produce seeds that grow into new plants.

Some plants cover their seeds in a juicy fruit that tui love to eat. When the tui eats the fruit, the seeds go through the bird's guts and end up in its poos. The tui may fly a long way before it poos. This means that the seeds can end up being pooped out in a new spot far away.

Without tui and other birds, some plants could not make new seeds and spread them to new places. What would happen to our forests if no new plants were made?