InfoNest - Glossary

Adaptations/urutaunga 

Features of plants and animals that help them survive in their environment. They include:

• structural adaptations/urutaunga tinana
• behavioural adaptations/urutaunga whanonga
• physiological adaptations/urutaunga oropi

Bacteria/nga mea ora

A group of microscopic organisms.

Bait station/nga paepae mounu

A box that contains bait for killing predators but prevents the entry of native birds.

Beech scale insect/ngarara unahi a nga rakau tawhai

The tiny beech scale insect plays a very important role in the beech forests where it lives. Scale insects live in the rough bark of beech trees. They feed by poking their mouths far into the beech tree and sucking out sugary sap. They use the sap for energy but there is always some left over.
 

The insect pushes what it doesn't need out a long thread, which is actually an extension of its intestines. The sap that comes out the end of this thread is called honeydew and it is an important food for many birds, lizards and insects.

Bellbird/korimako

(Anthornis melanura) or korimako is one of three New Zealand honeyeaters. The honeyeaters (which also include tui and stitchbirds) love to eat flower nectar, which is sweet like honey. Bellbirds also eat fruits for energy and insects for protein.
 

Bellbirds are an olive green colour and they are slightly smaller than tui. They have a beautiful clear song, and you may often hear them when you are in the forest.

Breeding/whakatupuranga

To make new babies (for animals) or seeds (for plants).

Cabbage tree/ti kouka

The cabbage tree is a very unique looking plant that is often used as a symbol of New Zealand. Its favourite place to grow is on swampy wetlands, but it can also be found on farmland and in forests. Maori call the cabbage tree ti kouka and traditionally used its leaves, stems and roots for food, medicine, hunting and clothing. Since the 1980s, the cabbage tree has been attacked by a mystery disease, called sudden decline, that has killed many trees. Scientists still do not understand exactly what causes this disease or how it is spread, but it now seems to be easing and many dying trees are now recovering.

Carnivores/kaikiko

Animals that eat other animals.

Cats/ngeru

Cats are not native to New Zealand. They were brought here by early European settlers as pets, and some of the cats escaped into the wild. These wild, or feral, cats are a major predator of native birds and lizards. They are very good hunters and they can kill even large birds like kiwi and penguins. Cats also eat mice, rats and rabbits, but if they can't find enough of these animals, they must feed on native species. Wild cats are often poisoned or trapped to prevent them from killing rare or vulnerable prey species.

Competition/whakataetae

The fight for resources.

Coprosma/karamu

The Coprosmas are a group of New Zealand shrubs that have many small branches and leaves. They are very common throughout New Zealand, and they grow in many different habitats from grassland to forest. Coprosma berries are an important food for many birds including tui.

Decomposition/pirautanga

The breaking down of dead things into nutrients and minerals in the soil.  Puffballs and other fungi do this.

Endemic/toi otaota, toi kararehe

A plant or animal that occurs only in New Zealand and nowhere else.

Environment/taiao

The place that a plant or animal lives.

Extinct/korehaha

Gone forever, every individual of the species is dead.

Fantail/piwaiwaka

(Rhipidura fuliginosa) Common, small New Zealand native bird.

Feral/he kararehe pawhara

A wild introduced animal that does not depend on humans for food.

Fivefinger/whauwhaupaku

Fivefinger got its name because it usually has clusters of five leaves that grow out from a central stalk. Fivefinger has small black fruits that tui and other birds like to eat. Fivefinger leaves are one of the possum's favourite foods.

Fledge/pirere

When birds learn to fly and can leave the nest.

Fuchsia/kotukutuku

Tree fuchsia is one of New Zealand's few deciduous trees, which means that it loses all of its leaves during the winter. Fuchsia has beautiful purple flowers that hang down and deep purple fruits that birds like to eat. Possums also love to eat fuchsia leaves, so it has disappeared from many areas where it was once common.

Harakeke/New Zealand flax

Harakeke, or New Zealand flax, is a very important plant to Maori who used the strong leaf fibres for making clothing, sandals, mats, baskets, ropes, and fishing nets. Tui and other birds love to feed on flax nectar, and birds that have been feeding on flax flowers may end up with a bright orange or red patch on their forehead. This is because when the bird sticks its beak into the flower, flax pollen rubs off onto their feathers. Birds will then carry this pollen to the next flower they visit and pollinate it. This process allows the flax plants to make new seeds.

Harrier/kahu

The Australasian harrier (Circus approximans)is one of only two birds in New Zealand that hunts animals like rabbits, mice, frogs, fish and small birds during the day. When they are hunting, harriers can fly as high as 200 metres before they dive to catch their prey. They have very good eyesight to be able to see moving prey from so far away.

Herbivores/kaiota

Animals that eat only plants.

Honeydew/tomairangi miere

A sugary liquid made by beech scale insects.

Honeyeaters/manu kai miere

A group of birds that like to feed on nectar; the New Zealand honeyeaters are stitchbirds, bellbirds and tui.

Huhu beetle/huhu

It may not look very appetizing, but some people eat huhu grubs! The grub is a young form of the beetle. As the huhu grub grows older, it will be transformed into an adult beetle. The beetle burrows into dead trees to lay its eggs.

Insects/ngarara

Animals that have 6 legs and 3 body segments (head, thorax and abdomen). Most insects undergo some degree of change or metamorphosis during their life cycle and the young may not have all of the adult insect features (such as wings). They are the largest Class of organisms in the world, accounting for over 75% of all animal species.

Introduced/momo tauhou

A plant or animal that was brought to New Zealand by humans.

Invertebrates/kirihe whaituara

Animals with no bones.

Kowhai

The kowhai is one of New Zealand's most colourful trees. The bright yellow flowers are a good food source for birds like tui during the spring and the leaves are eaten by kereru, the New Zealand pigeon. Maori used to use the bark and flowers in medicines for bruises, broken bones, sore throats and colds.

Mammals/kararehe ngote u

Animals that have hair, feed their young with milk and are warm-blooded. Bats are the only native land mammals in New Zealand. All of the others (possums, cats, rats, stoats and more) have been introduced by humans.

Metamorphosis/whakaumutanga

A change that most insects go through during their life cycle. The features of the insect often change dramatically, such as when a caterpillar changes into a butterfly.

Mistletoe/pirita

The mistletoe is another colourful New Zealand plant that also provides great food for tui and other birds and insects. The birds drink nectar from flowers and eat their fruits.

In fact, a mistletoe flower cannot open without help from an animal partner. This video (500Kb .mov QuickTime movie) shows a tui opening a mistletoe flower.

The flowers begin as sealed buds that can only be opened when a bird twists the top and the petals spring open. Without birds like tui, the mistletoe flowers would never be pollinated and so no new mistletoe seeds would ever be made. What do you think would happen if no new mistletoe seeds were made?

Morepork/ruru

If you are ever outside after dark, you may have heard the call of the morepork, or ruru. It is the only native owl that still lives in New Zealand. It hunts at night, so it has very good eyesight to help it see in the dark. It also has a sharp beak and claws to help it hunt mice and other small animals, and it can fly silently.

Native/manu Maori kararehe Maori

A plant or animal that arrived in New Zealand without the help of humans.

Nectar/waihonga

A sweet liquid produced by many flowers.

New Zealand falcon/karewarewa

The falcon is one of two native raptors in New Zealand (the other is the harrier). It feeds on small birds, mice and rats. The falcon waits on a perch until it sees its prey and them dives at speeds of up to 180 kilometres per hour. Falcons are relatively uncommon, and their greatest threat has been logging of the large, old trees that they nest in.

Omnivores/kaikiota

Animals that eat both plants and other animals.

Organism/mea ora

An individual plant or animal.

Photosynthesis/ahotakakame

The process that plants use to turn sunlight, air and water into food.

Pollen/hae

The male reproductive part of a flower.

Pollination/whakahaetanga

The process where pollen grows down towards an egg inside a flower.

Population/nuinga tangata

A group of individuals that live in the same place.

Possum/paihamu (Trichosurus vulpecula)

Possums were introduced into New Zealand from Australia. They have become a very common pest in New Zealand and a huge problem for our native species. They munch on many native plants and they also eat bird eggs and even chicks. Possums sleep in their dens during the day and then go looking for food at night. If you travel into the bush at night with a torch, you may see a possum's yellow eyes glowing in the light.

Predation/whakaparurenga

When an animal hunts and eats another animal.

Prey/parurenga

An animal that is eaten by another animal.

Raptors/kai parurenga

Birds of prey with a long tail, a short, hooked bill and powerful legs with sharp claws for gripping their prey. The New Zealand falcon and the Australasian harrier are the two native New Zealand raptors.

Rat/kiore

Rats are yet another animal that has been introduced into New Zealand by humans. There are three species of rats that have been brought to New Zealand: the Pacific rat or kiore, the ship rat and the Norway rat. Rats eat a wide variety of foods including invertebrates, plant seedlings and fruits, frogs, lizards, bats, small birds and bird eggs.

Rata

Rata trees have beautiful red flowers that provide nectar for birds like tui. Possums love to eat rata leaves, so rata has declined in many areas of the country. One type of rata, called northern rata, starts by growing as an epiphyte high up in another tree. A rata seed lands on a tree branch and then sends roots down the side of the host tree to the ground. The rata tree will surround the host tree with its roots and trunk until eventually its host is swallowed up!

Reproduce/whakahuatia

To make new babies (for animals) or seeds (for plants).

Resources/parapara

Things used by organisms to help them live.

Seeds/kakano

The first life stage of plant that will eventually grow into an adult plant.

Species/momo

Organisms that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring.

Spiders/pungawerewere

Belong to a group called arachnids. They have 8 legs, 2 body segments, spinnerets that produce silk, and usually 4 pairs of eyes.

Stitchbird/hihi

The stitchbird, or hihi as it is called in Maori, is a honeyeater just like tui and bellbirds. It feeds on flower nectar, as well as fruit and insects. They are smaller than tui and bellbirds, and so often they cannot compete with these larger birds for food. The stitchbird is the rarest honeyeater, and it has declined because of predation by ship rats, cats and other mammals, disease and habitat destruction. Until 1980 it only survived on Little Barrier Island, but it has now been reintroduced to some other offshore islands.

Stoat/tori ura

The stoat is another introduced mammal that threatens many of our native birds. Stoats are great predators and they can climb high into trees looking for birds to eat. They have a very good sense of smell, which helps them to hunt at night. They are fast and can move a long way in just a few days. Stoats are especially dangerous to birds that nest in tree holes, such as yellowheads/mohua and kaka.

Totara

The totara grows to be a very large tree and it can have lots and lots of red fruits for birds to eat. Its wood is very durable and so it has been popular for making furniture and fence posts. The wood is so tough that trees from forests that were burnt hundreds of years ago are still sometimes found today. Totara was a very important tree for Maori, who used it to make huge war canoes (waka taua) and for carving and medicine. Maori also used the stringy bark to make things like bags lined with dried kelp to keep their mutton birds in.

Virus/kita whakamate

A disease-producing, microscopic particle that can easily make copies of itself.

Wasps/wapi

Wasps belong to a group of insects called Hymenoptera. New Zealand has no native social wasps (they live in groups called colonies).  However, four social species have been introduced, including German and common wasps. These are pests and they harm our native invertebrates and birds.  New Zealand has many native wasps, but these are all solitary wasps (they live on their own).  Ichneumon wasps are a type of solitary wasp.  Most wasps sting to capture their prey and to defend themselves.