Kapiti, a predator free island near Wellington that I’ve spoken of before, came close to receiving another mammalian invader recently. Fishermen out near the island spotted a possum riding a floating log close to the island. It seems unlikely that the possum made it to the island, but it shows how vulnerable even the most important reserves are and how important it is to move towards a mammalian predator free New Zealand.
Duncan Wright is a Wellington-based ornithologist working on the evolution of New Zealand's birds. He's previously poked albatrosses with sticks in Hawaii, provided target practice for gulls in California, chased monkeys up and down hills Uganda, wrestled sharks in the Bahamas and played God with grasshopper genetics in Namibia. He came into studying birds rather later in life, and could quit any time he wants to.
Ooooooh sh……t! Fingers crossed it didn’t make it.