Photo: Supplied / Adrian Cleary
About 100 critically endangered Mahoenui giant wΔtΔ have been released into the Rotokare Sanctuary in Taranaki this week as part of efforts to preserve the taonga species.
Despite being one of the world's largest insects - females weigh in at about 25 grams and are about the size of a mouse - the "gentle giants" are vulnerable to mammalian predators.
First discovered during the 1960s in remnant tawa forest at Mahoenui in the King Country - from which it takes its name - the ingenious wΔtΔ was later found taking refuge in gorse.
Department of Conservation (DOC) Mahoenui giant wΔtΔ technical advisory group leader, Amanda Haigh, said the wΔtΔ had come up with a cunning plan to defeat their predators.
"What was an accident of a piece of hill
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