Lizards to have own reserve
A reserve for lizards, the first of its kind in New Zealand, will be established bv the Wildlife Service, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr Tapsell, has announced. The reserve will cover eight hectares of steep coastal scrubland and scree slopes at Pukerua Bay, 35km north of Wellington, and contains five species of native lizard. This is the highest number of different lizard species to be found in such a small area of the North Island. One of the lizards is the rare Whitaker’s skink (Cy-
clodina whitakeri), which is known to live only at Pukerua Bay and on two offshore islands near Coromandel Peninsula. The main reason for establishing the reserve is to protect the Whitaker’s skink population, which is highly vulnerable to predation by rats, cats, ferrets, and stoats. The reserve will also protect the lizards from fires, disturbance by stock now in the area, and from lizard collectors. It will be fenced off, and the five lizard species will be protected by law.
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Press, 6 March 1985, Page 26
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171Lizards to have own reserve Press, 6 March 1985, Page 26
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