30th January 2009 - Bradt Travel Guides

Anecdotally, New Zealand is a land of sheep (about 40 million of them), a marauding tribe of 15 big blokes in black shirts and a cautious population of rotund flightless birds with long beaks trying their best to avoid becoming free-range ready meals. Unsurprisingly, the genuine diversity of flora and fauna inhabiting ‘the other antipodes’ is somewhat more complex than the urban myth.

After breaking away from the supercontinent of Gondwana, 80 million years of isolation has certainly left its mark. Then, only three mammal species made the final boarding call, leaving 270,000km² of alpine peaks, volcanoes, glaciers, luxuriant forests and open grasslands adrift in Mediterranean and sub-tropical latitudes to become the evolutionary testing ground for a unique wildlife. Kakapo - the world’s heaviest, and unsurprisingly flightless, parrot, immovably docile Vegetable Sheep and insatiable Morepork owls are just some of the more idiosyncratic species detailed in Bradt’s first edition New Zealand Wildlife guide. What would Darwin have made of New Zealand? It’s perhaps fitting that Bradt’s author is Julian Fitter, chairman of the Galapagos Conservation Trust, who keenly emphasises NZ’s importance: ‘The wildlife is quite unlike that of even its nearest neighbour Australia, a mere 2,300km to the west… and Polynesian settlers arrived remarkably late on the scene, around AD1250, making New Zealand the final large land mass, apart from Antarctica, to be colonised by mankind.’ Concentrating on North, South and Stewart Island, Bradt’s new guide utilises over 180 colour photographs to detail plants, birds, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates, together with marine and freshwater species. Full-colour maps support text describing protected areas and suggesting wildlife hot spots. So if you want to find a kiwi that’s not pulling pints in London WC1 or to tell a Takahe from a Tuatara, there’s really only one guide to pack – New Zealand Wildlife.

Julian Fitter lives in New Zealand and works as a writer, naturalist and conservationist with a special interest in island ecosystems and the battle to rid them of alien invaders. Julian is also chairman of the Galapagos Conservation Trust and vice president of Falklands Conservation.

For review copies contact Travel Media – 01830 540 440 or info@travel-media.co.uk
Title: New Zealand Wildlife Author: Julian Fitter
Publisher: Bradt Travel Guides Publication: January 2009
Price: £14.99 ISBN: 978 1 84162 272 9

Bradt Travel Guides
01753 893 444
info@bradtguides.com
www.bradtguides.com

Back to list | Previous release for Bradt Travel Guides | Next release for Bradt Travel Guides