A giant insect returns: 11,000 weta moved to new wild homes

The wetapunga — one of the world's heaviest insects, a flightless giant — is coming back. A 15-year programme by New Zealand's Department of Conservation, with Butterfly Creek and Auckland Zoo, has bred tens of thousands of the insects and moved 11,000 of them in 45 translocations to 10 new wild sites: predator-free islands in the Hauraki Gulf and Bay of Islands, then mainland reserves north of Auckland. The species' conservation status has improved from Threatened–Nationally Endangered in 2004 to Threatened–Nationally Increasing in 2022. The blueprint is now documented in a peer-reviewed paper led by Dr Chris Green, and Ngati Manuhiri — the kaitiaki (guardians) of the wetapunga, whose island of Te Hauturu-o-Toi provided the founding weta — supported the programme throughout. Patience, partnerships, and 11,000 six-legged miracles.