New Zealand Native Wildlife

For a small country, New Zealand has a diverse array of plants and animals that can not be found anywhere else in the world.

Tuatara - 45c The ugly-but-beautiful tuatara is proving a fascinating specimen for scientists studying the evolution of lizards and snakes – the tuatara's closest living relatives. Tuatara are often referred to as 'living reptiles' because they have remained mostly unchanged in their 200 million years of existence.

Kiwi - 90c The kiwi is perhaps New Zealand's most recognisable icon – a flightless bird whose closest relatives are the emu and the cassowaries. This shy, nocturnal creature is noted for the proportions of its eggs, which can be up to a quarter the weight of the female – and for its long beak, with nostrils at the end to help it sniff out prey.

Hamilton's frog - $1.35 The Hamilton's frog (Leiopelma hamilton) is named after Harold Hamilton, who first collected the species. The Hamilton frog is one of only four belonging to the ancient family and is found on only two small islands, in the Marlborough Sounds.

Yellow-eyed penguin - $1.50 With a current population of around 4,000, the yellow-eyed penguin (or hoiho) is one of the world's rarest penguin species. It is found only in southern New Zealand, Foveaux Strait and on Stewart Island and the Auckland and Campbell Islands. Solitary breeders, the penguins maintain the largest territory size of any of their kind, sometimes up to one nest per hectare in forested areas.

Hector's dolphin - $2.00 The Hector's dolphin is named after Sir James Hector, the curator of the Colonial Museum in Wellington who examined the first specimen found. Today, this smallest sea-living dolphin is also the rarest dolphin in the world, with three genetically distinct populations.

Date of issue: 7 March 2007