Weka Information Report

                   

The Weka is a non-endangered manu that lives all over Aotearoa.

Weka are all different types of parauri (brown).They are a light light brown to an almost pango(black). It depends where they live to what colour they are.  Weka have whero (red) eyes. They have strong parauri (brown) to mawhero (pink) legs.

Weka live all over Aotearoa. They are found throughout the Marlborough Sounds, scattered in other regions of Nelson, the upper West Coast, and Fiordland in the South Island. They are found mainly in bush and forest areas.

Weka eat mainly fruit and invertebrates. They have been recorded to eat things as large as stoats, rats and petrels. Weka also eat a lot of hua (eggs), lizards, iti(small) mammals and birds.

Weka breed from late winter to early summer. They usually have tahi (one) to rima(five) hua(eggs) per clutch.The female does most of the incubation between early morning and late afternoon and the male does the rest, and most of the parental care.

Weka live in families with their children.They are from the Rallidae family. They live for about rima (five) to rua tekau (twenty) years. The weka’s best known call is a repetitive, loud ‘coo-et’ that is usually heard at dusk and in the early evning. It is presented as a duet, with the male giving the lower and slower part.

The main threats to weka are starvation during no rain periods and predation by mustelids especially ferrets. They can also be killed by wild dogs and large creatures. Weka are legally hunted on the chatham islands and on some muttonbird islands.

By Dakota