Watch as a rare New Zealand lizard is born! There are fewer than 20 awakōpaka ever recorded in the wild – and now four of these skinks have been born in a special climate-controlled facility at Auckland Zoo. These are the offspring of a pregnant adult female urgently translocated from Homer Saddle in Te Rua-o-te-moko/Fiordland last November as part of a joint effort by the Zoo, Department of Conservation and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu to prevent the extinction of this nationally critical alpine spec

Earlier this year, ectotherm keepers Sonja and Julie headed to the West Coast for ten days to monitor Alborn skinks, one of New Zealand's most critically endangered lizards. This work is part of an ongoing partnership with the Department of Conservation to help further study the Alborn skink's life history, distribution, habitat preferences and threats to help safeguard their future. A fully-grown Alborn skink can be around 20cm long, but they’re cryptically marked making spotting skinks in thei