New Zealand - national parks and reservations

Because of its long isolation from the rest of the world and its island biogeography, New Zealand has extraordinary fauna and flora, descended from Gondwana wildlife or since arriving by flying, swimming or being carried across the sea. About 80% of New Zealand's flora is endemic, including 65 endemic species. The two main types of forest are those dominated by podocarps and/or the giant kauri, and in cooler climates the southern beaches. The remaining vegetation types in New Zealand are grasslands of tussock and other grasses, usually in sub-alpine areas, and the low shrub lands between grasslands and forests.
Until the arrival of humans, 80% of the land was covered with forests. Until 2006 it was thought that there were no non-marine native mammals, barring three species of bats (one now extinct). However in 2006 scientists discovered bones that belonged to a long-extinct unique, mouse-sized  land animal in the Otago region of the South Island. A diverse range of megafauna inhabited New Zealand's forests, including the flightless moas (now extinct), four species of kiwi, the kakapo all endangered by human actions.

Unique birds capable of flight included the Haast's eagle, which was the world's largest bird of prey (now extinct), and the  kea parrots. Reptiles present in New Zealand include skinks, geckos and the living fossil tatuara. There are four endemic species of primitive frogs. There are no snakes and there is only one venomous spider, the katipo, which is rare and restricted to coastal regions. There are many endemic species of insect, including the weta, one species of which may grow as large as a mouse and is the heaviest insect in the world.


My grade for the unique habitat represented by the New Zealand's islands is 10.