‘The future is bright’: breeding programme brings world’s heaviest insect back from the brink

Wētāpunga can weigh as much as a mouse and its numbers dwindled across New Zealand due to predators and habitat loss

The population of New Zealand’s endemic wētāpunga – believed to be the world’s heaviest insect – is officially “recovering” thanks to a groundbreaking breeding programme that has overseen the release of 11,000 insects into the wild.

“The future of wētāpunga is looking bright,” said Dr Chris Green, an honorary researcher at the department of conservation, who documented the success of the project for the New Zealand Journal of Zoology. Green co-authored a report released on 2 October that outlines the success of the breeding programme.

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