The Handbook of New Zealand Mammals,

Forest and Bird, Volume 21, Issue 4, 1 November 1990, Page 6

The Handbook of New Zealand

Mammals,

edited by Carolyn King ($69.95,

Oxford University Press) The new Handbook of New Zealand Mammals will prove a disappointment to those readers expecting some lead from New Zealand's mammal scientists on the control or eradication of introduced animals. The editor's introduction describes New Zealand as a "vast natural laboratory for observing the processes of adaptation" and the opportunity of observing mammals both in their own and in an alien environment as "irresistible to the evolutionary biologist....Mammalogy in New Zealand is a young science, but its horizons are wide." In a year where there has been a public outcry at the destruction of our forests by possums, the notion that New Zealanders might be willing to accept their country as a laboratory for alien pests seems out of place. People are becoming more aware of their natural heritage and less tolerant of its destruction by introduced mammals. Despite presenting good data on mammals, the authors draw unsubstantiated conclusions or ignore key items when commenting on the environmental significance of various species. For instance, the fact that wapiti (and red deer) threaten the survival of the takahe in Fiordland is not mentioned; it is incorrectly claimed feral horses have not destroyed plant cover in open grassland; there is a ludicrous call for a thar reserve in the Southern Alps at a time when this destructive alpine goat continues to spread. The section on stoats portrays them as fairly innocuous; yet more than 40 percent of their diet is birds and predation by them has been directly implicated in the decline of the yellowhead. Dr King claims that on the mainland there are only two threatened bird species that run the risk of stoat predation. By my count there are at least 11 such threatened bird species on the mainland. (yellowhead, takahe, yellow-eyed penguin, Westland black petrel, black stilt, red-crowned parakeet, Hutton’s shearwater, North and South Island kaka, NZ dotterel, banded rail). This list does

not include reptiles, invertebrates and bats. Despite the problems with the introduction and certain other sections, the book cannot be dismissed out of hand. It is the first comprehensive reference of native and introduced mammals since 1950, and does provide a mine of information on mammal distribution, habitat, social behaviour, reproduction, predators, parasites and diseases in its 600 pages. Reviewed by Mark Bellingham, RFBPS Field Director.