Wildest New Zealand

Episode 1

A Tale of Two Penguins

Tectonic drift isolated New Zealand splendidly, so as no major land predators arrived and a unique wildlife evolved. Its penguins feel free to nest in the woods, where strange insects inhabit a micro-world and the kiwi, a miniature ostrich, mates for life and the male hatches the eggs in a nest he makes. The geothermic waters support ephemeral mosquitoes, which only a tat-like unique fan-tailed bird can harvest massive to feed his young. The rich adjoining sea fees whales and the world's fastest dolphins. Modern man most successfully introduces sheep, but is powerless against earthquakes like the one that wrecked Christchurch. The native Maori revere nature, recording their history in precious wood collected only for dead, sea-drifting trunks.