My NZ Mini Beast Report

We have been learning about mini beast as part of science. we have been doing a information report on a mini beast of our choice. The mini beast we choose had to be in NZ/ Aotearoa. I worked with Breanna. Here is my writing.

The leaf
veined
slug

The Leaf Veined Slug       

The leaf veined slug is classified as a gastropod.
(gastropods are invertebrates, they are cold blooded
and are commonly known as slugs and snails). They are
also known as Putoko ropiropi. The scientific name is
athoracophoridae. They look like a leaf. They have a
leaf pattern on their skin which gives them excellent
camouflage. This slug is nocturnal. There are over
30 different species of the leaf veined slug.
This slug can grow up to 60mm long.
These slugs are poorly studied.

Where Do They Live

They live in wooded areas or in shrubs and inside
rotten logs. They can also live in cavities bored
by the pururi moth. They cluster around wet areas
and small pools of water. They’re found throughout
New Zealand/ Aotearoa.

What do they eat?

This slug is thought to feed of fungi and algae on
top of leaves. The leaf veined slug doesn’t damage
garden plants.

Reproduction

Some slugs are hermaphrodites, meaning they have

 tane (male) and wahine (female) reproduction organs.
They need to mate in order to fertilise each other’s
eggs. They are sometime found mating on top of leaves.

Social behaviour

Sometimes leaf veined slugs are found huddling together.
They cluster around small pools and wet areas.

Threats

As far as scientists know koeko (birds) are their only
threats. We need to make sure they have habitat to
live it so they stay camouflaged so the don’t gain any
more threats.

This was our information report about the leaf veined
slug. I hope you learned something new about them.
Please make sure to look after their habitat so they
have food to eat and a place to stay.

By sapphire and Breanna

My Animation

Today we were learning to do an animation on google slides. We had to use free to use images and we had to change some of the code to make it work. We had to make the animation loop by changing the word false to true inside to code. In the code I also changed the moving part to make it go faster. Hope you enjoyed my animation.

Weta Information Report Term 3

This is a piece of writing that we did for our mini beast topic when we were learning about weta. We had to do a information report.

click here to see our success criteria

Weta Information Report

What Is A Weta?

Weta are native to New Zealand/Aotearoa. Weta are invertebrates and they have an exoskeleton. An invertebrate is an animal that has its skeleton on the outside wich is called an exoskeleton. They don't have a spine. Weta look similar to crickets. They can grow up to 10cm. Weta can weigh up to 30g. There are 70 different types of weta but 5 main ones which are cave weta, ground weta, giant weta, tree weta, tusked weta. Weta are very important to New Zealand/Aotearoa.

Where do weta live?

Depending on the type of weta they will live in different places. The tree weta live in holes in the tree, rotten logs and sometimes your wood pile. The ground weta lives in burrows in the ground. Cave weta live in sea coast caves along the sea. The tusked weta are extremely rare and are ground dwellers. The giant weta are only found on island sanctuaries.

What Do Weta Eat?

Some weta are carnivorous and some are herbivorous. Weta feed at night. They eat flowers, fruit, lichen, leaves and seed heads. Ground and tusked weta are carnivorous they eat small invertebrates like snails and worms. 

Reproduction

They breed in spring/kōanga and summer/raumati and the following spring the babies hatch and grow. Male tree weta may share a hole with a group of females and have to fight off other males. In autumn/ngahuru the females lay 6-10 eggs at a time all together laying 300 hundred eggs.

What are wetas threats

Before humans weta had two threats which were the tuatara and birds. Now they have way more wich are cats, hedgehogs, rats, bats and birds. They only protections is there hard exoskeleton.

Are Weta Social?

Male tree weta live in a hole with a group of females. All the other types of weta live on their own. Some weta rub their legs to make a chirping sound that's how they talk

Weta may be ugly but they are important to New Zealand and we should treat them with respect. We have to make sure that weta have a habit to live in by only cutting down the trees that we need.

By Sapphire