Wētāpunga or Little Barrier Island giant wētā ( Deinacrida heteracantha : Orthoptera: Anostostomatidae) underwent significant decline across Northland and Auckland, New Zealand, and by mid‐20th Century was restricted to Te Hauturu‐o‐Toi/Little Barrier Island. However, surveys of wētāpunga during the early 1990s reported low numbers and concerns that the population was declining. Subsequently, a recovery plan specified the need for at least four wild populations. After Pacific rat ( Rattus exulans ) eradication from Te Hauturu‐o‐Toi in 2004, the abundance of wētāpunga was resurveyed annually for 5 years from 2005 with low detection rates. Here we report the establishment of two ex situ colonies using cohorts of 12 individuals collected from Te Hauturu‐o‐Toi every 3–5 years. Over 11,000 wētāpunga were produced for translocations from 2010. Ten new populations have been founded on eight predator‐free islands and inside two predator‐proof fenced areas on the mainland. Post‐release monitoring on Motuora and Tiritiri Matangi Islands has verified fourth‐ or fifth‐generation individuals at two release areas on each island. Ranked as Nationally Endangered in the New Zealand Threat Classification System at the start of the recovery programme the threat ranking for wētāpunga has improved to Nationally Recovering.

Would love to contribute to this by starting my own wetapunga ranch.

It's so ugly that it's somehow adorable.

Is that a hand sized grasshopper with a dagger attached to its backend?

Cute!

These wee fellas are the namesake for Weta FX, a visual effects company set up by Peter Jackson.

I nearly stepped on one in Zealandia.

In short. Yeah. Theyre called Weta.

Why make it come back then?

With an army of them, no-one could stand up to us.

Even before human's appearance, species went extinct all the time. I'm not saying that destruction of ecosystems is good or anything, but in this case I wonder why you would try to save these specifically. They seem to just be random grasshoppers, of which there are probably a million different kinds all serving roughly the same purpose, I don't see how one of these species would be missed very much.

Okay, first of all, I understand where that line of thinking comes from: “If there are 300 species of grasshoppers worldwide, why is this one so important?”

I’d answer on two levels, one local and one global:

1. Locally
   Wetas are special in that, since there have never been any mammals in their habitat other than seals and bats, they fill the ecological niche of small rodents such as mice. This means that, at the trophical level, they serve as the link between lower trophic levels and the predators at the top of the food chain.
   Since the entire ecosystem is endemic due to New Zealand’s isolated location and all species are specialized to coexist with one another, the disappearance of the weta could trigger a chain reaction leading to the extinction of a whole range of other species. This is because weta fill the niche that mice occupy elsewhere, but they are insects, not mammals (differences include metabolism, nutrient content, feeding habits, etc.).

2. Global
   We have enormous biodiversity globally. In an ecological context, diversity means resilience to disturbances. Let me explain with an example: Let’s assume that there are perhaps 500 tree species globally in the temperate zones. One might ask again: Why do we need 500 species when 10 would suffice (ideally fast-growing ones that are useful to us humans)? The difference lies in the resilience of our timber supply: If, in a system with 500 species, one, two, or even five species are damaged by a newly emerging pest, climate change, or some other factor, this accounts for about 1% of the total biomass. In a system with only 10 species, however, the same change would result in a loss of 50% of the biomass (and thus of the timber yield usable by us humans), not to mention the consequences for ecosystems… and there, too, we would be indirectly affected through ecosystem services such as water purification, etc. We as humanity therefore have a vested interest in preserving biodiversity. Not out of goodwill… but purely out of selfish self-interest and to protect ourselves from disruptions to our means of subsistence (which we are already severely undermining due to other issues).

Thanks for the explanation, I didn't find it anywhere else :)

The "dagger" is the ovipositor, a reproductive organ used to lay eggs. Despite its appearance it cannot sting, though in some insects the ovipositor has been transformed into a stinger (i.e. wasps)

You're welcome. Thanks for bringing this up. I think a lot of people are probably asking themselves this question... especially when it comes to such a beautiful animal as the weta ;)

Maybe we shouldnt preserve this one...
/s
That shi looks scary

A good environmental philosophy class would cover these same topics and more. My syllabus included works by E. O. Wilson (The Diversity of Life), Lynn Margulis (Microcosmos), and Rachel Carson (Silent Spring), and others. There's probably and entire Dewey decimal section of you ask a librarian. Stewardship vs leaving nature to itself was a pretty hot topic with lots of debate. But generally anything we can do to support biodiversity is a net good specifically because species go extinct. There's lots of explanations out there, but like LeVar Burton said, "You don't have to take my word for it."

its likely its ovipositor.