Anna Yeoman, who is giving a Whakatipu Wildlife Trust-hosted talk about these unique reptiles in Queenstown next Wednesday, says "I love animals, love nature, love being out in the outdoors, but I just hadn’t even heard about them".
She has since become obsessed about them, working as a ranger at the Mokomoko Dryland Sanctuary, near Alexandra, which houses seven species, and last year launching a book, Geckos & Skinks: The Remarkable Lizards of Aoteaora.
Guessing many others were in the same boat, was "a huge motivation" to educate people about these species which are all endemic to New Zealand, she says.
"We just haven’t been told about them as much, I mean they’re hard to see, they’re not like birds that move around a lot and make a lot of noise."
Yeoman says creating awareness is important as more than 90% of NZ’s 125 species are "threatened or at risk".
"They would have been here millions of years before humans arrived.
"And it wasn’t that long ago that the big ones disappeared from around Alexandra."
However, the predator-free dryland sanctuary provides a safe habitat for their population to grow — "we’re so lucky to have that".
Yeoman says "it feels like more and more people are sort of getting interested in our native geckos and skinks, maybe because people are getting out as part of these planting projects or predator control work, and they’re really out in the environment noticing a bit more".
She notes her book is as much about people as it is about lizards.
"When I started to hear the stories of these people who are out there discovering species, doing these epic research projects, spending huge periods of time and dedicating decades of their life to these really fascinating projects to discover things about the lizards, I think that really captured me.
"I thought, this is, you know, NZ conservation history."
Yeoman’s talk, part of the wildlife trust’s ‘Talk on the Wild Side’ series, is at The Matrix Lounge on Glenda Dr from 6pm next Wednesday — tickets via events.humanitix.com
