The team for the Penlink project is working really hard behind the scenes to relocate local critters found on project sites.

There are about 1581 traps set up on the Penlink corridor to catch and relocate lizards to a safer area. 

They have been successful in catching and releasing several species to a new home, but now that the outside temperature is starting to drop, the catch and rehoming work will stop at the end of April.

The team behind catching the lizards is led by ecologists, with the help of constructors and kaitiaki (traditional conservationists).

So far, they have trapped 169 plague skinks throughout the project area. 

These are non-native species of lizard that can reach high populations in a relatively short amount of time. 

Due to this, they may compete with our native lizard species for food, habitat and space.

Twenty-one ornate skinks have been found by manually searching under logs and rocks - as well as trapping them. 

They are a native and threatened species of lizard. 

An ornate skink can be identified from the white or yellowish ‘teardrop’ edged with black below each eye. 

Ornate skinks can be tricky to find as they like to inhabit forests, open areas with deep leaf litter, or stable cover such as deep rock piles or thick vegetation.

Two Mokopiriraku/forest geckos were also caught and the search team used spotlights at night to find these elusive critters. 

These native lizards mostly live in forests but also in shrublands or rocky areas.