Taupō Primary School's Māra Mokomoko

Kids Greening Taupō Student Leader, Emily, and her class created a lizard habitat in 2022 after listening to Rachel talk to their class about our unique lizard species. They planted grasses and tangly bushes for lizards to hide in. They also planted flowers with nectar for them to drink and berries for them to eat. They had rocks for mokomoko to le on in the sun and rotten logs full of bugs for them to hunt.

A group of students had worked with Rachel to design a sign to go into this 'Māra Mokomoko'. The sign was very kindly printed onto outdoor signage material by Quality Print Ltd and was beautifully mounted on a wooden stand by Emily’s dad. It was officially put into the garden to educate others in 2023.

Our coordinator, Rachel, was invited by Emily, to speak to every class at Taupo Primary School about Aotearoa’s endemic mokomoko (lizards). The kōrero was about why we need to protect our mokomoko (lizards) and create habitats for them. We have over 120 species of native skinks and geckos that are found nowhere else in the world, and the majority of them are at risk or endangered. By planting native shrubs and ground covers with berries and flowers, and by carrying out predator control, we can help bring back these species. Rachel spoke to each class about their school lizard habitat and why it needed to be looked after. She spoke about how our native species had evolved with avian (bird) predators and adapted to hide from them. This makes them very vulnerable to introduced mammalian predators. Rachel showed the taxidermy predators that we have and the students were surprised to discover that hedgehogs, mice and weasels, are our lizards' number one predators.

Thanks so much Shawn from The 'Vegetator' Vennell Team for supporting our school plantings by printing these educational signs designed by students. Thanks Emily for showing such great leadership skills in organising this and also speaking to the groups. Awesome!