The Brothers (New Zealand) with the largest being only some one hectare in area. The Māori name for the group, "Ngāwhatu-kai-ponu" literally means "the eyes that witnessed", and the islands are considered "tapu" to Māori. North Brother Island is a sanctuary for the rare reptile species, the Brothers Island tuatara and is the type locality for a rare beetle, the "Amychus granulatus, although it is possibly extinct there now. The Brothers (New Zealand) The Brothers is a group of small islands in Cook Strait, New Zealand, off the east coast of Arapaoa Island. The Brothers form two small island groups, each containing one main
New Zealand pigeon New Zealand pigeon The New Zealand pigeon or kereru (Māori: kererū; "Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae") is a bird endemic to New Zealand. Māori call it "kererū" in most of the country but kūkupa and kūkū in some parts of the North Island, particularly in Northland. Commonly called wood pigeon, they are distinct from the wood pigeon ("Columba palumbus") of the Northern Hemisphere, which is a member of a different genus. The New Zealand pigeon belongs to the family Columbidae, and the subfamily Treroninae, which is found throughout Southeast Asia, Malaya, Africa and New Zealand. The members of this subfamily feed largely on