Today’s special animal friend is the Giant Weta, eleven species in the genus Deinacrida, of New Zealand, possibly the world’s largest insects. (Note: there are long-vowel markers over the e and a in “weta.” Maybe you say it wee-tay?) Their name means “terrible grasshopper,” and that’s what they look like. An adult is about 4 inches long, plus legs and antennae, and weighs between one and two ounces. They look like those big plastic bugs you can get at the Dollar Tree, and then your kids leave them around the house to terrify you when you lift the sofa cushions to look for the TV remote, and then you have nightmares about all the six-legged companions who shared your college apartment.
Giant weta are found mainly on offshore islands of New Zealand. The largest species is the Little Barrier Island giant weta, also known as the wetapunga, which can weigh up to 2.5 ounces. Some species of giant weta are arboreal, while others live in the high mountains of the South Island and can survive being frozen solid. They feed on seeds, nuts, and tiny invertebrates, filling the ecological niche of rodents in an environment where the only native mammals were a few bat species.
Giant weta populations have been in decline since the arrival of humans around the 13th century. Humans quickly began modifying the environment by cutting trees and burning brush, which affected the giant weta’s habitat and food supplies. More importantly, they introduced other mammals to the environment, especially rodents. Giant weta have a very strong odor, which probably repelled a predator (other insects?) in their native habitat but attracts introduced mammals from a great distance.
Unlike many other insects of the grasshopper/cricket/locust sort, giant weta cannot fly or even hop. Predators include rats, mice, cats, weasels, and (I suspect) humans with their Big Shoes on. There is an organized conservation effort in New Zealand, including the building of predator-proof enclosures and efforts to keep some offshore islands free of introduced mammals. They are also bred in captivity. These efforts make the survival of most species of giant weta pretty likely.
In the Maori language, “weta” (with those long-vowel markers!) means “the god of ugly things.” The sources do not indicate that weta were a food product, perhaps because of the strong smell.
I dunno about that Giant WeeTay. We’ve seen grasshoppers here (northern Utah) that were at least that long, but unlike the GW, they don’t have a horrible odor. They’re just scary and feel weird when they land on you with their clingy insect feet. Cthulhu has nothing on them, for terror!