The Living Tree: A New Zealand Habitat by Dave Gunson

In The Living Tree, Dave Gunson takes us on an entrancing journey of discovery. He shows us how New Zealand trees are like great wildlife apartment buildings with their own living communities of animals, plants and fungi.

There are many permanent residents and plenty of visitors coming and going-some come to see their relatives, or to hunt out others to prey on them. There are places to raise young, to gather food, to hide from predators, or to simply shelter from the weather.

In succinct informative prose he describes aspects of their appearance, lifestyle and breeding habits. And alongside each is a beautifully drawn, realistic, coloured illustration so they can easily be identified. Breakout boxes also appear on most pages with additional fascinating facts, including how Māori made use of the ngahere (forest) for food and medicine, and more.

Also included is a fold-out habitat guide, a handy reference which shows us at a glance all the animals, plants and fungi which can be found on New Zealand trees from root to trunk to canopy.

The book is divided into three main sections: the roots and the ground, the trunk, and the branches and leaves.

First, we peer down and around the roots at the plants, fungi, and creatures that live there, although most of the latter will be hiding away, and we will have to imagine them. Some will be familiar, like earthworms and ants, but others are bound to be new to most readers, like click beetles and brown wolf spiders.

Next comes the trunk, which Dave Gunson describes as ‘the tree’s main highway for residents and visitors as well as being a sort of natural apartment block’. Here, animals and plants can make a home in folds in the bark, crevices and holes.

Amongst them we might encounter moths, cicadas, beetles, tree wētā, spiders, and butterflies. There are also some curious creatures like the giant caterpillar, a 25 cm giant insect that comes out at night and roams up and down the trunk in search of food. The elephant weevil is a two cm creature that gets its name from its long proboscis or snout.

We also learn how to differentiate between different lichens and fungi and are introduced to a variety of climbing plants.

Eventually, when the trunk separates into branches on which leaves grow, we reach the canopy. Most of us have seen birds feeding or nesting in branches and bees visiting flowers, but Dave Gunson shows us how the canopy is teeming with other life and is a complicated and interconnected maze of places and opportunities for them.

In the canopy, Man’s Beard Lichen-Angiangi might be seen hanging from the branches. The Cabbage Tree moth may be resting on the old or dead leaves of a cabbage tree, and the elegant Gecko (Moko Kākāriki) may be roaming around branches and foliage during daylight.

The Living Tree: A New Zealand Habitat is bound to fill readers with a sense of wonder at all the life a tree contains. It will be a wonderful handbook for nature-loving families and may well entice them to venture out for a night walk to see which creatures they can discover in our ngahere (forest) or on and under trees in the garden.

Reviewer: Lyn Potter

Bateman Books