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Comment by mablap | Hacker News Reader

Is the NZ fauna as bad as Australia's? I have spent a lot of time walking in North American forests, and I feel pretty safe in them, even with possible bear presence (I was in Alaska twice and it was majestic). I'd be scared to walk in a forest/bush in New Zealand or Australia.

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NZ and Australia have very different fauna. They might look close on a world map but the distance from Sydney to Auckland is over 2000 km.

Just one example: Australia has a wide variety of mammals (mostly marsupials, e.g. kangaroos). NZ has very few native mammals, but it does have a huge assortment of unusual native birds. (Indeed, birds fill a lot of ecological niches that mammals normally do.) In fact, there's an ongoing effort to get rid of all non-native mammals: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/22/big-kill

Finally, the "all the Animals in Australia want to kill you" idea is popular and kind of amusing, but hugely overblown. Yes, there are deadly animals but you typically have to be doing something unusual or silly to encounter one in a dangerous way. Plus there's no poison ivy...

I believe the only native mammal in NZ is actually a fruit bat [0].

(although Wikipedia includes sea mammals, such as dolphins and sea-lions as well.)

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammals_of_New_Zealand

We do have this though - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrocnide_moroides

Yep, nastier than poison ivy - from personal experience.

True story - during WW2 when US soldiers were stationed here, some clever larrikans told the yanks that particular leaf made good "toilet paper".

I am surprised we are still allies.

The relationship during WW2 wasn’t always great: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Brisbane

Sure, but it's only in far north rainforests. Poison ivy is all over the place in North America.

> Yes, there are deadly animals but you typically have to be doing something unusual or silly to encounter one in a dangerous way.

True everywhere except the far north (North Queensland, Northern Territory and the top end of Western Australia) where there are saltwater crocodiles.

In that part of Australia, unless there's a sign saying otherwise, assume any body of water has a crocodile in it, watching you :)

When you take into account where most of the Australian population lives, doing anything in the far north arguably qualifies as unusual :)

I walked 400km of the Te Araroa trail earlier this year. Compared to Australia, there is a marked absence of fauna. A number of other walkers commented about the same thing. The only encounters with animals I heard of that were possibly dangerous were a surprised goat and a falcon acting defensively about it's territory.

You're more likely to die from cold exposure (I got very chilled one time) or crossing a river. Sandflies and spear grass will annoy you at times but they won't kill you.

Land based fauna, there is pretty much nothing to worry about, other then maybe wild pigs. Couple of venomous spiders but they are fairly mild to humans anyway.

Sea based, the usual sharks, sting rays etc. But as most countries attacks are pretty rare.

Your far more likely to get into trouble by either falling, getting lost, or not having suitable gear with you.

Or drowning crossing a river - long called "the New Zealand disease", because so many die from it.

New Zealand has amazing bush and a network of very basic huts, and it's well worth visiting if you like hiking and camping. Personally I think The Southern Alps provide the best hiking in the world, which is why I live here.

So welcome, but come with respect. Please don't go alone, and learn about how - and more importantly when not to - cross rivers.

There are no venomous animals in New Zealand worth mentioning. The biggest risk in the bush is getting cold imo. I'm more scared of going into the bush in Japan because there are snakes here. They aren't aggressive, but I wouldn't want to stand on one accidentally.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamushi

In New Zealand, sandflies might be somewhat irritating, and kea parrots might try to damage your car while you're tramping in the bushes.

Australia can be dangerous, but not for the reasons people think.

People who go wandering into the outback (think Death Valley a few times the size of Europe) or swimming in hidden rips are more likely to end up on the news for the wrong reasons than being randomly eaten by a croc.

I don't think there had been a spider death in Australia for decades. Snake deaths happen occasionally but almost always because some kid is running into long, dry grass in summer. Recently a NZ woman was killed by a croc on the beach after ignoring explicit warnings and running around drunk during their feeding time - in a remote far north rainforest.

Sharks are present and dangerous though, another reason to be mindful before jumping into the clear blue ocean.

No, not at all. One of my Kiwi friends describes it as "in Australia, everything wants to kill you, in New Zealand, nothing does."

That is a pretty classic joke around NZ.

What about the flora? Actually, our flora is pretty benign too, but we do have the aptly-named bush lawyer that is a sort of micro-razorwire vine. Escaping it usually means bloodshed.

New Zealand tree nettle is kinda nasty [1], but it has a very limited range and while I can verify from personal experience how painful it is, it's probably not going to do permenant damage.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urtica_ferox

I'm pretty sure NZ has a less deadly set of wildlife than Oz, though surprising a boar could still end badly. No crocs, fewer snakes, spiders and dropbears.

In fact, no snakes at all.

In fact, there is occasionally (ok very rarely) sea snakes are found on the coast of the North Island.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/80026544/Ven...

Don't walk in long grass or go river dipping in far north Queensland and you won't see them in Australia either.

Far more of us get eaten by sharks than killed by spiders/snakes/crocs combined.

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