{"id":41107,"date":"2022-01-27T03:00:08","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T18:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2022\/jan\/27\/delightfully-horrific-weta-motels-proliferate-as-new-zealand-falls-in-love-with-the-giant-insect"},"modified":"2022-01-27T03:00:08","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T18:00:08","slug":"delightfully-horrific-weta-motels-proliferate-as-new-zealand-falls-in-love-with-the-giant-insect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/?p=41107","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Delightfully horrific\u2019: w\u0113t\u0101 motels proliferate as New Zealand falls in love with the giant insect"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Small man-made homes for the endangered w\u0113t\u0101, which can weigh as much as a sparrow, are popping up in gardens across the country<\/p>\n<p>In a tiny motel at the back of a Wellington garden, a group of lodgers with shiny cigar-shaped bodies and spiny legs are making themselves at home. A male is bunking in with his harem of females, their bodies huddled together, a wiry mashup of legs and antennae. Once a fortnight the motel\u2019s owner, Holly Neill, briefly opens the door to peer into the perspex window and check on her tenants, each time experiencing the thrill of being able to spy on the shy, strange creatures inside.<\/p>\n<p>They are not paying guests and nor are these ordinary motels, but rather human-made houses for one of New Zealand\u2019s most beloved insects \u2013 the w\u0113t\u0101. Increasingly, w\u0113t\u0101 motels are popping up in gardens as New Zealanders begin to embrace the bugs in their backyards \u2013 something that may also give the endangered species a chance at survival.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2022\/jan\/27\/delightfully-horrific-weta-motels-proliferate-as-new-zealand-falls-in-love-with-the-giant-insect\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Small man-made homes for the endangered w\u0113t\u0101, which can weigh as much as a sparrow, are popping up in gardens across the countryIn a tiny motel at the back of a Wellington garden, a group of lodgers with shiny cigar-shaped bodies and spiny legs are mak&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2286,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sns_share_botton_hide":"","vkExUnit_sns_title":"","_vk_print_noindex":"","sitemap_hide":"","_veu_custom_css":"","veu_display_promotion_alert":"","vkexunit_cta_each_option":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[265,41,456,464,65,777,56,94,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-animals","category-asia-pacific","category-conservation","category-endangered-species","category-environment","category-insects","category-new-zealand","category-wildlife","category-world-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"veu_head_title_object":{"title":"","add_site_title":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2286"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41107"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41108,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41107\/revisions\/41108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}