1993 World Wildlife Fund Conservation

Single 45c 'Rock wren with giant snail and Hamilton's frog' gummed stamp.

Often seen hopping and running about rocks and boulders, the rock wren is a tiny alpine bird that lives in the mountains of the South Island. Distinctive with its bright yellow flank, this weak flier is one of many of our native birds under threat.

The giant snail is a forest dweller, usually active at night and taking 15 years to reach maturity.

New Zealand has three endemic species of frog; all are ancient relics of a primitive stock. Hamilton's frog is the rarest and is only found in two locations - on Stephens Island in Cook Strait and Maud Island in the Marlborough Sounds.

Single 45c 'Yellow-eyed penguin with Hector's dolphin and the New Zealand fur seal' gummed stamp.

The Yellow-eyed penguin is known as 'Hoiho' or 'noise shouter' to the Maori, and its plight has been well publicised in recent times. As a result, numbers are slowly increasing on New Zealand's mainland. Probably the world's rarest penguin, it can be found in small areas of the Otago, Canterbury and Southland coastline.

Hector's dolphin is the only dolphin confined to New Zealand waters. Its numbers are low, estimated at only between 3,000 and 4,000.

The New Zealand fur seal was almost hunted to extinction but has recovered since hunting was banned almost 80 years ago. Today about 50,000 New Zealand fur seals live and breed in New Zealand waters.

Single 45c 'Blue duck together with the taiko and the Mt Cook lily' gummed stamp.

Blue ducks pair for life and stay together all year round, requiring about a kilometre of river for breeding. However, their natural habitat has been drastically reduced in recent years.

The Chatham Island taiko is regarded as one of the world's rarest seabirds. It has a white breast and belly and black-brown upper parts. Only a few birds are thought to exist.

Also known as the giant buttercup the Mount Cook lily reaches 1 to 1.5 metres and produces large white flowers each 4 to 5 centimetres across.

Single 45c 'Kaka with the Chatham Island pigeon and the giant weta' gummed stamp.

A member of the parrot family, the kaka is a browny-grey bird with startling colourful underwing feathers. Whilst it was very common when European settlers first arrived in New Zealand, today its future is far from secure, due to - amongst other factors - introduced predators.

The New Zealand pigeon, a large handsome bird, thrives on the main islands. but on the Chatham Islands the subspecies has all but disappeared.

Giant wetas are possibly the most ancient and primitive part of New Zealand's biological history. They deserve the 'giant' tag because at full maturity they are twice as heavy as a mouse.