Glowworms in NZ

Glowworm is a term I was not familiar with until my son Paul asked me whether I had plan to visit caves with glowworm in our trip to NZ. Only then that I began to do some research about visiting a glowworm cave.

It turned out Waitomo Caves which is famous for glowworm is just 90 Km southwest of Hobbiton. So, after touring Hobbiton Movie Set on 16 February, we immediately drove to Waitomo Glowworm Caves.

NZ glowworms in fact are the larvae of a species of fly called fungus gnat. It has a unique ability to produce light called  bioluminescence. The light on their tails is used to attract prey. Glowworms make sticky silk threads which hang like fishing lines. Small insects are attracted by the light of the glowworm and get caught in the threads. The glowworm lives above the the threads inside a tube it makes out of silk and mucus. Interestingly when the glowworm is hungry, it's tail light will glow brighter!

NZ Glowworms are not fireflies that we are familiar with in Sabah. Our fireflies are entirely of different insects - they are beetles that fly around at night with their tails flashing.

The Waitomo Visitor Centre is indeed a very impressive and grand structure. Each tour is led by experienced guide who provides informative briefing. This is one trip where photo taking was not permitted. The reason being the glowworms are very sensitive to light and noise.

The boat ride to see the glowworms was done in pitch black darkness. Thousands and thousands of glowworms lined the cave ceiling creating the scene of a spectacular stars-lid sky!

Photo reproduced from whenonearth.net

Photo reproduced from Machprinciple.com

Suspended threads to trap insects.

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In contrast, our local tours to see fireflies are quite different. We sail in a boat in open air along a river banks normally at night. The effect is liked having Christmas trees hung with many flashing lights. Of course, the darker the night, the brighter the flashing of the fireflies!

Boat ride to see fireflies in one of Sabah's rivers.