Fun Fact

27 October 2022

A common tree frog stowing away from the Dominican Republic to England in a bag of bananas. Image credit: RSPCA.

How can bananas and a frog be examples of invasive species?

Sometimes you never know what surprises will pop up after a trip to your local supermarket. A British family recently purchased bananas from their local grocery store; got home; removed the plastic packaging they were wrapped in; and inside was a small tree frog!

The frog had made a long trip overseas – coming all the way from the Dominican Republic, which is where the bananas were imported from. Somehow it managed to get into the package before being sealed, and even more amazingly the little fella survived the trip.

What does this have to do with kiwifruit here in New Zealand? It’s a great example of how hitchhiking or stowaway pests can unexpectedly arrive on our shores, and the importance of looking out for them and reporting anything found – which is fortunately exactly what the family did in this case.

There are now many ways to make a report, both via phone and online. We have a brief and simple flyer on the KVH website here.