Auckland Zoo says Government proposals to allow mining in some conservation areas threaten native animals.
The Government is consulting on the future of protected land and Auckland Zoo's board made its submission on Thursday.
Zoo conservation officer Peter Fraser says mining would threaten some animals, including the Archey's frog if its habitat on the Coromandel Peninsula is disturbed.
He says the Archey's frog is the most critically endangered amphibian species in the world and also the most evolutionary distinct, with no croak or tadpoles.
The zoo says there are thousands of native species about which little is known and which could be eliminated before experts are able to assess them.
