In late 2013, I joined a Te Papa science team on an expedition to the Snares Islands Nature Reserve, 105 km south-southwest of Stewart Island. Here we completed a range of seabird and plant research projects. One of our research goals on the Snares Islands was to collect non-vascular plants. Non-vascular plants include mosses, liverworts and hornworts (collectively… Read more »
Posts categorized as Conservation
The tale of the Te Papa taniwha
This blog comes from our lovely Audience Engagement intern, Shonagh Lowerson-Head: On Sunday 2nd March, as part of our Seaweek Family Fun Day, a new sea monster was created: the Te Papa taniwha. But it’s story starts earlier than that. A week previous, the materials were gathered from Evans Bay beach. Sea Shepherd, a marine… Read more »
We know what you did this summer!!
Bart Cox and Jasmine Gibbins spent their summer researching native orchids at Te Papa. Bart and Jasmine are part of a group of seven students from Victoria University of Wellington that were awarded a Summer Research Scholarship co-funded by Te Papa and Victoria University of Wellington. Bart’s research focused on a threatened perching orchid, Drymoanthus flavus, and its… Read more »
Preparing for China: Throne of Emperors
Kung hei fat choy! Happy New Year of the Horse! We are galloping along with preparations for the exhibition China: Throne of Emperors which will open in the Visa gallery on the 22nd of March. In addition to more than 150 ceramic, jade, metalwork and textile objects… Read more »
Snares Islands Flora – the ferns
This blog explores the fern flora of the Snares Islands/Tini Heke where I was one of four Te Papa Science staff to visit the islands in Nov-Dec 2013. There are currently five recognised species of fern on the Snares Islands, the closest sub-antarctic island group to New Zealand. North East Island, the main island of the Snares… Read more »
Snares Islands Flora – an introduction
I was lucky enough to be one of four Te Papa Science staff to complete a 15 day multidisciplinary field study on the Snares Islands/Tini Heke in December 2013. The vascular flora of the Snares Islands is limited, at only 22 species (including one hybrid Poa). Despite this, my first impression of the main island was… Read more »
Science Live: Whalebirds – the mystery of the storm riders. The Prequel: Influx of Prions to Wellington Zoo
Today’s blog is a prequel to yesterday’s Science Live event- Whalebirds- the mystery of the storm riders (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVZjED7Icyc). It is written by Dr. Lisa Argilla. Lisa has been the Veterinary Science Manager at Wellington Zoo since early 2011. She has a keen interest in seabirds seeing as her Master’s thesis research was on… Read more »
A Day in the Life of a Natural History Curator – the intern’s view!
I’m Mathilde Meheut, a French biology student travelling in New Zealand who had the chance to do some voluntary work at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. In this blog, I’ll tell you about some of the work I got involved in at Te Papa during a few weeks in June and July… Read more »
Conservation of a Micronesian textile
Recently I completed a two year project to conserve a unique Micronesian textile. It was such a pleasure to get acquainted with this very rare object with distinctive features–I was amazed to see that the colour changes in the patterned end of the cloth had been created by either interlinking or knotting warps of two colours together (photomicrograph image below), indicating a high level weaving… Read more »
Conservation Intern Liisi Hakala
The paper conservation section of the Conservation and Object Support team at Te Papa was pleased to host Liisi Hakala, from Helsinki’s Metropolia University in Finland, for a three month internship from March to June this year. Liisi is about to enter her final year of a four-year bachelor’s degree in paper conservation. Prior to… Read more »