10 December 2012 – 12.35pm
A number of biological specimens in Te Papa’s collection, particularly old specimens, lack information about when and where they were collected. This information may have been lost since the specimen was collected or was simply not recorded at the time.
However, all is not lost! Sometimes we can use DNA to determine where a specimen was collected. We recently used DNA sequences to examine the provenance of a number of Te Papa’s unlabelled kiwi specimens.
One particularly stunning specimen we looked at is this articulated kiwi skeleton.
Articulated kiwi skeleton from Te Papa’s collection. Photo by Lara Shepherd.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog on kiwi the bones of great spotted kiwi and the three species of brown species are very similar in size and shape and can’t be distinguished. Therefore, this kiwi skeleton could have potentially belonged to any of these four species.
To obtain bone material for our genetic analysis we drilled a small hole underneath the pelvis. Our aim was to minimize the visible damage to the skeleton.
Close-up of the hole we drilled in the pelvis to obtain bone for DNA analysis. Photo by Lara Shepherd.
We compared the specimen’s DNA sequence to sequences previously obtained from kiwi from known locations around New Zealand.
The results showed that this kiwi skeleton is a Tokoeka (also known as Southern brown kiwi) from Stewart Island. This result increases the scientific value of this skeleton and is particularly exciting because there aren’t many kiwi from Stewart Island in museum collections.
Link to our study.
Yesterday was a special day for 20 rowi (a species of the flightless kiwi) who were flown from the South Island to their new home on Mana Island, near Wellington. It was reported that this was the first time that this species of kiwi had been in the North Island for over a century.
So how do we know that rowi used to be in the North Island?
Kiwi researcher Kristina Ramstad holding a rowi. Photo by Rachael Abbott.
Today kiwi are absent from large areas of New Zealand, including the southern North Island (North Island brown kiwi occur from the central North Island northwards). We know that kiwi used to occur in the southern North Island because their bones have been found in caves and other deposits. However, trying to identify kiwi species just by looking at the shape and size of their bones is tricky.
Little spotted kiwi is the only species that can be identified from its bones because they are much smaller than the other kiwi species. The bones of great spotted kiwi and the three species of brown kiwi (rowi, North Island brown kiwi and tokoeka) can’t be identified to species because they overlap in size and shape.
This is the kind of puzzle that DNA can solve. As part of my PhD I examined the past distribution of each kiwi species by sequencing DNA from kiwi bones that had been collected from throughout New Zealand. Some of these bones were up to several thousand years old, but they still contained small amounts of DNA!
Surprisingly I found that the bones in the southern North Island were most closely related to rowi, rather than the geographically closer North Island brown kiwi. Today rowi only naturally occur in one small population at Okarito on the West Coast of the South Island and they are the rarest species of kiwi. My DNA work showed that they used to occur as far north as the southern Hawke’s Bay. You can read the published results here.
8 September 2010 – 4.44pm
Installation of Te Papa’s new history exhibition Slice of Heaven - Twentieth Century Aotearoa continues - 29 days to go until opening on 2 October 2010…
The views from the bridge on Level 5 give a taste of what’s to come and the topics that the exhibition will explore.
Here is something evoking the kiwi backyard which nearly always includes a lawn:
A reminder of the kiwi backyard and lawn. Copyright Te Papa, 2010.
On the other side of the bridge are signs of Empire and New Zealand’s relationship in the early 1900s with Britain, the “mother country”.
Exploring New Zealand's ties with the Empire. Copyright Te Papa, 2010.
During World War 1 New Zealand eagerly supported Britain by sending troops to serve in the war. A 1915 poster aimed at encouraging men to volunteer for military service featured the stirring slogan ”Wanted men, more men”.
'Wanted Men, More Men' - New Zealand supports Britain in World War 1. Copyright Te Papa, 2010.
Exploring New Zealand's involvement in World War 1 - 'Wanted Men, More Men'. Copyright Te Papa, 2010.
