Bug of the Year was created to celebrate the spectacular and often overlooked invertebrates of New Zealand. Backed by Te Papa, Collection Technician Invertebrates Shaun Thomson talks about one of this year’s nominees – a tiny fly with a jewel-like shimmer and a life cycle that borders on the unbelievable.Read more
Last year, the Public Programming team embarked on a new area of programming for kaumātua, for people over 65. This was developed in collaboration with Age Concern staff and participants from a range of their groups to create tailored experiences that provide spaces for connection, knowledge sharing, and learning. Public Programming specialist Catherine Ayres, and Public Programming specialist – Kaupapa Māori Lucy Schrader-Manuera share their reflections on the programme.Read more
In the public sphere, the more ‘flashy’ parts of palaeontology tend to get all the press – excavating fossils in exotic locations and publishing new scientific discoveries. But equally important is how the fossils are cared for, so they are available for research and display, both now and long into the future.Read more
Earlier this year, Te Waipounamu iwi Kāi Tahu invited a group of its iwi members to join with Archaeology students from Otago University to take part in their first hands-on dig in Moeraki. Te Papa Host and Assistant Visitor Services Manager Robbie Titchener was on that dig and shares some of the experiences here. Read more
Curator Botany Leon Perrie was recently part of a panel that, for the first time, assessed the conservation status of all the mosses in Aotearoa New Zealand. Here, he introduces a few species you can report if you see them when you’re next mingling with moss. There are about 500Read more
The South Island kōkako is an elusive forest bird, famed for its haunting call. Despite numerous reported sightings over the past 50 years, no definitive evidence to prove its survival – such as a specimen, photograph, or droppings – has been found since 1937. In 1986, a feather discovered onRead more
From 6 to 11 January this year, Mātauranga Māori Curator Dr Amber Aranui dusted off her excavation gear and joined Dr Monica Tromp and three Otago University students for a community-based archaeological excavation at Butler Point in Hihi. The excavation was led by Dr Justin Maxwell and Dr Jennifer HuebertRead more
For the last few months, Master’s student Manon Verdello has been working with the Mātauranga Māori team on the Acknowledging our Colonial Past project. A part of her internship at Te Papa was to work on reconciling the original collection records from the 1860s to the current collection database. Here,Read more
On the morning of Thursday 16 of October, Curator Vertebrates Alan Tennyson came in and asked Curator Fishes Andrew Stewart if he knew anything about the fish lying out in the carpark up at the Tory Street building. Worried that it might be a collection item, they went out andRead more
Collections technician and PhD student Shaun Thompson has spent several years working with curators Julia Kasper and Phil Sirvid to study one of the most unusual and elusive groups of flies in Aotearoa New Zealand. He aims to create comprehensive species descriptions and distribution records of the Acroceridae, or “small-headedRead more
Humanities Technician Cassandra Bahr has been working in the Collected Archives at Te Papa, cataloguing and rehousing papers from people connected to Te Papa’s collecting areas. Here, she highlights parts of the archives held at Te Papa of the sculptor John Edgar. Edgar was committed to being a full-time artist. He maintainedRead more
As part of the Digital Collections & Access team, Collections Data Manager Gareth Watkins supports kaimahi across the museum to input and maintain accurate information in EMu, Te Papa’s Collection Management System, ensuring it supports the documentation and management of more than a million collection taonga objects and natural historyRead more
Humanities Technician Cassandra Bahr has been working in the Collected Archives at Te Papa, cataloguing and rehousing papers from people connected to Te Papa’s collecting areas. Here, she discusses the archive of Tony Whitaker, a renowned herpetologist who donated his collection of specimens to Te Papa. For an introduction to Tony Whitaker, read Anthony Hume Whitaker, MNZM (1944–2014) – a tribute, and to understand more of the importance of his work, see A gift of lizards – 35 years to completion.Read more
Kia haere mai, te atakura, he tio, he huka, he hauunga Let the red-tipped dawn come with the sharpened air, a touch of frost and the promise of a glorious day… In May this year, leading Māori artist Fred Graham was lost to us. He was a central figure inRead more
Landhoppers are tiny, jumping crustaceans that live in the leaf litter on the forest floor. Northland entomologist Olly Ball, University College Cork’s amphipod expert Alan Myers, and Te Papa geneticist Lara Shepherd recently revealed that New Zealand’s landhoppers are far more diverse than previously thought [1], with many new speciesRead more
