A new species of liverwort has just been identified in Wellington and named after local amateur botanist Rodney Lewington (1935–2018). Botanist Lara Shepherd tells us more about liverworts and Rodney’s contribution to New Zealand botany.Read more
How has the wildlife on these islands responded to more than 30 years without rats? Vertebrates Curator Colin Miskelly reports on a recent field trip to find out.Read more
Skirts, scales, hexagons, and colour. There are many differences you can look out for if you want to learn how to identify tree ferns.Read more
Spiders! You love ’em. Or perhaps you don’t. Either way, they are the most searched for things on Collections Online. Identification is the most common reason for looking them up, according to feedback, so for putting you all at ease: You’re welcome, Aotearoa. Read on for the most popular spiders of the 2010s.Read more
Would you have the patience to spend 10 years trying to find something practically invisible? Botanist Carlos Lehnebach recently discovered his ‘holy grail’ – a collection of tiny ghost orchids in the Wellington region. Read more
Have you ever had to explain to customs at the airport what the odd-looking object is in your hand luggage? Head of Science Susan Waugh explains why she had a Hector’s dolphin skull in her carry-on.Read more
How was the name James Bond originally chosen? Curator Invertebrates Rodrigo Salvador tells an unlikely story involving the ‘Father of Caribbean Ornithology’.Read more
Our Earthquake House has had a makeover. It includes a new immersive video experience featuring actors Rachel House and Rākau Tamaira. Experience developer Ralph Upton describes what filming was like, and why the earthquake house had to change. Read more
Lots of us care about saving the whales, but not many get as hands-on as technician Stephanie Ho. She’s spent the last nine months caring for whale bones in Te Papa’s collections. It’s a messy, smelly and painstaking job, but it’s protecting these important specimens for the future. Stephanie tells us more.Read more
Maggot racing, tree shaking, and cockroach cuddling. Our learning team and invertebrate curators have just finished their first Spineless Critters After School Club. Insect curator Julia Kasper describes what the kids learnt and why it was so much fun.Read more
Wellington has its very own snail species, ‘Potamopyrgus oppidanus’, found nowhere else in the world – and it’s smaller than a grain of rice. But their numbers are alarmingly decreasing due to bikers and weeds.Read more
About three years ago, vertebrate curator Colin Miskelly made the ‘rash’ claim that the best bet for seeing a crabeater seal in New Zealand was to visit the mouth of the Hutt River in Wellington Harbour – and wait approximately 25 years. But one showed up there a few days ago. Colin gives his thoughts on why they come here. Read more
In 2011, Alastair Johnson was hunting for fossils on a remote beach in Taranaki. Three-million-year-old fossil oysters and scallops are common but remains of vertebrates are much rarer. However, on this occasion, something magical appeared out of the rock – the most complete fossil albatross skull ever found. Curator of vertebrates Alan Tennyson tells us more.Read more
Why did it take eight years for the sighting to be accepted? Te Papa curator Colin Miskelly tells the story of New Zealand’s first collared petrel.Read more
Te Papa holds a surprising treasure trove of tropical land snails in its collection. These snails have important biological data to share, but remained overlooked for the last century – until Rodrigo Salvador became interested…Read more
