Art history research assistant Amy Holtman has helped rediscover her extensive work on An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. The discovery adds another layer to our understanding of Adams’ contributions to Aotearoa New Zealand’s culture and renews our awareness of her impact on our cultural heritage.Read more
The iNaturalist City Nature Challenge is an annual event where cities around the world compete to record the most observations and species, and have the greatest number of participants over a four-day period. Science Researcher Lara Shepherd, Invertebrate Curator Kerry Walton, and Vertebrate Curator Andrew Stewart discuss some of the events held in Wellington during this year’s Challenge, where they were able to share their expertise to help people explore nature.Read more
Each year, cities across the globe gear up for the iNaturalist City Nature Challenge – a thrilling four-day race to document the most wildlife observations, uncover the widest array of species, and rally the highest number of participants. It’s a celebration of biodiversity, citizen science, and the unexpected wonders hidingRead more
Along with Simon Pollard, Curator Invertebrates Phil Sirvid is the co-author of Why is that Spider Dancing? The Amazing Arachnids of Aotearoa. The insect-inspired sequel The Incredible Insects of Aotearoa launches in May 2025. Here, Phil gives us a sneak peek between the covers. Inside The Incredible Insects of Aotearoa, Simon andRead more
Nancy Adams was one of New Zealand’s most prolific botanists and a talented artist. She made substantial contributions to Te Papa’s herbarium collection and produced a vast number of botanical illustrations, which were included in widely distributed and well-regarded books about New Zealand flora. As part of their summer research, Lucia Adams and Margo Montes de Oca spent some time looking through several of Nancy’s field guides which were published as part of the ‘Mobil New Zealand Nature Series’ – in particular, Mountain Flowers in New Zealand (1980) and New Zealand Native Trees (1967). You may recognise these books – they are beautiful, helpful and accessible guides to plants in the New Zealand bush.Read more
Welcome to the second instalment of the April Fool’s Day Files, where we celebrate the conniving con artists, tantalising tricksters, and devilish deceivers of the natural world. This year, Natural History curators Phil Sirvid and Thom Linley illuminate how animals lie with light. The bioluminescent light some animals make is a chemical reaction of luciferin, named after Lucifer, the Lightbringer, the Great Deceiver, and the Father of Lies, it’s time to trick with light!Read more
March 14 is Save a Spider Day, and this year, Curator Invertebrates Phil Sirvid is answering some spidery questions from the public and Te Papa kaimahi. ️Read more
Natural history curator Dr Colin Miskelly completed Te Araroa Trail a year ago today. His epic mission was to count every individual bird seen and heard along the 3,257 km trail, from Cape Reinga to Bluff. He has now completed another marathon – analysing, writing-up and publishing his findings as a scientific paper. ‘Birds of Te Araroa Trail – Aotearoa New Zealand’s long pathway’ was published in the March 2025 issue of the journal Notornis, just xx days ago. Colin shares the main findings here.Read more
Nancy Adams (1926–2007) was one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most prolific botanists and a talented artist. She produced many botanical illustrations, which were included in widely distributed and well-regarded books about the New Zealand flora. During her botanical career at the Dominion Museum (predecessor to Te Papa Tongarewa), she wentRead more
Welcome to a blog series that introduces places, people, methods, and species that are important to palaeontological research at Te Papa and beyond. Curators Felix Marx and Alan Tennyson, along with researchers William Baker and Collection Manager Hazel Richards, start us off with a summary of what palaeontology is and how it works…Read more
A new species of orchid, the elegant leek orchid, has recently been described and named by botanists from Te Papa and Ōtari Native Botanic Garden. The elegant leek orchid is found from the central North Island south to the Auckland Islands but is very uncommon and classified as threatened. Curator Botany Carlos Lehnebach and Science Researcher Lara Shepherd introduce us to the new species.Read more
Last year a Te Papa curator approached the library team with an intriguing question. Could we help them find more information about the story that in the 19th century whales in the Wellington Harbour were so noisy that they kept people awake at night? The curator couldn’t find any first-hand contemporary accounts, known as primary sources, from the 1800s to confirm the tale and hoped the library team might be able to help. Cataloguing and Acquisitions Librarian Kim McClintock talks about her discoveries.Read more
Nancy Adams was a key player in the early decades of the Dominion Museum (predecessor to Te Papa), making substantial curatorial contributions to collections spanning from colonial history to botany and producing illustrations, now a valuable part of the Te Papa Art collection. As Lucia Adams and Margo Montes de Oca discovered during their summer research this year, traces of her influence and curatorial eye can be found not only in Te Papa’s archives but also in the outside world, specifically in the gardens by the old Dominion Museum building in Buckle Street.Read more
Did you know that insects, spiders, and other “bugs” make up well over half of Aotearoa New Zealand’s animal diversity and that most of them are found nowhere else on planet Earth? These creatures keep our crops and flowers pollinated, our soils aerated, our streams and forests healthy, our wasteRead more
Many of New Zealand’s native orchids need our help to secure their long-term survival, but it is hard to help when we know so little about them. Master’s student Rebecca Greenwood (recipient of Te Papa Foundation Orchid Conservation Scholarship) is embarking on research to explore the pollinators and fungal-root interactions of a small group of spider orchids from south Auckland. Read more
