The advent of GPS in cell-phones and car navigation systems has done a lot to render this technology accessible for a variety of users, devices are now only 10-20 g in weight, and can cost as little as $100 a piece. Satellite telemetry was first used to study flying birdsRead more
Te Papa is a collaborative partner with Auckland Museum in this important expedition to intensively sample and survey the fishes of the remote Kermadec Islands. The Te Papa fish team is participating because of their unique specialised skills in collecting and identifying fishes underwater on scuba in the wild, asRead more
A Te Papa expedition, in collaboration with Massey University, is going to study the fish fauna of the Kermadec Islands, some 1000km North of mainland New Zealand. We left Tauranga aboard the MV Tranquil Image yesterday. Loading all the gear on the deck was a bit more of a challengeRead more
The Kermadec Islands’ are the most isolated piece of rock that New Zealand has, some 1,000km North of Tauranga, right in the middle of very deep oceans. The isolation, recent geological origin and predominantly subtropical marine flora and fauna make them unique both nationally and internationally. I often imagine theRead more
We recently rolled out a new feature for those of you in interested seeing where zoological and botanical specimens in Te Papa’s collections were collected from. We’ve been mapping individual specimens for a while now, but we’ve added the ability to see where specimens from a particular family, genus or species wereRead more
As part of a project to publish the wildlife diaries of Edgar Stead (see blogs of 15 December 2010 and 18 January 2010), I am revisiting some of the islands that Stead camped on during the period 1929-1947. The main focus is describing how the ecology of the islands hasRead more
Putauhinu Island is a 141 ha muttonbird island south-west of Stewart Island. The muttonbirders on Putauhinu have worked closely with the Department of Conservation (and its predecessor the New Zealand Wildlife Service) to restore the island’s ecology, including eradicating Pacific rats in 1995, and translocating and releasing South Island saddlebacksRead more
Two of Te Papa’s Natural Environment staff recently returned from two weeks seabird research in northern Vanuatu. Colin Miskelly (Curator Terrestrial Vertebrates) here recounts some of the adventures he had with Alan Tennyson (Curator Fossil Vertebrates) during early March 2011. Back in 2001 New Zealanders Mike Imber and Alan TennysonRead more
Kia ora kotou Dr Hamish Campell has just sent through an article he has written for the NZ Herald. The text is reproduced in full below. Hamish is Senior Scientist at GNS Science and is Te Papa’s geological advisor. Bill Fry, GNS Science Seismologist, also explains Tuesday’s catastrophic events in thisRead more
We can all do with a check-up every so often – just to ensure things are going ok and we’re not falling apart. Today our team took the lid off the colossal squid tank and started to drain out the preservation fluid so we can give the colossal squid a check-up. WeRead more
As part of a project to publish the wildlife diaries of Edgar Stead (see blog of 15 December 2010), I am revisiting some of the islands that Stead camped on during the period 1929-1947. The main focus is describing how the ecology of the islands has changed since Stead’s time.Read more
While exploring the subalpine flora around the Otira Valley during the field trip at the end of the Australian Systematic Botany Society 2010 Conference I recently attended, I came across some plants that I have studied in the past, as well as others that I’m about to begin researching. AfterRead more
In December last year I was contacted by Department of Conservation staff on Stephens Island reporting that they had found a bone that looked like a parrot’s beak in their vegetable garden, and asking if I could help identify it. Stephens Island Nature Reserve lies off the northern tip ofRead more
Right now, on New Zealand’s southernmost island group, a team of 11 researchers and their support crew are wandering around the cold, windswept Campbell Island, studying the island’s rich ecology and history, and its recovery from decades of grazing and the world’s largest island rat eradication. And you can followRead more
Edgar Stead (1881-1949) was a Canterbury naturalist famous (among other things) for exhuming the enormous Okarito blue whale skeleton now in Canterbury Museum, breeding the Ilam strain of rhododendrons and azaleas, and being an astute observer of New Zealand birds. His magnificent homestead ‘Ilam’ is now the Canterbury University staffRead more
