The large-leaved Aciphylla speargrasses or taramea are difficult plants to collect. Their rigid leaves are tipped in a sharp point and the bracts on their flower spikes are similarly ferocious. These defences are thought to have evolved to avoid browsing by moa, but they also work against botanists! Consequently, speargrasses are under‑represented in plant collections (herbaria). Te Papa Research Scientist Lara Shepherd and Botany Curator Leon Perrie describe how they approached sampling speargrasses on their recent collecting trip.Read more

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A woman sits on a light grey chair, talking to somewhere out of the frame on the right. Behind her sits two piles of books, and a painting on the wall

Sehar Moughal is a psychologist, activist, public speaker, teacher, and doctoral candidate at the University of Auckland. Her professional and research work centres around challenging the status quo and advocating for people on the fringes. Mehwish Mughal, who leads our Asian Mental Health project, asks Sehar what makes her so passionate about the work she does.Read more

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Performing Artist, academic, and community advocate Ras Judah Seomeng migrated here, along with his family, from Botswana, Africa over 18 years ago looking for greener pastures. Currently at the beginning of his PHD candidature at Auckland University, he works for Change Makers Resettlement Forum – A Wellington-based, not-for-profit organisation that supports refugee migrants with resettlement processes, assisting them with the challenges they experience in Aotearoa New Zealand, helping them navigate a new culture and existence. Seomeng speaks about Mother Languages Day 2023 and discusses the effects of living in places where the commonly spoken language isn’t your own mother tongue or first language.Read more

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A boy in a Batman cap holds up a trading card. He is standing behind a table that has trays of insect specimens in them.

Read about Tora, a little boy with a big love for insects. Tora is determined to learn everything about his loved bugs and also to help them. One group of his favourite insects are bees, not the ones that produce native honey, but native bees that are crucial for Aotearoa New Zealand’s ecosystem. Bee inspired, Curator Invertebrates Julia Kasper shows us nature’s six-legged wonders through a child’s eye.Read more

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People of Asian heritages face many well-documented obstacles to their mental and physical wellbeing in Aotearoa – these include dealing with anti-Asian racism, xenophobia, migration stress, and access and language difficulties (or alternatively, generational language and cultural loss). In the video below, we hear from several knowledge holders working in the Asian mental health space as they outline the key issues we need to tackle to open the door to positive change.Read more

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A lot of people gathered in the forecourt of a large building. There are hay bales marking the path the people have to queue in.

Thousands of people have worked at Te Papa – while it was being designed, then constructed, and since it opened to the people of Aotearoa New Zealand on 14 February 1998. Several kaimahi have worked here since before we opened, or from Day One, while many younger kaimahi have only ever known Te Papa as the national museum. Many of us are somewhere in between. As we celebrate our 25th anniversary, some of our kaimahi share their memories of our place of work, Te Papa Tongarewa.Read more

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In 2017, Taranaki collector Alastair Johnson found the fossil of a giant petrel. Initially, it was encased in rock but careful preparation revealed something stunning. Not only was it a complete skull but it was the first fossil ever found of an intriguing kind of seabird. Two years later, Alastair found part of a wing bone of a giant petrel too. Both fossils are 3 million years old. Vertebrate Curator Alan Tennyson and Research Fellow Rodrigo Salvador describe the distinctions and fierce habits of giant petrels.Read more

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Aotearoa New Zealand has a plethora of weird and wonderful plants. The ferociously spiky speargrasses are some of our most distinctive plants and an iconic feature of New Zealand’s high-country, especially when flowering. Te Papa Research Scientist Lara Shepherd and Botany Curator Leon Perrie recently embarked on a new projectRead more

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In: Behind the scenes, Science