“If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.” E.O. Wilson, father of the modern naturalist movement. In this series of blogs, Te Papa entomology curatorRead more
We are dedicating this blog post to acknowledge two honours recently bestowed on one of our own, Curator Vertebrates Dr Colin Miskelly. He has been made a Fellow of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand and received the New Zealand Association of Scientists Cranwell Medal. A huge congratulations on these achievements, Colin!Read more
Te Papa is home to Aotearoa New Zealand’s national art collection, which includes work by pioneering artists such as William Hodgkins, John Gully, and Grace Joel. As only a small portion of the collection can ever be on display at one time, a new project from Te Papa Store canRead more
Landhoppers are an important, but often overlooked, component of our invertebrate fauna. Northland entomologists Olly Ball and Steve Pohe teamed up with Te Papa geneticist Lara Shepherd and University College Cork’s amphipod expert Alan Myer to summarise the current knowledge of New Zealand’s landhoppers. Their new paper shows that landhoppers are far more diverse than we thought, with many new species hiding right under our feet.Read more
The possibilities of using Generative AI in a positive way to enhance collection accessibility and findability has sparked a pilot project by history curator Katie Cooper and Collections Data Manager Gareth Watkins. In the first of a series of blogs, Katie and Gareth take you on their AI journey.Read more
The Hump Ridge Track was officially opened as Aotearoa New Zealand’s eleventh Great Walk in late October 2024. Te Papa natural history curator Dr Colin Miskelly walked the track a few weeks later and compared its birdaciousness with the ten other Great Walks. The newest Great Walk The Hump RidgeRead more
Two wāhine from different backgrounds reflect on their growth developing Ko Au Te Taiao, an online learning resource that seeks to centre mātauranga Māori values. As Mero Rokx and Sarah Hopkinson worked through the complexities of this project, they discovered much more about themselves and their relationships to each other,Read more
For the past four years, Te Papa’s scientists Lara Shepherd and Leon Perrie have participated in the iNaturalist City Nature Challenge – a global competition that connects people with nature by encouraging them to record the wildlife in our cities. This year, as well as being behind the camera, we also had fun in front of the lens whilst being filmed for a short documentary about the challenge and goals.Read more
With Halloween coming up and summer around the corner, it is time for bloodsucking beasties to come out. Insect curator Julia Kasper specialises in flies and bloodsucking insects and has a strong interest in the historical and cultural aspects of entomology. Here, she sheds a bright light on the vampire world and explains what actually caused the diseases that were blamed on – and furthered the belief in – the vampire.Read more
Vertebrates Curator Dr Colin Miskelly recently returned from one of the most remote and rarely visited parts of Aotearoa New Zealand. He shares some of his images and insights from two days ashore on the Bounty Islands.Read more
The 40th anniversary of Te Maori inspired events to improve its Wikipedia article. Te Herenga Waka Museum Studies intern Elise Goodge explores what made these events so unique.Read more
This September, students from Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Design Innovation visited Te Papa to learn about animal illustration. Art curators Rebecca Rice and Lizzie Bisley showed them a group of artworks from across the collection. Starting with Albrecht Dürer’s 1505 engraving The large horse, the works ranged from the 16th to 20th centuries, showcasing a huge variety of styles, techniques, and approaches to representing animals. After looking at these works, the students drew their own animal illustrations in Te Papa’s Te Taiao | Nature space. Curator Art Lizzie Bisley discusses how it went.Read more
When we think about New Zealand’s national museum, we often think about Te Papa, with its enormous building on the waterfront and bicultural philosophy. ‘Our Place’. Or we might imagine the National Museum at Buckle Street with the National War Memorial or the carillon standing tall in front – a place you might remember visiting as a child. But our national museum’s history begins over 100 years before that, in 1865, to be exact. Curator Mātauranga Māori Amber Aranui takes us back to this creatively documented time. Read more
The discovery of the Manawatāwhi pāua, unique to the Three Kings Islands, highlights the need to build taxonomic expertise to speed up work to describe thousands of as-yet unnamed species. Authors Kerry Walton, Curator Invertebrates, Te Papa, Hamish G Spencer, Sesquicentennial Distinguished Professor of Zoology, University of Otago, and Nic Rawlence, Associate Professor in Ancient DNA, University of Otago discuss the ramifications of the new find. This article was first published on The Conversation, 3 September, 2024.Read more
Since the end of July, Pātū Toi ǀ Art Wall in Toi Art on Level 4, is where visitors can choose their favourite from 457 artworks in the national art collection. They can post a comment about why they love it, then see it projected on the wall at aRead more
