This blog comes from our lovely Audience Engagement intern, Shonagh Lowerson-Head: On Sunday 2nd March, as part of our Seaweek Family Fun Day, a new sea monster was created: the Te Papa taniwha. But it’s story starts earlier than that. A week previous, the materials were gathered from Evans BayRead more
Art galleries are a great resource for young learners, but often teachers can feel quite daunted at the prospect of visiting them! One of our goals in Te Papa Education is to build teacher knowledge, skill, and confidence in engaging and responding to art with young children, and so, on Saturday 1stRead more
Do you want to learn more about the animals, fungi, and plants around you? Would you like to help scientists better understand the distribution of New Zealand’s biodiversity? If so, then the citizen-science website NatureWatch NZ is for you. You can find out more about NatureWatch at the Wellington BotanicalRead more
A Te Papa team recently visited the Snares Islands Nature Reserve, 105 km south-southwest of Stewart Island, where they completed a range of seabird and plant research projects. Here, Colin Miskelly (Curator Terrestrial Vertebrates) describes some of the smaller inhabitants of the Snares Islands. Watch Science Live: Expedition Snares IslandRead more
After spending most of my life living in coastal towns and devoting much of my professional career to the study of marine birds, I have always felt a strong attachment to the ocean. So naturally, I was thrilled to hear that this week is SeaWeek! There are events being heldRead more
Today is World Wildlife Day, a chance for us to celebrate diverse and wonderful wildlife all over the world. And here in New Zealand we have a lot of unique wildlife to celebrate. We asked Te Papa staff to nominate their favourite species so that you can join in ourRead more
This summer, we ran a small pilot project, inviting volunteers to help transcribe the diaries of Horowhenua farmer, photographer, tramper, geologist, archaeologist, ethnologist, son, brother, husband and father Leslie Adkin. Thanks to everyone who contributed – the results have surpassed all our expectations. Twenty volunteers have transcribed over eighteen months ofRead more
Tony Whitaker (or ‘Whit’ to his many friends) was the godfather of modern herpetology in New Zealand. Following more than half a century of fieldwork to the remotest corners of New Zealand, there were few lizard species that he had not seen, nor lizard researchers that he had not cheerfullyRead more
Bart Cox and Jasmine Gibbins spent their summer researching native orchids at Te Papa. Bart and Jasmine are part of a group of seven students from Victoria University of Wellington that were awarded a Summer Research Scholarship co-funded by Te Papa and Victoria University of Wellington. Bart’s research focused on a threatenedRead more
Te Papa is saddened to hear about the death of London-based New Zealand artist Alexis Hunter on 24 February 2014. Three years after completing her studies at the Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland in 1969, Hunter relocated to England and established herself in London. SheRead more
Hugh Pollen was the influential head of New Zealand’s largest government department for 20 years – but what did he look like? Hugh was the son of medical doctor, civil servant and politician Daniel Pollen (1813-96), who was briefly (1875-76) Premier of New Zealand – i.e. the pre-1907 equivalent ofRead more
Today we’re very pleased to make our new version of Collections Online available. We’ve made it work much better on your smartphone or tablet, while still being really useful on desktop for more in-depth research. We’ve also made the images much bigger, search results clearer, and made it easier for you to follow yourRead more
On the 6 December 2013, Auckland born Samoan and mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Mark Hunt broke his hand on the head of Antonio Silva. It was during the main event of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fight night, held in Brisbane, Australia. Hunt and Silva’s five round fight wasRead more
Te Papa acknowledges that the Canterbury earthquakes in 2010 and 2011 were one of the most significant and devastating events in New Zealand’s history. As such, Te Papa is working actively to preserve the memory and evidence of these traumatic events for future generations, as well as providing direct, expert supportRead more
100 kilometres south of Stewart Island, a small group of rocky islands jut abruptly from the surface of the ocean. These islands, wreathed in sea spray and surrounded by large cliffs, are known as the Snares Islands, and for a fortnight were home to four Te Papa scientists. The SnaresRead more
