The beaks of male and female huia are so different that the two sexes were originally described as two separate species. But what is the reason behind that difference? Natural History Curator Rodrigo Salvador takes us through recent research.Read more
Curators Rodrigo Salvador and Alan Tennyson, working with colleagues from GNS Science and the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), used chemical analysis on the sub-fossil bones of this extinct duck to determine how it lived. Here they describe what they found.Read more
Victoria University summer scholar Laura Wilson has spent two months sorting through a box of bones and dirt. The aim? To identify and catalogue the huge array of species represented in Martinborough’s Cave of Bones.Read more
‘This Superman story is actually a great portrayal of an extinct species and its tragic fate at the hands of humankind.’ Science researcher Rodrigo Salvador tells us more.Read more
Fossilised bird grave sites are common in New Zealand, but one particular cave in Martinborough has revealed thousands of bones of flightless birds who plunged to their deaths.Read more
Curator of vertebrates Alan Tennyson discusses another previously unknown New Zealand bird extinction, published in a new article today. Read more
A couple of months ago I received an unlikely phone call from a gentleman asking whether Te Papa was interested in purchasing a laughing owl specimen.Read more
In common usage, the term ‘moa’ is often used as if it refers to a single species. This is a long way from the truth. Not only are nine different species recognised, but they are classified in three separate families. They were the best example of adaptive radiation among vertebratesRead more
Rails are a group of birds that include the familiar pukeko and weka, and also takahe, coots, and the small, secretive crakes that inhabit densely vegetated wetlands. At least 14 species of rails were living in New Zealand before human contact, eight of which have since been lost. As withRead more
‘Waterfowl’ is a collective term usually applied to swans, geese and ducks. They all belong to a single family (Anatidae). No other family of birds has suffered so many species extinctions in New Zealand. Seven named species of ducks and two geese have become extinct in the last 800 years,Read more
Songbirds are perhaps our most familiar birds, including most of the species that visit our gardens. They also include our best-known extinct bird – the huia, which has been extinct for about a century. Many people blame hunting by humans (for specimens to sell to collectors, or for the much-prizedRead more
Few New Zealanders are aware how many bird species have been lost since people first reached New Zealand less than 800 years ago. The number of named extinct species continues to increase, largely due to careful examination of bones from Chatham Island dunes and caves, but is currently 53 speciesRead more
