The rowi is New Zealand’s rarest kiwi with only about 600 individuals left in the wild in a single population at Ōkārito. A number of suspected hybrids between rowi and little spotted kiwi have been found over the years.Read more
The name Apteryx haastii was applied to great spotted kiwi in 1872. However, a recent study by Researcher Lara Shepherd, Vertebrate Curator Alan Tennyson, and collaborators, has shown that Apteryx haastii is not what we thought it was.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
Bird expert Colin Miskelly highlights some of the treasures in our egg collection, including those thought to be held only by Te Papa – as well as giant moa eggs, tiny rifleman eggs, and eggs that were acquired during dramatic events in New Zealand’s conservation history.Read more
Ngā rau kura – Precious feathers In 2007 I identified the birds in Te Papa’s Māori cloaks using microscopic analyses of feather down and museum bird skin comparisons. My findings have provided a deeper knowledge of the museum’s natural history and Māori collections but also an appreciation and understanding ofRead more
When did kiwi and tuatara arrive in New Zealand and how did they get here? These are the kinds of questions being answered by some amazing fossil discoveries that have been made in Otago in the last few years. I’ve been part of a team of researchers visiting fossil sitesRead more
A study published in the journal Science today reveals a new and unexpected origin for New Zealand’s iconic kiwi and overturns the previous idea that the ancestors of kiwi flew directly over from Australia (see Miocene fossils show that Kiwi are probably not phyletic dwarves, Paleornithological Research 2013, and St Bathan’sRead more
This week is Save Kiwi week. Te Papa researchers have a long history of studying kiwi. Our kiwi researchers include: Sarah Jamieson, who previously worked at Massey University studying the breeding ecology and habitat preferences of North Island brown kiwi. Alan Tennyson, who led the formal description of a new kiwi speciesRead more
A number of biological specimens in Te Papa’s collection, particularly old specimens, lack information about when and where they were collected. This information may have been lost since the specimen was collected or was simply not recorded at the time. However, all is not lost! Sometimes we can use DNARead more
Little spotted kiwi only occur in New Zealand, where there are around 1500 individuals remaining. They are the smallest kiwi species, about the size of a bantam hen, and are very susceptible to predation by introduced mammals, such as stoats and dogs. Today they survive on predator-free offshore islands andRead more
Yesterday was a special day for 20 rowi (a species of the flightless kiwi) who were flown from the South Island to their new home on Mana Island, near Wellington. It was reported that this was the first time that this species of kiwi had been in the North Island forRead more
Installation of Te Papa’s new history exhibition Slice of Heaven – Twentieth Century Aotearoa continues – 29 days to go until opening on 2 October 2010… The views from the bridge on Level 5 give a taste of what’s to come and the topics that the exhibition will explore. Here is something evoking theRead more
