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Te Papa Blog

Discover stories from Te Papa’s experts, including curators, scientists, historians, collection managers, and educators.

 

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South Island adzebill

Extinct adzebill skulls

Martinborough’s cave of bones: How thousands of flightless birds met their end

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

2017-11-03
By: Rachael Hockridge
On: 3 Nov 2017
In: Science

Extinct birds of New Zealand – A diverse menagerie, sadly departed

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

2015-07-28
By: Colin Miskelly
On: 28 Jul 2015
In: Science

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