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Starry bid approved
New Zealand's bid to have the Tekapo-Aoraki night sky declared a World Heritage
reserve site has been accepted at a UNESCO meeting in the Canary Islands before
final approval at the UNESCO world heritage meeting in Rio de Janeiro next year.
Former Labour cabinet minister Margaret Austin told the conference the area
around Tekapo, in the South Island's MacKenzie District, has pristine, dark
unpolluted skies with one of the most accessible observatories in the world.
Austin said she was overwhelmed New Zealand's bid was approved. The other sites
also to be considered for world heritage status are from Austria, Spain, Chile,
and Hawaii. Only the New Zealand and Austrian locations have been recognised as
"mixed sites" — acknowledging not only their pristine night
sky but also their surrounding landscape and the opportunities for
astro-tourism. The move to formally recognise night skies as World Heritage
sites was a big move for UNESCO Austin
said. "It's almost like an evolution. They've gone from monuments to
landscapes to cultural landscapes and now they're taking another
step."
(12 November 2009)


Tree gods unite
A ceremony to form a "sister-tree relationship" between Waipoua
Forest's Tane Mahuta and an ancient Japanese cedar tree located on Yakushima
Island, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was held this month at the base of the
giant kauri. The project was launched by the New Zealand Tourism Board which
hopes that by linking large and ancient trees, a message of forest preservation
will spread. Tane Mahuta belongs to the Araucariaceae family of conifers. It is
51 metres tall and has a trunk girth of 13.8 metres. It is believed to be
between 1200 and 2500 years old.
(23 April 2009)


Slippery subjects
Maori eel catching methods are related in a new book about migratory animals by
American artist and author James Prosek, who spent time in New Zealand studying
the fish. Bird, Butterfly, Eel is designed for children and features
colourful paintings and a concise story line following a year in the life of a
barn swallow, a monarch butterfly and an eel. Prosek said being among the Maori
helped to change his world view, allowing him to dwell much more on the mystery
of how things happen rather than being focused solely on finding out why. Prosek
has also written an article on eels that will be published in a future issue of National
Geographic focusing on the Maori. "The Maoris eat the eels, but they
let them go if they have red eyes," Prosek said. "The Maori believe
the ones with red eyes are 'taniwha,' or guardian eels, that might cause them to
die if they kill or eat them."
(17 January 2009)


Antarcticans unite
Nearly every New Zealander, according to American author of The Entire Earth
and Sky: Views on Antarctica, Leslie Carol Roberts "has some link to
Antarctica — either they had been there, or someone they knew had been there,
or they are trying to go." While few North Americans know or, admittedly,
care about that remote landmass, Roberts found a very different attitude in New
Zealand, where she did some of her studies for the book. "Most people don't
realise that New Zealand has a large land-claim in Antarctica, called the Ross
Dependency," Roberts says. "I found this relationship of tiny island
nation and ice continent really resonated for me, and so it became a large part
of the narrative: how Antarctica inhabits New Zealand, what its stories mean
there. ... They are mad for Antarctica there."
(19 November 2008)


To cascading waters
Waiheke Island, home to 8000 people and 30 vineyards, is a "true microcosm
of Aotearoa" writes Boston Globe reporter Stephanie Stephens, who is
"struck by the endearingly lower-stress pace of New Zealand life"
coming upon a road sign warning, "Slow Down, You're Here." Stephens
takes "the loop" and some scenic detours "noting that the
geography is loosely defined by small, beautiful bodies of water",
including Putiki Bay, then Anzac Bay, along with Waikopou and Owhiti bays. At
Cable Bay Vineyards "it's a toss-up as to what's most impressive: the
pinnacle-top location and view to Auckland, the sleek architecture, or head chef
Will Thorpe's menu ..."Why Waiheke? Why, oh why not?"
(7 September 2008)


Incredible journey
The NZ bar-tailed godwit is officially the migratory champion of the avian
world. The bird has been tracked from its summertime home in NZ to its breeding
ground in Alaska, and back again, by an international group of researchers led
by Massey University ecologist Phil Battley. A female bar-tailed godwit known as
E7 was one of 13 birds satellite tagged in NZ at the beginning of the year. She
flew non-stop for 10,200km to Yalu Jiang in China, then a further 5,000km to
Alaska, before making another non-stop 11,500km journey back to NZ in September.
"[It's] just so far up from what we used to believe 10 years ago when we
were thinking a five or 6,000km flight was extremely long," said Battley.
"Here we've doubled it."
(13 September 2007)


Highland habitat reborn
NZ-born wildlife expert Hugh Fullerton Smith is working at the forefront of
British eco-tourism as general manager of Alladale Estate. The 23,000 acre
Highland property, owned by Scottish millionaire philanthropist Paul Lister, is
soon to become Britain's first ecological game reserve. The Highland Council has
just granted the estate a dangerous wild animal licence, meaning wild boar, elk,
wolves, lynx and bears could soon be reintroduced in their natural habitat.
"We already have wild boar and have fenced off 440 acres as part of a game
reserve trial which scientists from Oxford University are monitoring," said
Fullerton Smith in The Observer. "Eventually we need to create probably the
biggest enclosed wilderness reserve in Europe and then we will hopefully
reintroduce some larger carnivores such wolves and bears." Lister's
supporters believe his game reserve will eventually draw around 50,000 visitors
a year.
(12 August 2007)


Brothers in farms
NZ farmers have extended the hand of friendship to their drought-stricken
counterparts in southern Australia. The New Zealanders are offering use of their
holiday homes to Australian planters most affected by the drought, while Jetstar
is providing 100 free return tickets across the Tasman. "Some of the
stories we have heard from across the Tasman are heart wrenching, and in the
true Anzac spirit, we stand ready to help," said Charlie Pedersen,
president of Federated Farmers of New Zealand. "We can't give Aussie
farmers what they really need - rain - but we can help some take a break from
the enormous stress."
(8 February 2007)


Defender of oceans
A Guardian article on the uncertain future of wild fish stocks features
long-time Rainbow Warrior photographer and marine biologist Dr
Roger Grace. Grace has been documenting Greenpeace actions for over 30 years
and is now part of the organisation's campaign to save Mediterranean fish stocks
(currently the most threatened in the world.) Grace was also responsible for
setting up some of the world's first no-intervention fishing reserves, in his
native NZ. "In all that time [working for Greenpeace], I've never had a
fisherman explain to me why they need to fish in 100 per cent of the sea,"
he says. "Why not have 20 per cent set aside? Fish life functions best when
the ecosystem is entirely set aside. If you're forever pulling fish out on a
string around the entire damned coastline there's no respite
anywhere."
(10 December 2006)


Aoraki off limits?
Mt Cook (Aoraki) has provided yet another example of the effects of global
warming, with local guides warning that visitors may no longer be able to climb
its famed heights. "We had a very lean winter with very little snow and the
glaciers are not in good shape," says Alpine Recreation director Gottlieb
Braun-Elwert. "Climate warming is a fact. I've watched the glaciers for 30
years and there are some dramatic changes happening in NZ and overseas."
The 3754m peak - NZ's highest - has become increasingly dangerous for climbers
in recent years, due to thinning snow cover and unstable glaciers.
(2 January 2006)


Simple pleasures in spectacular surrounds
Stewart Island is now home to NZ's 14th national park - Rakiura, named after the
anchor stone of Maui's canoe (the South Island). A Toronto Star writer visited
the rugged outpost and was won over by the fresh food (paua fritters, blue cod
and chips), unpronounceable fauna (piwakawaka, ngirungiru and tokoeka) and
spectacularly unspoiled landscape. "Stewart Island is NZ's least farmed,
least logged and least built-up region … [It] has a mere 22 kilometres of road
but 280 kilometres of walking trails, some right in Oban but one of 181
kilometres that can take two weeks to cover."
(11 March 2006)


World's rarest given Kiwi name
A grove of one of the world's rarest trees has been named after NZ plant
conservation scientist David
Given. The Wollemi Pine, believed to be extinct
until re-discovered in Australia's Blue Mountains in 1994, is a close relative
to the NZ Kauri. The grove of five trees - christened the David Given collection
- was auctioned at Sotheby's in October.
(October 2005)


Moa, moa and more moa
New scientific evidence reveals that humans may not be entirely responsible for
the extinction of the moa. According to research undertaken in NZ and the US,
there were 3 to 12 million moa roaming the forests thousands of years before the
arrival of humans, by which time the estimated moa population had dropped to a
mere 159,000. This suggests that moa were already in serious decline due to an
earlier and equally dramatic biological or environmental event. “We were really
surprised because we had been very conservative with all the parameters we
used,” said study Director Neil Gemmell of Canterbury University. “It suggests
that moa were very common indeed.”
(10 November 2004)


Lives on the edge
National Geographic report
details NZ’s world-leading conservation programmes, set up to preserve and
protect our “virtual Noah's Ark of bizarre animals.” NZ is considered a
pioneering force in the establishment of animal sanctuaries, with 198
translocation projects involving 34 bird species to 75 offshore islands taking
place since the 1890s. Success stories such as the black robin, takahe,
saddleback, and kakapo continue to inspire conservation workers in their
painstaking work.
(21 September 2004)


Mother of invention
Age feature charts former
Thompson Twin Alannah Currie’s career trajectory from 80s popstar to the face of
MadGE (Mothers Against Genetic Engineering) - NZ’s most visible opponent of genetically modified crops. Currie is
credited with making the anti-GM movement fashionable, using celebrities, ironic
humour, and eye-catching art-work to bring the issue to media attention. The
government’s recent lifting of a moratorium on GM field trials has done nothing
to stem Currie’s passion for the cause: “If it's down to me, we have to get a
lot more radical than before. We're going to pull crops out and there will be
loads of other people with us. If there's loads of us, how can they arrest all
of us … I can only get a lot worse.” Currie has
left MadGE in the time since the interview. Says Susie Lees of GE-Free NZ in
Food and Environment, "We appreciate everything she has done
and will be sorry to see her go."
(11 January 2004)

Antarctic tribute
A NZ foundation dedicated to the preservation of early Antarctic exploration is
to erect a unique memorial museum to Norwegian explorer Carsten E. Borchgrevink.
The UN-backed Global Resource Information Database (GRID) wants to preserve
Borchgrevink's cabin - which marks the adventurer's first winter stay in
1899-1900 - as a commemoration of "the golden age of polar
exploration."
(27 January 2003)


Environmental oxymoron
NZ's possum epidemic has made unlikely
bed-fellows of environmentalists and fur-trappers. New Scientist looks at
a globally unique situation, where groups such as WWF actively support the
trapping of an animal for its fur and meat as an alternative to ecological
disaster.
(13 December 2002)

Kiwis: our sheep don't stink
The No.8 gene gets Wired for the 21st Century: "With about 45
million sheep and only 5 million people, New Zealanders hear their fair share of
sheep jokes. When it comes to biotechnology and sheep, however, New Zealanders
are laughing all the way to the bank. Because New Zealand doesn't have any major
animal diseases, the country is a great petri dish for animal-related
biotechnology experiments and, given this far-flung country, a competitive
advantage in certain areas of research."
(01 April 2002)

Tuatara: taking it easy?
BBC News features research
undertaken by Victoria University Tuatara Research Group (Professor Charles
Daugherty and student Nicola Nelson) into the habitat of New
Zealand's "living fossil", the tuatara. "They've been around
since the time of the dinosaurs, so they've been through climate change before
and survived, whereas dinosaurs didn't, so they must have some mechanisms for
coping with it." "Yesterday's reptile" also stars in a Guardian
special that asks of the cold-blooded animal that breathes just once an hour:
"How much longer can Sphenodon punctatus sit at the mouth of its burrow,
and watch the aeons go by?"
(27 March 2002)

Royal Chill
NZEdge co-founder and director, Kevin Roberts,
accompanies Britain's Princess Anne to Antarctica to celebrate the centenary of Scott and
Shackleton's discovery expeditions, and to launch the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage
Trust's 10 year project to conserve the historic huts on Ross Island and at
Cape Adane while raising global awareness of the Antarctic environment. New
Zealand has taken a leading role in conservation efforts in the area.
(6 February 2002)

Shining white Antarctic
The environmental state of Antarctica's Ross Sea region is
in pristine condition - "exceptionally so by global standards" -
according to a new report from the New Zealand Antarctic Institute. However the
reports also points out "significant gaps" exist in the knowledge of
the area. "The lack of information we have is about a whole heap of things,
even though people have been working down there for 50 years, " says
environmental manager Emma Waterhouse.
(20 November 2001)

New inventions limits environmental damage
New Zealand, long recognised for its environmental
innovation, makes another advance. Researches at Massey University have found
a unique technique for the quick and safe treatment and removal of hazardous
chemical spills. The portable unit draws effluent into a series of cylinders and
treats it so that it can be discharged into storm or waste water systems.
(October 2001)


Trickster wasp
Newly discovered New Zealand parasitic wasp creates a whole new insect family -
Maamingidae, named after the Maori word for trickster, because it has taken so
long to come to light.
(3 July 2001)

Penguins pegging out
Global warming, along with over-fishing and oil-spills, threatens penguin
populations around the world says University of Otago penguin biologist Lloyd
Davies.
(28 June 2001)


Seeds of learning
New Zealand plant expert Doctor Warwick Harris lectures
in Seattle on the
Christchurch Botanical gardens.
(17 June 2001)


Who's a clever kea then?
The kea outscores gibbons in intelligence tests. "There was definitely
learning going on," says Rachel Johnston who administered the avian IQ
tests.
(18 May 2001)

Pohutukawa brouhaha
"New Zealand Christmas tree" defended by Cape Town fans.
(5 April 2001)

Orchid can-do
Volunteers at the new International Orchid Centre in Florida will
"communicate their enthusiasm for orchids and an attitude of 'Hell, if I
can grow them, you can too'," says American Orchid Society director of
education, Kiwi Andy Easton.
(1 March 2001)

Bad bird
"Even in New Zealand there are sheep farmers that lose stock to wildlife,
namely the Kea, a large native and protected parrot. It may seem incredible, but
it's true."
(28 February 2001)
Natural edge
New Zealand's innovative network of marine reserves are seen as a prototype
for international action to preserve the health of the ocean.
(23 February 2001)
Thar she blows
New Zealand representatives at the International Whaling Commission are keeping
up the pressure for a South Pacific Whale sanctuary.
(8 February 2001)

Private giant
Dozens of giant squid have washed up on New Zealand beaches, but no one has yet
sighted the monster alive.
(17 January 2001)

Kiss off
Don't pick the mistletoe - it's endangered, but you can take a chainsaw to
the holly - a noxious weed.
(22 December 2000)
Tuna tussle
How much is too much? New Zealand, Australia and Japan have brought in independent
scientific experts to settle the row over tuna quotas.
(20 November 2000)


Avian aphrodisiac
There are only 62 Kakapo in the world, and they don't always seem that
interested in making more. DOC scientists, hoping to see some action from the
feather fellows, have concocted a special kind of muesli that mimics rimu fruit,
a traditional kakapo love potion.
(21 October 2000)

Moa simulation: the strange
world of Canterbury ecology
New Zealand has more
small-leaved, tangled shrubs than anywhere else in the world. Some experts think
the plants evolved like this to deter the now-extinct moa from making
them dinner, but Canterbury University ecologist Dave Kelly doesnt agree. Hes
planning to lop the shrubs the night before a big frost, and then watch them die
of the cold to prove moa could get the better of the tangled trees.
(05 September 2000)
God save thee, ancient Mariner!
The mariner soon learnt his lesson, but it doesn't seem to have rubbed off on
today's fishermen, with one of the world's most majestic seabirds threatened
with extinction from long-line fishing, and environmental and habitat pollution.
The wise ANZACS are rallying: "Australia and New Zealand have been in
the forefront of efforts to save the birds."
(10 July 2000)

New Zealand not giving up on South Pacific whale sanctuary
A bid by New Zealand and Australia to establish an ocean
sanctuary to protect
whale breeding grounds failed at the International Whaling Commission Meeting in
Adelaide. Despite securing two-thirds of the vote, they were blocked by the
hard-lobbying Japan and Norway. NZ Minister Sandra Lee, although disappointed,
is determined and says, "the fight has only just begun."
(4 July 2000)

Save our Sea-mammals : Pacific plan for whale sanctuary
New Zealand and Australian governments are set to pressure the International
Whaling Commission into creating a whale sanctuary in the South Pacific,
believing that a plan must be implemented to protect stocks already severely
depleted by whaling.
(13 June 2000)

Edge record: "And a good south wind sprung up behind; The Albatross did
follow"
For a very long time
without a wallow ... "The longevity record is of a giant royal albatross
banded in New Zealand and recovered as a breeding adult 58 years later."
(23 May 2000)
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100% Pure: New Zealand acts to protect its isolated environment
New Zealand's geographical islation has allowed farms, orchads and tree
plantations to remain relatively free of pests and disease that could push up
production costs and reduce market export access - but it's isolation also means
it has had to develop one of the most effective bio-security regimes in the
world.
(9 May 2000)

New Zealand nature on the edge of London
An oasis of calm - in the form of a 105-acre wildlife reserve - has been
developed just seven miles from the bustle of the centre of London. The Wetlands
Center includes a New Zealand white water exhibit, featuring the endangered blue
duck.
(21 May 2000)
 Naturalist, author, rabbit expert dies
Ronald Lockley, 96, naturalist and expert on islands, birds and rabbits who
provided factual data for the imaginative Watership Down,died
this week in New Zealand, where he has lived since 1977.
(26 April 2000)


New Zealand scientists find out more about moa
In an article in Science new evidence
suggests that a huge flightless
bird called the moa was extinct within a few decades after humans' first
arrived at the bird's New Zealand homeland, suggesting that whole species can be wiped
out more quickly than once believed.
(24 March 2000)

The mighty Moa
Preview of Discovery Programme: "Discovery
takes a look at an extraordinary (and extinct) New Zealand bird, the moa. The story of the moa is one of mystery and
imagination. It reads like a good detective story".
(Shown: 15 May 2000)

Crack Kiwi anti-predator experts keep Puffin puffing
Bird-counting volunteer Louise Tickle sees positive
effects of New Zealand wildlife preservation techniques on British seabird
populations.
(16 April 2000)


Rat
Fish
New Zealand has been
exposed as the home to the worlds ugliest fish. "My eyes, oh my eyes..."
(July 1999)

Mum's the word: experience counts
Register for trial and search
Ecologist Elissa Cameron at Massey University has found that older mothers make
better mother's simply because they use their time more efficiently - or at
least mares do. The discovery was made in a study of feral mares and their
foals.
(22 April 2000)


Fishy dispute
The science of salmon conservation is muddy, but, as
New Zealand's introduced salmon show, the
king of fish is an adaptable beast.
(2000)


Doh! Homer the seal goes home
The seal who has been made a New Zealand fishing town his home for more than two
weeks has finally gone back to the sea. But people who own property on the wharf
will be relieved that their belongings are safe from the threat of being
squashed as Homers Odyssey led to more than few squashed cars.
(13 April 2000)

Organic expert export
Organic farmer Evelyn Eng-Lim is introducing the organic lifestyle to Singapore
and hopes to set an example for other farmers to follow, "If other farmers
see that it is commercially viable, then they will be convinced to go organic as
well." For advice she turns to a New Zealand expert in biodymanics
agriculture, Mr Peter Procter.
(16 July 2000)

Edge record: "And a good south wind sprung up behind; The Albatross did
follow"
For a very long time without a wallow ... "The longevity record is of a
giant royal albatross banded in New Zealand and recovered as a breeding adult 58
years later."
(23 May 2000)
"It's a grey whale, I tell ya" NZ whale detectives enforce law
of the sea
Genetic scientists from Auckland University, New Zealand, have discovered
that meat from the gray whale, an internationally protected species, was sold in
Japanese shops in 1999.
They are demanding the Japanese State Fishing
Agency locate where the meat came from.
(13 May 2000)

Delightful Dowderwell's Delphiniums
The Scotsman's gardening writer
Carolyn Spray recommends an esoteric Wanganui website: "If you're as
passionate about delphiniums as I am, you'll love this site ... All about
growing, pests and diseases likely to occur, it also has varieties, trials and
photos of their plants."
(2 July 2000)

"There she goes". Moby Dick move over as hunt for giant squid begins
That 19th Century tale of adventure on the high seas is about to be challenged
by a 21st century adventure beneath them, when Jean-Michel Cousteau dives off
New Zealand's Kaikoura coast in search of the mythical giant squid.
(29 April 2000)

Flower power
Does a pohutukawa in bloom signal a marriage, heat or no Father Christmas?
(24 December 2000)


Kiwi cannibal Hookers
"We were shocked. The male would
come ashore, grab the pup, swim out 50 or 100 metres with it, shake it around,
kill it, and then bite off chunks and limbs and eat them," said Dr Ian
Wilkinson, the biologist leading the study of New Zealand's Hooker sea
lions.
(9 November 2000)
Moa manipulation
Digital manipulation is an example of Stephen Jay
Gould's 'great asymmetry': creation takes much longer than destruction or
consumption. "It takes millions or billions of years for evolution to
produce a species well-adapted to its environment, while it takes just 'a
momentary blow or shot from human hands' to kill the last African blaubok or New
Zealand moa."
(October 2000)


Top of the Pots
New Zealand plants
have a distinctive look to them, and the tree-fern is perhaps one of the most
unusual. Ponga trees are a hot item in the UK. Home Front TV
gardener Diarmuid Gavin highlights them on his show, and trendy tub-gardeners have
followed his tip faithfully.
(10 September 2000)

Tahrget
"Kiwi dardevil" enlisted to clear South African mountain of pesky
tahrs.
(7 February 2001)


Royal bird
"No one who has seen an albatross on the wing is ever likely to forget the
experience," says Prince Charles. New Zealand's Chatham Island albatross is
down to 4000 pairs.
(11 January 2001)


Burn out
Earth hits the nadir of its orbit in summer - the mere 147 million
kilometres between us and the sun mean New Zealanders face "extreme"
ultra-violet levels.
(5 January 2001)


Boar-wheel drive: Kiwi Kune Kune goes skateboarding
Ten month old Purdey, a rare New Zealand Kune Kune pig is amusing the
locals in Warrington by adopting a sty-lish mode of transport.
(5 June 2000)


Ice Station Sirius:
Kiwi constructs camp of civil disobedience for Greenpeace
Henk Haazen, a Dutch-born New Zealander, built the hi-tech camp and coordinated
supplies for the Alaskan Greenpeace protest against oil company Northstar.
Haazen's part in Greenpeace's 'cold-war' recently saw him arrested for holding
up a banner "Global warming starts here" at a Northstar rig off the
Alaskan shore.
(26 May 2000)
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Hatchery to home
In the last eight years, 89 chicks have been returned to the wild by the
Whakatane Kiwi Project, and on a recent holiday to New Zealand, Vancouver-based
freelancer Jennifer Laidlaw joins a crowd of 200 to watch Te Kauhoe, or the
Paddler, make his own trip from box to burrow in the Mokorua Scenic Reserve.
Conservationist with the Whakatane Kiwi Project Kerry Oates pulls back the top
of the box, and carefully lifts out the brown, chicken-sized kiwi. "Come
on, come on," he clucks softly as the kiwi frantically shoves his long beak
into Oates' armpit. "Come on little guy, it's time to see your new
home," Oates says.
(12 December 2009)


South Island sauropods
Proof that dinosaurs did roam the South Island 70 million years ago has been
found with the discovery of 20 footprints across a 10km stretch in northwest
Nelson. The footprints were found by geologist Dr Greg Browne in the remote
Whanganui Inlet, and though he made the discovery a decade ago, it wasn't made
public until now. Browne
said the dinosaur link only emerged after several years of study. "The
structures show evidence that they were formed by something large and heavy that
depressed the sand downward because of the load," he said. The round
markings, up to 60cm across, would have been made in beach sand and preserved by
"wet sticky mud" washed in by the tide. Browne believes the footprints
belonged to sauropods plant-eating dinosaurs which were among the largest
animals to have lived, growing up to six metres in length and weighing several
tones. The latest find will be published in the New Zealand Journal of
Geology & Geophysics in December.
(7 November 2009)


Our feathered friends
"New Zealand's island ecology - from the kauri trees to the kiwi, the
country's emblematic bird — is unique," writes The Independent on
Sunday's Ben Ross. "Twenty years ago, Douglas Adams — the man behind
the comedy science-fiction epic The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy —
arrived with naturalist Mark Carwardine. The writer was intrigued by the
peculiarities of the birdlife. With no cats, dogs, ferrets, or other mammalian
land predators, there was little for the birds to fear, so many lost the use of
their wings. Douglas Adams suffered a fatal heart attack in 2001, aged just 49.
But his affection and concern for New Zealand's strange wildlife is celebrated
in the Last Chance to See television series currently being broadcast on
the UK's BBC2, in which Carwardine and Stephen Fry take up the kakapo's
tale."
(3 October 2009)


Tectonic action
GNS Science geophysicist Dr Grant Caldwell and colleagues have reported that
water deep beneath earthquake zones in New Zealand triggers tremors. Caldwell
and his colleagues were able to determine how water is moving and concentrating
below fault zones in the northern part of the south island, where the Pacific
plate slides underneath the Australian plate. The team used magnetotellurics,
which probes earthquake zones using naturally occurring low frequency
electromagnetic waves generated by solar activity and lightning storms, to
obtain a picture of what was happening down to 100 kilometres below the earth's
surface. Caldwell says scientists believe pressure of water building up beneath
the fault can get so great it can cause it to rupture, leading to an earthquake.
"The addition of water into the base of the fault makes it easier for the
fault to fail," he said. The study is published in the prestigious journal
Nature.
(6 August 2009)


Pekapeka predecessors
New Zealand's endangered lesser short-tailed bat descended from
20-million-year-old Australian relatives, new research has found. Scientists had
long thought that the bat evolved its walking preference independently. Since
the bat's native habitat lacks predators researchers reasoned that — much like
flightless birds on isolated islands — the bat had adapted to its safer
surroundings in part by walking. But the discovery of fossils of a now extinct
walking bat in northwestern Queensland, Australia, suggests otherwise. "We
were amazed to find they were virtually identical to the bats in New Zealand
today," said study leader Sue Hand, a paleontologist at the University of
New South Wales in Sydney. Of the 1100 known present-day bat species, the lesser
short-tailed bat and the American common vampire bat are the only two known to
walk on the ground.
(4 August 2009)


Shaking us all a little closer
The recent Fiordland earthquake (strongest earthquake in 78 years) has left New Zealand and Australia a little
closer — 12 inches to be exact. The magnitude 7.8 quake on July 15 struck the
South Island as the strongest earthquake this year. The quake was strong enough
to push the Western Coast of the South Island about a foot closer to Australia.
"They're just that little bit closer to paradise," said Rob Valentine,
the mayor of Hobart in Australia's island state of Tasmania. "As neighbors,
we're really close, we can work together to take on the rest of the
world."
(27 July 2009)


True colours
The oldest moa feathers yet discovered and their DNA are providing New Zealand
and Australian scientists with clues to the plumage of the giant bird - perhaps
not unlike a giant chicken and speckled in appearance. Scientists from Landcare
Research and Adelaide University identified four different moa species after
gathering ancient DNA from moa feathers believed to be at least 2500 years old.
Adelaide University doctoral researcher Nicolas Rawlence says usually when
artists reconstruct the big bird, they refer to related species, like the
Australian emu, as a model for its plumage. But do moa really look like emus? By
digitally comparing the colour of ancient red-crowned parakeet feathers found
alongside the moa feathers, with living parakeet feathers, the researchers could
determine that the feathers at the site had not faded. Recreated feathers
produced the same speckled plumage as seen in the kiwi.
(1 July 2009)


Pests busted
Orchard worker Don Sullivan and a team of 30 trappers have been awarded the
Forest & Bird annual Pestbuster prize for their work in nabbing 530 pests
over the last year in four forested areas near Nelson. The team's tally for the
year was 234 possums, 204 rats, 69 mice, 14 hedgehogs, 6 stoats and 3 weasels
using 325 traps. Sullivan has also spent time and money building 750 traps, some
of which he has given to other pest control groups. Sullivan realised the need
for pest control when he noticed a decline in birdlife while tramping. As the
areas in which he works have been more intensively trapped, he has seen a rise
in numbers of bellbirds, tomtits, fantails, kakariki and weka. A kaka was heard
recently in Upper Marsden Valley for the first time in 20 years. "We are
trying to get the birdlife back so the children can see them," he says.
"Rats and possums are the main problem."
(14 June 2009)


Safe haven for seals
Kaikoura is the first place in New Zealand, and the second in the world, to be
Green Globe benchmarked, an international benchmarking and certification program
developed for the travel industry in 1992. Kaikoura was eco-conscious before it
became fashionable. In 1997, its council was the first in the country to employ
an environment officer. In 1998, it became the second Zero Waste district in New
Zealand, aiming for zero waste to landfill by 2015. So there's no kerbside
rubbish collection in the town but there is a free weekly recycling pick-up,
which includes kitchen scraps composted using council-supplied Bokashi buckets
and a recycling depot that even processes electrical goods and wood. What set
Kaikoura on this eco-path in the first place, however, was its unique location
and the town's chief drawcard — its marine life. Not only is it flanked by the
rugged Seaward Kaikoura mountain range but there is a deep underwater canyon
less than one kilometre offshore, where plankton-rich water attracts marine
creatures great and small from tiny krill to blue whales. (23 May 2009)


Ratting out the weasels
Stoats, which were first introduced to New Zealand in the 19th century to combat
the spread of the rabbit, have decimated the kiwi population reducing little
spotted kiwi and Rowi or Okarito brown kiwi numbers to 1200 and 300
respectively. Recent surveys by the Department of Conservation found that kiwi
populations are shrinking by 6 per cent a year. Unfortunately, stoats are very
hard to catch. "The animals are so abundant and resilient that trapping has
been abandoned as a control measure," reports The Australian.
Instead, New Zealanders are resorting to breeding programs to protect kiwi.
"Rowi are literally being brought back from the brink of extinction,"
Department of Conservation regional director James Livingstone said.
(16 April 2009)


Coup for longevity
A one-month old tuatara has been discovered at Wellington's
Karori Wildlife Sanctuary Zealandia, the first baby tuatara to be seen on the
mainland in two centuries. "We are all absolutely thrilled with this
discovery," said the sanctuary's conservation manager Raewyn Empson.
"It means we have successfully re-established a breeding population back on
the mainland, which is a massive breakthrough for New Zealand
conservation." Since 2005, 200 tuatara have been released at the Sanctuary
to protect them from predators and give them a wider habitat and protection from
global warming.
(19 March 2009)


Redback revival
Redback spider numbers are rising rapidly on the South Island as the New Zealand
climate becomes warmer and drier. Scientists expect the trend to continue, and
for the redback to spread as an increasingly large swath of the island becomes
inhabitable. "They need decent warm periods in summer and they don't like
high soil moisture," says spider expert Cor Vink. According to Vink, the
spiders would be right at home anywhere in New Zealand where grapes are grown.
Fortunately, no deaths have been reported from redback bites since the
introduction of an anti-venom in 1956.
(24 February 2009)


Killer waves
A New Zealand man spent one recent Saturday surfing alongside three orcas near a
beach on the Taranaki coast, enjoying the perfect waves. Craig Hunter, who has
been surfing off the North Island for more than forty years, was enjoying an
evening along the Stent Road surf break, when he spotted one of the whales
around 6:30. His response? "There was no way I was going in because the
waves were too good," Hunter told the NZPA, adding that he was too old to
be bothered by the prospect of an attack. "It sort of gets you going a
little wee bit. But it's a really cool feeling," said Hunter. The whale
spent about half an hour swimming around the area fishing, a few hundred meters
out to sea. At one point he swam by Hunter before leaving. According to Hunter
they come around a few times in the summer, but not as often as they used to.
Photographer Jane Dove Juneau spotted three whales, while Mr. Hunter said he
must have been "too busy" surfing to notice the others.
(12 January 2009)


Aiding an avian identity
Though the battle to save New Zealand's famous national symbol the kiwi is
"conceded unwinnable on some fronts"; the bird's existence is mounting
with the help of Zealandia, Wellington's Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, which
expects to count about 40 of the birds by the end of 2009. "The squat,
flightless bird appears a bit like a cross between a hamster and an anteater,
with fur-like plumage, a long, quill-like beak and a grumpy demeanour. But don't
let its looks and ungainliness mislead you. This bird is to New Zealanders what
the bald eagle is to Americans," writes the Houston Chronicle.
"When we talk about the kiwi — that's our identity," says
conservation manager at the Sanctuary Raewyn Empson. "When all of a sudden
you're talking about kiwi becoming extinct in our lifetime, it's a bit scary
really." The non-profit trust is trying to restore a square mile of river
valley to its pre-human state. Empson is undaunted by the damage that needs
undoing. "We've got a 500-year vision here," she says. "We're
optimists."
(25 December 2008)


Bush's Pacific monument
Large areas in the Pacific near New Zealand territory have been designated as
American national monuments by outgoing U.S. President George Bush. The areas
include the Mariana Trench and northern Mariana Islands, a chain of remote
islands in the Central Pacific and American Samoa's Rose Atoll, near New
Zealand's Tokelau Islands. A New York Times editorial explains: "Try
this on a globe sometime, or Google Earth: Looking head-on at the planet, spin
it until Hawaii is a little north and east of centre. What you'll see —
besides the barest fringes of America and Asia up there, New Guinea and New
Zealand down there, and lots of island dots - is all blue. This is the vast
stage on which President Bush is trying to salvage his environmental legacy ...
An environmental trophy was lying on the ground, and Mr Bush, with just days
left in his presidency, simply picked it up." "The monuments will
prohibit resource destruction or extraction, waste dumping and commercial
fishing," Bush said.
The White House claims the places are among the last pristine marine areas left
on Earth.
(6 January 2009)


Via the red route
Since its opening in 1995, Karori Wildlife Sanctuary – recently renamed Zealandia – has assisted in halting the continued demise of many native bird species, releasing 15 endangered species back into the wild, including one of the world’s rarest ducks, the brown teal. Covering only one square mile, protected by a unique 8.6km predator-proof fence and comprising a river, two dams and assorted woodland, in 1995 Karori contained only 12 different species of native birds. Numbers were low and the commonest were introduced species such as blackbirds, sparrows, thrushes, chaffinches and starlings. Now there are more than 30 bird and reptile species.
Financial Times reporter Sandy Gall writes: “The success of the project was summed up by a young volunteer, who said the dawn chorus was now so loud that local residents were ringing the radio station to complain.”
(6 December 2008)


Better late than never
For the first time in approximately two hundred years, a tuatara has been
discovered nesting on the New Zealand mainland. The event happened at
Wellington's Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, where four leathery, white eggs were
discovered by staff during routine maintenance work. "The nest was
uncovered by accident and is the first concrete proof we have that our tuatara
are breeding," conservation manager Rouen Epson said. "It suggests
that there may be other nests in the sanctuary we don't know of." Epson
said if all goes well, juvenile tuatara could hatch any time between now and
March. A population of 70 tuatara was established at the Karori Sanctuary in
2005. Another 130 were released in 2007.
(31 October 2008)


Persistence in love
On Maud Island, evolutionary biologists from the University of Toronto have been
studying the mating habits of giant male Cook Strait weta. Not only do males
travel more than twice as far as females but small, long-legged individuals
walked further, acquired more mates, and transferred more spermatophores to
females. Biologist Clint Kelly said the findings are a rare example of sexual
selection favouring traits that promote greater mobility in one sex only.
"This is exciting because it suggests that sexual selection for smaller,
more mobile males could be responsible for some of the impressive sexual
difference in body size in this species," Kelly said. This phenomenon may
also help to explain why males are smaller than females in some other animals.
Male weta can walk over 90 m each night in search of a mate - roughly equivalent
to a 7000 m outing by a human male.
(5 September 2008)


Sea urchin reef concert
Auckland University marine biologists Craig Radford and Andrew Jeffs have
discovered that sea urchins are behind loud noises emanating from underwater
around New Zealand reefs. The 20- to 30-decibel sound is caused by the spiny sea
creatures' teeth scraping on reefs as the hungry starfish relatives feed on
algae and invertebrates. Radford said urchins had long been suspected of
creating the din, but it took a series of experiments to confirm it. "We
put some urchins in a tank and got them feeding on algae, then we recorded them.
The noise they were producing caused spikes at certain frequencies," he
said. Coastal noise of similar frequency and bandwidth has been recorded near
the Bahamas; San Diego, California; and Australia. Chris Tindle, a physicist at
the University of Auckland, said the urchins made more noise on dark nights
around the new moon.
(18 August 2008)


Touting the youth
New Zealand 'the youngest country', is the new focus of Tourism New Zealand's
international branding. Tourism chiefs have called in London PR agency Henry's
House as they revive the country's popularity post-Lord of the Rings.
Tourism New Zealand UK and Europe regional manager Gregg Anderson said: "It
was the last country to be settled by mankind, so they've got a different
approach to the world." However New Zealand continues to be promoted as a
cinematographer's dream with Moviemaker saying: "New Zealand has 13
national parks and reserves protect about one third of its land. These provide
many of the locations for some of the most captivating scenery in recent film
history."
(15 May 2008)


Kiwi hatched in US
Washington DC's Smithsonian
National Zoo has successfully hatched a rare North Island Brown kiwi, their
third since 1975. The Smithsonian is one of only four zoos outside New Zealand
to successfully breed the national bird. Keepers had been incubating the egg for
five weeks, following a month long incubation by the chick's father, carefully
monitoring it for signs of pipping: the process in which the chick starts to
break through the shell. The sex of the chick is still unknown and is difficult
to determine by sight, but with DNA swabs scientists hope to decipher the sex in
coming weeks.
(12 March 2008)


Bridging the gap
On New Zealand's Chatham Islands researchers have discovered the country's
oldest known bird fossils. The find represents four new seabirds dating back
some 65 million years when New Zealand separated from supercontinent, Gondwana.
Excavation leader Jeffrey Stilwell of Monash University in Australia said the
discovery has implications for the origin of modern seabirds. "It's quite
spectacular to have that many birds in one deposit," Stilwell said. "I
don't know of any other site in New Zealand like it." In particular, he is
hoping the new fossils can provide more evidence for land bridges between the
Chatham Islands and mainland New Zealand.
(22 February 2008)


NZ commits to climate change cause
NZ will introduce a carbon trading scheme next year in a bid to cap greenhouse
gas emissions at the lowest possible cost to the economy. Under the plan, every
industry will be allocated an agreed level of greenhouse gas emissions.
Individual businesses can then choose to reduce their emissions to the agreed
levels, or buy "credits" allowing them to pollute at higher levels. NZ
currently emits around 45.5 million metric tons more than its target set by the
UN Kyoto Protocol. "With an emissions trading system, we will get our
emissions on a sustainable downward trend into the future," said Climate
Change Issues Minister David Parker. The plan is expected to shave 0.1 percent
off NZ's gross domestic product growth over five years, boost gasoline prices by
4 cents per litre and raise energy prices by 5 per cent by 2010.
(20 September 2007)


Incredible journey revealed
Massey University ecologists are conducting a groundbreaking study of the
bar-tailed godwit's northern migration. While the 11,000 km southern migration
of the godwit from Alaska to NZ is thought to be the longest non-stop flight by
any bird, not much is known about its northern route. "We are entering a
critical decade for these birds, so the research is timely and crucial,"
said research leader Dr Phil Battley. He points out that mapping the northern
migration is particularly important because the birds touch down in Asia and are
potential carriers of the H5N1 bird-flu virus to the Alaskan region. Massey
researchers will monitor the godwits' journey by satellite-tagging individual
birds, in a joint project with the United States Geological Survey and PRBO
Conservation Science in the US.
(31 March 2007)


Silver lining to climate change cloud
NZ has the potential to adapt to climate
change more effectively than its neighbours, according to the government and
global warming experts. Despite being home to just 0.06 per cent of the world's
population, NZ produces 0.2 per cent of global greenhouse gases - nearly half of
which is from methane expelled by farm animals. However, because its
contribution to climate change comes more from agriculture than the burning of
fossil fuels, it would be cheaper for NZ to "make the transition to a
future that doesn't produce emissions" than for most of the world, says
Climate Change Minister David Parker. NZ is already leading the world in
bio-fuel research, with waste from sewage algae and industrial processes being
developed into fuel for cars and aeroplanes. Dairy Farmers of NZ chairman Frank
Brenmuhl is equally optimistic about NZ's ability to adapt and innovate. He
believes farmers could switch from producing meat and dairy products to growing
tropical fruits such as pineapples and bananas, should temperatures rise
significantly.
(2 February 2007)


Wellington's conservation crusader
Pioneering research by Victoria University conservation biologist Wayne
Linklater could save the endangered black rhino from extinction. Like many
threatened species, the captive black rhino population suffers from a
potentially disastrous gender imbalance. Linklater attributes the extreme
male-biased birth rate (71%) of black rhinos in captivity to high glucose levels
in mothers. "Glucose levels in the pregnant mothers are raised if they are
stressed, fed a sugar-rich diet, and obese," he explains in the NZ Herald.
"This has fatal consequences, particularly for female embryos. It is not
that more male calves are being conceived, but rather that fewer female embryos
survive to be born." Linklater's theory - borne out of his research into
the Kaimanawa wild horses - has far-reaching implications for other endangered
species, including zebras, gorillas and giraffes.
(29 December 2006)


No such thing as waste
A NZ company has stunned international researchers by successfully developing a
fuel which blends petrol with organic waste. The Aquaflow
Bionomic Corporation's breakthrough bio-diesel is made up of 95% petrol and 5%
liquid squeezed from algae grown on human sewage. While the first batch of algae
used came from sewage ponds, the company claims that organic waste from freezing
works and dairy farms is equally effective. NZ energy minister David Parker and
Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons recently drove a 4WD powered by the Aqaflow
bio-diesel through central Wellington and claimed the fuel "performed
admirably."
(28 December 2006)

Environmental No.1
NZ leads the world in environmental performance according to the Pilot
2006 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) released at the World Economic
Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Researchers at Yale and Columbia Universities
measured how close 133 countries came to reaching 16 environmental goals, which
included air quality, biodiversity, sustainable energy, and the provision of
clean water. NZ scored 88%, followed by Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, and the
UK, all of which scored 84% or higher. "In spite of data gaps,
methodological limitations, and serious scientific uncertainties, the
Environmental Performance Index demonstrates that environmental policy results
can be tracked with the same outcome-oriented and performance-based rigor that
applies to poverty reduction, education, health promotion," says Marc Levy
of Columbia University. "The ability to evaluate policy results is critical
in the context of initiatives under the UN Millennium Development Goals to
expand investments in environmental sustainability."
(25 January 2006)


Little snail vs. big business
NZ environmental groups are at war with Solid Energy over the power company's
intention to mine the only known habitat of the endangered brown snail,
Powelliphanta Augustus. The entire snail population, believed to total just
800-1000, is located on a 5-hectare stretch of Happy Valley, on the West Coast
of the South Island. Solid Energy wants to mine $300 to $540 million in
high-grade coal that lies beneath the surface of the habitat. The company has
proposed moving some of the topsoil, along with 100 snails, to a new fenced-off
location. They would then fund an incubation project to breed them. The Forest
and Bird Society, however, remains unimpressed. "Solid Energy's
proposals would effectively kill off all but the 100 snails it wants to
move," says field officer Eugenie Sage. "It is uncertain that these
would survive translocation. This could pose a real risk of extinction."
(30 March 2006)

Leader of the pack
Dunedin based production company,
National History New Zealand,
won two major awards at this year’s Beijing International Science Film Festival.
The World’s Biggest Baddest Bugs and Spider Power took gold and
silver respectively in the Nature and Environment category. “The challenge for
NHNZ has always been to combine good stories and real science with broad appeal
shows for a multi-country audience,” said NHNZ Managing Director Michael Stedman
in Scoop.
“I believe all these elements have all come together in Bugs and
Spider Power. These shows have raised the bar considerably, both in style
and content, in science and nature television.”
(22 November 2004)

Flax attack
After a brief 1960s hey-day, NZ flax (phormium)
has returned as “the drama queen of trendy garden designs” in LA. According to
TV horticulturist Maureen Gilmer, “Phormiums are the most exciting new plants to
enter the American marketplace. They offer a rainbow of colour and exciting form
all year without flowers. This quintessential plant of mid-century modern
freeways is coming round again, this time with a whole new look and feel. Its
size may have been civilized, but the colours have definitely gone wild.”
(12 April 2004)


An ill wind that blows some good?
“Wise environmental husbandry or flatulent political correctness? An ill wind or
a fair wind?” Financial Times takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the
proposed ‘fart tax’ to be levied on NZ dairy and sheep farmers. Methane produced
by NZ livestock amounts to an estimated 55% of the country’s total greenhouse
emissions. The tax would require farmers to pay an average of NZ$300 a year – an
amount which could be avoided entirely by helping to fund global warming
research.
(6 September 2003)


Burning down the house?
NZ's early prosperity was said to
have been borne on the sheep's back - now they're threatening to power us into
the 21st Century:
NZ's Energy Efficiency and
Conservation Authority has hit upon a novel way of powering our nation: the Authority proposes to use 120,000 of the 150,000 tonnes of animal fat
produced by the meat industry a year as bio-diesel. Transport expert Elizabeth
Yeaman claims that tallow is "very clean-burning, far more so than ordinary
diesels," and the fact NZ already has the resource in abundance makes its
use a financially desirable option. Meridien Energy is already looking at using
the environmentally sound fuel to power the machinery needed for its $1.3
billion hydro-electric scheme.
(27 June 2003)


Evolutionary edge
Soil-analysis undertaken in a NZ cave
has uncovered a rich and previously unknown evolutionary heritage. A team of
scientists have found DNA traces of an extinct animal and from plants alive
3,000 years before the first human arrivals. The ancient Gondwanan biota
isolated in NZ represents a unique evolutionary experiment, free to evolve in
isolation from mammalian predators in response to complex geological and
climatic history. Unravelling our amazing DNA is the speciality of
Oxford-based palaeontologist Professor Alan Cooper, described as ‘Wellington's own Indiana Jones’,
who recently returned to NZ to lecture
on our amazing evolutionary past.
(18 April 2003)

The big break-up
"Somewhere east of New Zealand,
where Gondwana's break-up may have started some 130 million years ago, with New
Zealand splitting from Australia, 'the last resources of mankind' could be
awaiting discovery. So say a crew of German researchers, who will spend December
analysing rock formations 4 kilometres under water near the Chatham Islands.
(10 December 2002)

No dodo
New Scientist features the Kakapo's claw-back from the brink of
extinction:
"What's green, nocturnal, looks like an owl, smells sweet and fruity, and
makes strange noises from growls and "skrarks" to metallic
"chings" and deep resonant booms? The answer is the kakapo, New
Zealand's extraordinary giant parrot. Before people reached New Zealand a
thousand years ago, there were millions of kakapo. By 1995, there were only 50
left. But this year the kakapo staged an astonishing comeback."
(1 June 2002)

Kea Car-ha?
Judy Diamond and Alan B. Bond's spent hours at an Arthur's Pass rubbish dump
working out the evolutionary significance of the kea: "Keas are giant
mountain parrots, and they love cars, especially soft-tops. If you leave yours
unattended [...] the keas will take it for a "joyride". They will pull
off the wing mirrors, snap the aerial, let down the tyres, slit the roof, razor
the seats, turn the electrics into spaghetti and then call their friends.
Ornithologists call this play ..." How about the Kea as a national icon -
better a smart, cheeky and ludic parrot eviscerating armchairs than a half-blind
night Turkey with a long beak?! See Turi Park's open letter for debate on NZ
visual culture.
(2002)

Greener than you think
University of Canterbury's Professor Denis Dutton (Arts and Letters Daily) reviews Bjorn Lomborg's controversial new
book, The Skeptical Environmentalist, in the Washington Post: Dutton
concludes that the "richly informative, lucid book" containing
"bad news for Green ideologues" is the most significant work on the
environment since the appearance of its polar opposite, Rachel Carson's Silent
Spring, in 1962.
(21 October 2001)


Origin controversy
Is every living thing on earth descended from a heat loving bacteria - or are
we, as Dr Anthony Poole of Massey University suggests, all really aliens on our
own planet?
(14 July 2001)

Clean as a whistle
New Zealand comes up smelling of roses, second equal behind Finland in the
world anti-corruption rankings.
(1 July 2001)

Carbon up
New Zealand's carbon emissions rose 22% in the 1990's, almost certainly
putting Kyoto targets out of reach.
(27 June 2001)

Rat attack
New Zealand rat predatation expert Mike Bell called in to save the puffins of
Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel.
(26 June 2001)


Young crusader
New Zealander Ruby Haazen, 13, sails the high seas fighting for a cleaner
earth.
(2 April 2001)

Oh lovely olearia
New Zealand olearias feature in celeb-gardner Penelope Hobhouse's top picks.
(1 March 2001)

Elegant astelia
A New Zealand silver astelia adds elegance to Irish garden designer Dominick
Murphy's small garden.
(11 March 2001)


Kiwi burger?
"If you were in a position where every family could eat kiwi for lunch,
then you would have solved the problem, wouldn't you," says John Wamsley,
head of the private Environmental Sanctuaries group. But, "our aim is to
conserve the kiwi in the wild, not to manufacture kiwi conserves," replied
the Department of Conservation.
(12 March 2001)
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Haka and the birds
The origins of New Zealand's Ka Mate haka are traced and birds discovered by the
Telegraph's Sue Attwood who travels to Kapiti Island, the composer Te
Rauparaha's stronghold in the mid-1800s. Hunted by a rival tribe, Te Rauparaha
took refuge in a kumera pit near Tongariro, south of Lake Taupo. A wife of the
local chief, wearing a voluminous cloak, squatted over the pit until his
pursuers had gone. Te Rauparaha then emerged from the pit performing the Ka Mate
haka in celebration of his reprieve. Kapiti Island is New Zealand as it was a
hundred years ago. There are only about 250 of takahe left in the world, but on
Kapiti they graze like contented prehistoric chickens. There are also
saddlebacks, stitchbirds, kaka, kokako, weka: the winding paths to the top of
the island are thick with birds. Te Rauparaha died in 1849 and was buried at
Otaki on the mainland. There's a rumour, though, that his remains were exhumed
and taken across to Kapiti. Attwood asks Kapiti resident John Barrett if he knew
where his grave was but he wouldn't say. "If I told you," Barrett
said, "I'd have to kill you."
(16 November 2009)


Parrot's love affair
Sirocco the kakapo has caused a stir in cyber space after he was captured on
camera mating with the head of a British zoologist. The footage, which has
received more than half a million hits on YouTube, was part of a BBC Two
programme, Last Chance to See, in which Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark
Carwardine travel the world in search of animals on the edge of extinction.
Sirocco was hand reared and as a result is very relaxed with humans. He is used
as an advocate for his species and has most recently been at Auckland Zoo where
people could get up close and personal with him. But zoologist Carwadine got
more personal with Sirocco than expected when he encountered him with Fry.
Sirocco is one of only 124 kakapo in the world.
(8 October 2009)


Icy conundrum
New Zealand is one of the dozen founding members of the Antarctic Treaty, along
with the United States, Russia, Britain and others, and is among those leading
the push for shipping regulation — particularly considering controls on cruise
boats visiting the frozen continent — in order to reduce the growing threat of
human and environmental disasters posed by exploding numbers of tourists. A
proposal for a code to ensure ships plying the world's southernmost seas could
withstand hitting an iceberg and other measures were discussed at a recent
meeting in Wellington of more than 80 experts from signatories to the Antarctic
Treaty, the international accord to oversee the region. Annual tourist numbers
have grown from about 10,000 a decade ago to 45,000 last year. Head of Antarctic
policy at New Zealand's foreign ministry Trevor Hughes said the sinking of the
ice-strengthened Explorer was a wake-up call to Antarctic Treaty nations, and
experts from all key members of the Antarctic Treaty now want a tough new code
for shipping in Antarctica. "Without regulations, we are going to have a
disaster where a lot of lives are lost and where oil spills out into the
environment, and we see penguins being smothered and poisoned by fuel oil in
their rookeries," Hughes told The Associated Press.
(9 December 2009)


Ancient mystery solved
The now extinct giant Haast's eagle ruled the skies over New Zealand 750 years
ago attacking moa from mountain perches and capable of killing small children.
Because of their large size — these eagles weighed up to 18 kg — some
scientists believe they were scavengers rather than predators. But the new study
showed that not only was Haast's eagle a fearsome predator, it also evolved over
a relatively short period of time from a much smaller-bodied ancestor.
Researchers Paul Scofield of the Canterbury Museum and Ken Ashwell of the
University of New South Wales used computerised CT and CAT scans to reconstruct
the size of the brain, eyes, ears and spinal cord of this ancient eagle.
"This work is a great example of how rapidly evolving medical techniques
and equipment can be used to solve ancient mysteries," Ashwell said. The
study was published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
(11 September 2009)


Behind the foliage
Dr Kevin Burns and a team of researchers from Victoria University of Wellington
have discovered that New Zealand trees have evolved a camouflage defense
mechanism to protect themselves from extinct giant birds. "Plants are
attacked by a bewildering array of herbivores and in response they have evolved
a variety of defences to deter predators such as thorns and noxious
chemicals," said Burns. The team studied the leaves of the Araliaceae tree
(P. crassifolius), which is a heteroblastic species native to New Zealand. This
species goes through several strange colour transitions during the process from
germination to maturity and the reason for these changes is now thought to be a
defence strategy from an extinct predator, the moa.
(25 July 2009)


Icy developments
Victoria University glaciologist Dr Andrew Mackintosh has released findings of a
study which shows that southern hemisphere glaciers evolve quite differently to
those in the north. "Don't assume that warming will be uniform over the
earth," Mackintosh says. Mackintosh says the advance and retreat of
glaciers are a good indication of climate change. But, he says, there has been
some concern that studies of glaciers to date have not been representative of
global trends. Mackintosh and colleagues plotted the retreat and advance of
glaciers in New Zealand over the past 11,500 years and compared it to data
gathered from northern hemisphere moraines. He and colleagues found that
overall, northern hemisphere glaciers grew until the end of what is known as the
Little Ice Age in the 1800s, when they began to retreat. By contrast, southern
hemisphere glaciers have on the whole been shrinking throughout the
Holocene.
(1 May 2009)


Moa meals uncovered
University of Otago postgraduate Jamie Wood collects moa dung, or coprolites,
which he finds on tip-offs from hunters who report findings of moa bones. Alan
Cooper of the University of Adelaide, who specialises in ancient DNA and who
co-wrote a paper on documenting the discovery of 1500 samples of moa faeces for
the December issue of the Quaternary Science Review, performed DNA typing
for Woods. "Jim Wood will meander around the outback of New Zealand looking
for rocky areas with overhangs and scoop out the sheep poo and go through the
dirt and very often come across coprolites," Cooper says. "The main
thing is the extent of the poo. Pretty much everywhere we have looked for it, we
have found it." As for the coprolite record in Australia, Cooper says:
"Our leading hypothesis at the moment is that the termites have got it
all." Cooper is eager to use Wood's proven sleuthing abilities to mount a
more systematic search of likely sites in Australia.
(15 April 2009)


Booming population
The kakapo — star of a recent BBC documentary presented by
British actor and raconteur Stephen Fry — is one of the world's most
endangered birds the kakapo, but thanks to the Kakapo Recovery programme, is now
numbering 100. Fry was part of a four-man television crew filming the parrot on
Codfish Island in January as part of series Last Chance to See, which
revisits a book on endangered species written by Hitchhikers Guide to the
Galaxy author, Douglas Adams. "To some extent, the kakapo is one of
evolution's most pitiable errors. On the other hand, there is something in their
solemn loveliness. When I say kakapo are 'evolution's error', it's their complex
mating rituals, inability to flee predators and general [sweet] dumbness," Fry
wrote in his online blog from the island. Kakapo Recovery programme manager
Deidre Vercoe said the trip had been a successful one for the crew, who
witnessed the male kakapo "boom" — a sign the nocturnal parrot was
ready to breed.
(17 March 2009)


Not so drowned continent
Fossils of an 18 million year old ancestor to the tuatara have been found
outside of Saint Bathans, Otago, filling a huge void in the fossil record, and
casting doubt on a widely held theory that New Zealand was once completely
submerged. Geologists think Zealandia, the large submerged continent that New
Zealand is a part of, broke away from the ancient southern supercontinent
Gondwana 80 million years ago, drifted across the Tasman Sea. For many years
there has been fierce debate over whether or not New Zealand went under with the
rest of Zealandia during the migration, and the origin of New Zealand's biota
hinges on the answer. The new fossils support critics of the notion of
submersion, substantially narrowing the window when animals and plants could
have drifted over from Gowanda after New Zealand resurfaced. The tuatara is
indigenous to New Zealand and is the only living member of the Sphenodontia
family, dating back 200 million years. The fossil find also fills a 70 million
year gap in the Sphenodontia fossil record.
(30 January 2009)


Henry's heyday
A 111-year-old tuatara named Henry has successfully sewn his seed after over
fifteen years in solitary confinement. Henry, who lives at the Southland Museum
and Art Gallery, was assumed over the hill and kept alone for many years after
becoming aggressive towards other tuataras. In 2002 a tumor near his genitals
was removed, and Henry's mood drastically improved. Recent playtime with fellow
reptiles has proven remarkably successful, as mate Mildred hatched 11 little
ones last March. "I went off the idea he was good for breeding," said
Lindsay Hazley, the gallery curator, but after the surgery "he was no
longer aggressive." Good news all around, as the endangered tuatara is one
of earth's oldest creatures, dating back 225 million years, having descended
independently from reptiles alongside dinosaurs. With only 50,000 tuataras left,
all in New Zealand, Henry has his work cut out for him. Tuatara's live for up to
250 years, and Henry is expected to spend some quality time with museum-mate
Lucy in April.
(26 January 2009)


Of life and death
Christchurch Press photographer John Kirk-Anderson’s image of a helicopter about to rescue Japanese climber Hideaki Nara, 51, from Mt Aoraki’s Empress Plateau, features in the
SF Gate’s ‘Day in Pictures’. The caption reads: “Joy and sorrow at 12,000 feet: Kiyoshi Nara waits to be plucked from a ledge near the top of New Zealand’s Mount Cook after bad weather trapped the pair for a week. His companion, Kiyoshi Ikenouchi, 49, died only hours before the helicopter arrived.”
(5 December 2008)


An astral heritage
Tekapo’s Graeme Murray — director of Earth & Sky at Mt John Observatory
— is the driving force behind obtaining UNESCO World Heritage Starlight Reserve status for the pristine skies above the Lake Tekapo and Aoraki Mount Cook area. It is the first time any group has attempted this, and Murray says international interest in the idea has been “immense”. After a 2001 warning estimated the observatory would have to close its doors in just 10 years due to light pollution from house and street lighting and the impending development of the tourist town below, Murray’s major goal is to try and keep the sky relatively untouched. Operated by the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Canterbury, the Observatory is internationally recognised as one of the best-situated observatories for viewing the southern night skies. “This area would be the first in the world that is in the sky. It encourages people, and UNESCO, to look up as well as around them,” Murray says. All going to plan, he is hoping for UNESCO support to be officiated by next year, which, coincidentally, is the 2009 International Year of Astronomy.
(24 November 2008)


Green invasion
Though New Zealand has 2,065 plant species which grow nowhere else on the
planet, 22,000 non-native plants have also made the isles their home. Of those,
2,069 have become naturalized: they have spread out across the country on their
own. There are more naturalized invasive plant species in New Zealand than
native species. It sounds like the makings of an ecological disaster: an
epidemic of invasive species that wipes out the delicate native species in its
path. However, the number of documented extinctions of native New Zealand plant
species is a grand total of three. American scientists Dr Dov Sax and Dr Steven
Gaines argue that attitudes about exotic species are too simplistic. While some
invasions are indeed devastating, they often do not set off extinctions. They
can even spur the evolution of new diversity. "I hate the 'exotics are
evil' bit, because it's so unscientific," Dr Sax said.
(8 September 2008)


Between continents
At low tide in June on the Firth of Thames in Auckland, American traveller Eric
Wagner looks for the bar-tailed godwit amongst thousands of waterbirds flocking
to feed on uncovered shellfish. Wagner describes the godwits he spies amongst
the throng: "They were easy to identify: a loose flock of large, slender
birds with long, upswept bills. Their plumage is gray, mottled with brown and
black. They stepped with graceful, deliberate precision, and then thrust their
heads into the mud in pursuit of some worm or clam." When his time in
Auckland comes to an end he returns to Seattle. "Perhaps, our plane would
pass over those flocks as they made their way to New Zealand, two groups
navigating over the featureless space of ocean, flying toward different
homes."
(29 June 2008)


Breathing clean air
New Zealand is a haven for environmental refugees and in this BBC World Service
programme, one of six in the Global Perspective documentary series, four
immigrants discuss their new home. In Escape to New Zealand, dire
planetary predictions influenced one North American couple to move to New
Zealand where global changes could, perhaps, be weathered. The couple, who live
in Wanaka, say they analysed different places on the planet on the basis of
their climate change scenario. "We moved to New Zealand because it had a
clean environment ... with renewable energy sources," the couple said.
"New Zealand could be considered one of the last frontiers where [breathing
fresh air and drinking clean water] was possible in the world."
(2 May 2008)


Hawaiian hunt
New Zealand hunting specialist Prohunt has been hired by The Nature Conservancy
of Hawaii to help stem the destruction of the island's native forest by
marauding wild pigs and goats. Prohunt is conducting research and demonstration
projects on Conservancy preserves and other private lands on Maui, Kauai and
Molokai. TNC decided to work with Prohunt because according to spokesperson
Evelyn Wight, "we do not know of a local company that has all of the tools
needed to run a project of this magnitude." Prohunt was established in 1994
and have also been involved in pest eradication on Great Barrier Island, Lord
Howe Island, in the Galapagos and on Cocos Island in Costa Rica.
(April 2008)

Antarctic oddities
New Zealand scientists were part of a 50-day "voyage of discovery"
through the Ross Sea recently, coming face-to-face with some truly odd
creatures. The marine life encountered during the 2,000-mile voyage included,
jellyfish with 12ft-long tentacles, giant sea snails and starfish the size of
food platters. NIWA scientist Stu Hanchet was also surprised to find fields of
20-inch-tall lilies stretching hundreds of yards. "Some of these big
meadows of sea lilies I don't think anybody has seen before." The survey
was conducted as part of International Polar Year, a global programme aimed at
achieving a better understanding of the land and sea environments of the
Antarctic and Arctic and to monitor the effects of climate change in the
regions.
(22 March 2008)


Power in numbers
The New York Times reports on a multi-organisation effort to save NZ's
national symbol from extinction. Founded in 1994, Operation Nest Egg is a
combined effort by the Department of Conservation's Kiwi Recovery Program,
non-profit group Save the Kiwi, and the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve in
Christchurch. Together they have perfected the process of taking kiwi eggs from
the wild, incubating and hatching them in a predator-free environment, and
returning the birds to their original location once they are large enough to
defend themselves. Operation Nest Egg has already had a profound effect on kiwi
populations. "Because the rates of decline are relatively low at 2 to 5
percent, you don't have to add many birds back into the population to make it
break even," says Save the Kiwi trustee John McLennan. Operation Nest Egg
expects to hatch its one thousandth kiwi chick in early 2008.
(28 December 2007)


Guilt-free fur
NZ possum fur features in a Guardian article on "weird and
wonderful" examples of eco-friendly products. Imported from Australia in
1837, possums have been wreaking havoc on NZ's native flora and fauna ever
since. "We support killing possums," says Eric Pyle, conservation
director of the World Wide Fund for Nature New Zealand. "From a
conservation perspective, they are seen as New Zealand's number-one pest
problem." The Guardian directs its readers to nzpossumproducts.co.nz,
where they can buy possum fur hats, scarves, bed spreads and bikinis
guilt-free.
(20 September 2007)


Monster haul
A NZ fishing crew has caught an adult colossal
squid, one of the world's most aggressive and mysterious predators. The
450kg monster, with eyes the size of dinner plates and razor-sharp hooks on its
tentacles, is the first intact specimen of its kind to be successfully landed.
Previously, fragments of colossal squids have only been found in the stomachs of
sperm whales. "The scientific community will be very interested in this
amazing creature," said Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton in Stuff. The
frozen squid is to be transferred to Wellington's Museum of New Zealand, where
it will be preserved for further analysis.
(24 February 2007)


Drilling for knowledge
Victoria University's Tim Naish is one of a hundred scientists from 40 different
countries working on a map of climate change. The Antarctic Geological Drilling
Program (ANDRILL)
is digging deep below the Ross Ice Shelf to determine how massive ice sheets
responded to past temperature changes. According to those involved, the creation
of a map to show how the Earth may react to higher temperatures is vital.
"We may not understand the future, but we can understand the past,"
says project leader David Harwood of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
(28
December 2006)


Half-way happy
NZ ranks 94th out of 178 countries in the inaugural Happy Planet Index,
produced by independent British "think-and-do tank" the New
Economics Foundation. The Happy Planet Index (HPI) measures human well-being
in relation to ecological efficiency, using the three values of life
satisfaction, life expectancy and ecological footprint. NZ scored 7.4, 79.1 and
5.5 in each respective category, earning a total HPI rating of 41.9. The top
five spots went to Vanuatu, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica and Panama, with NZ
neighbour Western Samoa coming in at number 14. Britain placed 108th, Australia
139th and the US 150th.
(August 2006)


Blast from the past
Ornithologists the world over have been fascinated by recent
confirmed sightings of the NZ Storm Petrel, which was thought to have been
extinct for more than a century. In November 2005 a NZ fisherman took the first
ever photograph of a Storm Petrel in the hand, after the bird landed on his boat
in the Hauraki Gulf. Storm Petrels are thought to be using Little Barrier Island or the nearby
Mokohinau Islands as their breeding ground.
(17 February 2006)

Reaching new lows
A NZ ship has set a new world record for
the southern-most point attained by water. The Spirit of Enderby, a polar
research ship exploring NZ and Australia’s sub-Antarctic islands, reached a
latitude of 78deg 40min and a longitude of 164deg 24min in Antarctica’s Bay of
Whales.
(2 February 2005)


Rann – Global warming “frightening”
Mike Rann, the Auckland University-educated and former
NZBC journalist and now Labor Premier of South Australia, writes in The
Australian that “the world should make no mistake: in 2005, global warming is
a real and present weapon of mass destruction. Its current effects – along
with frightening predictions of its future impact – demand immediate action,
both at home and internationally.”
(9 February 2005)


Poles apart, like minded
The NZ and Austrian governments have
formally agreed to cooperate on the implementation of emission reduction
projects, in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol. “NZ’s pro-active, pro-business
approach to climate change is good news for the economy and the environment,”
said ministerial representative Pete Hodgson. “Participation in the Projects to
Reduce Emissions program and this arrangement [with Austria] are innovative
examples of how businesses can gain a real competitive advantage from tackling
climate change.” The agreement was signed at the 10th meeting of the Conference
to the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in
Buenos Aires.
(20 December 2004)

Tourist hot spot gets edged
NZ’s Marine Tourism Holdings is the
latest company to set up shop at Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef, offering daily
tours to a 45m pontoon based at Knuckle Reef. The pontoon, which houses an
interpretive centre and a waterslide, meets the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
Authority’s strict environmental management plan, and has been developed over a
period of three years.
(27 September 2004)


Edge eco-system
The unique bird-life native to NZ and
its surrounding islands is the subject of major articles in the
Japan and New York
Times. The first, by a Japan-based natural historian, expresses wonder "that
a handful of species have not only made it as visitors, but have set up home
there, establishing longstanding populations," while the latter addresses the
remarkable effort on the part of NZ scientists and citizens to prevent the
extinction of national icons such as the yellow-eyed penguin and kiwi.
(19 February 2004)


One up for Moby
A landmark decision by the
International Whaling Commission in Berlin is being hailed as a step in the
right direction by "what was once a whaler's club." The 'Berlin
Initiative' - proposed by 19 countries including NZ - calls for the creation of
a conservation committee to oversee the protection and preservation of all
marine mammals. Former PM Sir
Geoffrey Palmer was in attendance as NZ's commissioner to the IWC.
(10 June 2003)


Napier goes ga-ga for gingko
Ron Massey, of Napier Council, thinks the city's
onto an export winner after its successful growing of high-grade gingko trees. The
Chinese herb is currently the trendiest pill to pop, supposedly offering
dramatically increased energy and cognitive abilities. Massey: "Ginkgo is
the highest-consumed herb in the world, and the fastest growing in terms of
consumer demand. In China, there is gingko beer, tea and herbal pillows."
(18 April 2003)


Sir Ed on "knocking the bastard off"
Guardian interviews Sir Edmund Hillary in the lead up to the 50th
anniversary of his Mt Everest ascent. "He talks about his experiences with
the bluff modesty of a Boys' Own adventure hero […] Perhaps it is the wisdom
of age, but there is no trace of self-aggrandisement or razzmatazz in Hillary.
He speaks about his achievements with a phlegmatic honesty." The archetypal
old-school pioneer, Hillary leads National
Geographic's extensive issue on Everest. "I think a lot of people
rather like the fact that I haven't just climbed mountains but also built
schools, hospitals, and all the rest of it. So in a way I've given back to the
people all the help they gave me on the mountain." And full
face kings Ed and Tenzing grace Britain's Royal Mail 'Extreme Endeavors'
stamp series.
(13 March 2003)

Leading the field
"Never before has
technology played such a pivotal role in bringing an animal back from the brink,
setting the stage for computer-based rescues of endangered species
elsewhere." SMH feature documents the radical efforts of NZ
scientists and conservationists involved in the kakapo recovery program. The
team leads the world in breeding expertise and innovation.
(28 December 2002)


Tweety 1, Sylvester 0
"[NZ] has built up something of a reputation for bringing endangered birds
back from the brink of extinction," the kakapo being a prime example. Armed
with electric blankets, video monitoring equipment, and over 100 volunteer
nest-minders, NZ conservationists have helped the green parrots to swell their
numbers by 40% in 2002. The kakapo breeding program is housed on two
predator-free islands off the southern coast.
(17 September 2002)


Kaiwhekea Katiki-saurus
A new species of dinosaur has been discovered on a North Otago beach. The 70
million year old fossil is believed to be a type of plesiosaur - a giant,
swimming reptile resembling "a snake threaded through the body of a
turtle." The newly discovered version has been named Kaiwhekea Kaitiki by
Otago University's Ewan Fordyce and Arthur Cruickshank from Leicester
Museum.
(5 June 2002)

Kakapo's getting it on
The world's "rarest,
heaviest, and only nocturnal and flightless" parrot, NZ's native
kakapo, enjoys a record breeding season with 22 chicks hatching on Whenua Hou, a
small island off Stewart Island. Thanks to the bumper brood, kakapo numbers have
risen by a third, from 62 to 84.
(20 March 2002)


Feel like Jonah/Never meaning no harm?
Phil Robinson, helicopter pilot and Greenpeace activist, films rare
Southern Ocean footage of a Japanese vessel harpooning a whale after a 40 minute
chase. "Scientists" responded by targeting Greenpeace inflatables with water
cannons.
(18 December 2001)


Johnson
and the Whale
Mark Johnson is literally leading the way with research into whale behaviour
- part of his work involves attaching digital recorders to 60-foot sperm
whales out in the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists like Johnson are trying to
find out why hundreds of whales have quit the open ocean and are congregating
in an area crowded with ships and oil rigs.
Archived story
(24 September 2001)

Land purchase
1841:1,214 acres of land around Waitemata Harbour purchased from Maori - the
future site of Auckland city.
(29 July 2001)

Schuster, Stoppard, Sauvignon
The 1999 Montana Reserve Sauvignon Blanc ("my homage to Michael
Schuster") is a current favorite of British women's-health guru Dr Miriam
Stoppard. This New Zealand example is 'fresh and rich and slightly oaky with a
really lovely colour.'
(15 July 2001)

Old bones
Cache of moa bones and other fossils found under Canterbury vineyard.
(15 June 2001)


If you can't beat 'em, eat 'em
"We need to take millions of possums out of circulation, not just nibble at
it," said Tauranga farmer Bryan Bassett-Smith promoting Possyum, the possum
meat dog food he hopes will solve New Zealand's marsupial woes.
(7 June 2001)

Virulent varmints
LA Times reporter R.C. Paddock reports on possum war.
Pdf Copy
(25 May 2001)

Whale of a debate
Japan gets sharky over New Zealand's support for a Southern Ocean whale
sanctuary, but South
Pacific nations are right behind the proposal.
(20 April 2001)
Kyoto outcry
Phil Goff, Minister for Foreign Affairs and trade voiced New Zealand's condemnation
of the Bush back-down on Kyoto after a meeting with US Secretary of State Colin
Powell.
(2 April 2001)

Clean fingers
European consumers can't wait to get their hands on sustainably fished New
Zealand hoki fish-fingers, but some groups strongly
dispute the fishery's right to the "sustainable" label.
(14 March 2001)

Edge eden
Cornwall's bio-dome Eden Project houses vegetation from every part of the
planet - including the edge.
(11 March 2001)

Foreign bird
When's a kiwi not a kiwi? When it's really an escaped Australian...
(9 February 2001)

Furry love
Wellington residents disturbed by amorous possums engage in
chemical warfare to keep the peace.
(27 February 2001)

Extreme edge of life
Thermophile archaeons thrive at temperatures hot enough to boil the flesh off
your bones. Layers of extremophile life form flourish in multi-coloured rings
in Rotorua's thermal springs.
(11 January 2001)
Quicksilver Hebe
Plant New Zealand hebe for a "calming, understated and very
grown-up" look.
(28 January 2001)
Coastal Edge
Victoria looks to follow New Zealand's lead on marine reserves, seen as a
"back-up" for species conservation, and a way of replenishing fishing
stocks. Prince Charles supports a similar
idea in the Bay if Biscay.
(16 January 2001)

Nuclear protest
ANZAC protest flotilla to confront
Tasman-bound shipment of nuclear
waste in early 2001.
(12 December 2000)


Wildlife sting
Flora and fauna around the world are competing against introduced animals -
New Zealand's kaka is losing the battle over food sources to wasps, but island sanctuaries
are a success story.
(21 December 2000)


Whale of an appetite
Whales eat up to five times as much fish as humans, therefore protecting
them is absurd, according to Dan Goodman of the Japan Institute of Cetacean
Research, speaking at a whaling conference in New Zealand.
(19 November 2000)

Orca warning
Orca in Wellington Harbour are a treat for onlookers, but authorities warn
water users that the whales "don't eat cucumbers".
(27 November 2000)

One mammal, one moniker
New Zealand is to be included in an Asian flora and fauna database aiming
reduce confusion caused by species with more than one name.
(31 October 2000)

Kiwi trout: once bitten
Studies at the Cawthorn Institute in Nelson have
reveal that trout learn from experience.
Fish that have been caught and returned to the water stay out of sight next
time. The trout are also smart enough to be trained to respond to the calls of a
"fish-herd". Could this spawn a replacement for the archetypal New
Zealand musterer?
(31 August 2000)


The art of selling nothing: cashing in on Kiwi fresh air
New Zealand's tourism campaigns play on the myth of its clean, green image, but
soon the truth may be stranger than fiction. A proposal for clean air producers,
such as New Zealand, to sell "carbon sinks" to pollution producers,
could turn into a profitable business.
(13 July 2000)


Immunising roadkill to protect livestock?
Imagine a countryside filled
with possum traps, not designed to kill, but to entice the pesky pest in for a quick
facial spray to vaccinate them against bovine TB. Hailing some edge thinking the
Guardian writes: "It is not that fanciful. Tests in New Zealand are well
under way to treat possums, blamed for spreading bovine TB in cattle."
(19 July 2000)

New Zealand versus the Mother Country: a titanic struggle
We're obviously not talking rugby, but earthworms. Visitors to the University of
Dundee's Botany Department got to see a titanic struggle of earthly
proportions, with the New Zealand flatworm attacking and overwhelming its
British cousin - the humble earthworm.
(26 June 2000)
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Out damn pests
New Zealand's possum population has halved over the last 20 years down from 70
million in the 1980s to approximately 30 million. Possum control is carried out
over 13 million hectares, which is about half the total area of vegetation in
New Zealand. Landcare Research says it is working. Around Wellington the possum
population has reduced by almost 90 per cent. Possum hunter Stu Bennett says
controlling possums helps reduce the spread of bovine tuberculosis and protects
New Zealand's forests. "It's about $NZ100 (per kg [of possum]) at the
moment. People can make a living off it." Bennett says possums might be
cute, but that does not cut it in New Zealand. "Well, 70 million possums
speaks for itself," he says. "They've made a huge, huge mess to our
forests. But there's also video evidence of them eating our native birds, eating
the eggs. They've really had a huge impact."
(26 November 2009)


Saving fish stocks
Research from an international team of scientists, including Pamela Mace of the
New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries who helped write the study, shows that a
handful of major fisheries across the world have managed to reduce the rate at
which fish are exploited. "Fisheries managers currently presiding over
depleted fish stocks need to become fast followers of the successes revealed in
this paper," Mace said. "We need to move much more rapidly towards
rebuilding individual fish populations, and restoring the ecosystems of which
they are a part, if there is to be any hope for the long-term viability of
fisheries and fishing communities." Agencies in New Zealand and Alaska have
led the world in the fight against overfishing by acting before the situation
became critical, says the study, which is published in the journal Science.
(30 July 2009)


Kakapo comeback
The Kakapo, a flightless, nocturnal, critically threatened New Zealand parrot
that was long thought extinct, has staged a tiny comeback. Scientists are
hailing the arrival of 34 kakapo chicks this year, propelling the total to 125.
Ever since 18 kakapos were rediscovered in the fiord lands of southern New
Zealand in 1973, scientists have made a dedicated effort to revive the
population for going on forty years. So many chicks were born this year that
there wasn't enough of the ripe rimu fruit that composes the majority of the
kakapo diet to go around, and 21 of the chicks are now being hand-reared in the
nearby city of Invercargill. "They'll need a lot of support for a long time
yet," says Mr. Merton, the original discoverer of the kakapo in the 70s,
"but they are on the way."
(15 April 2009)


All fenced in and loving it
The South Island Tieke is making a protected return home after a 100-year
hiatus, as the newest resident of the Orokonui Ecosanctuary. Forty tiekes, also
known as saddlebacks, were released into the predator free sanctuary near
Dunedin, joining a stunning variety of native species, including parakeets,
jeweled geckos, kiwi, and captive-bred kaka, released into the sanctuary last
November. Orokonui is surrounded by a special fence that protects in habitants
from all potential predators. The wiring of the fence is fine enough to stop
even the smallest mice, and a 'top hat' blocks climbers, while a ground skirt
prevents animals from digging underneath.
(16 April 2009)


Critical condition
Three birds have joined ranks of the critically endangered, after an assessment
by a panel of experts analysing data on 428 native birds. The grey duck, the
eastern rock hopper penguin, and the grey-headed mollymawk have all become
nationally critical, along with 21 other bird species that have been on the list
since at least 2005. The news was not all bad, however, with 19 birds improving
their status to the 13 that declined, and a number of birds 'recovering,' as
species like the spotted kiwi, Pycroft's petrel, brown teal, variable
oystercatcher, and North and South Island saddlebacks all now have populations
over 1000 and continue to grow. Overall, according to Dr. Colin Miskelly of the
Conservation Department, of the 428 birds assessed 77 were considered
'threatened' and 93 'at risk.'
(16 April 2009)


Passing through the idyllic
For three weeks over the summer, private gardens throughout New Zealand
opened their gates to a tour group of 28 Arkansas Master Gardeners beginning at
Totara Waters, a 2 acre garden owned by Peter and Jocelyn Coyle who propagate
bromeliads, cycads, ponytail palms and aloes for sale. Next: Ayrlies Garden,
just outside Auckland. Privately owned by Beverly McConnell, who bought it with
her now-deceased husband, Malcolm, this garden started as an open paddock in
1957 and today is a glorious 10 acres with several ponds, waterfalls and art. A
small, capable team of gardeners keeps it immaculate. Our first stop on South
Island was Dunedin and a garden tour of Larnach Castle, the only castle in New
Zealand. Home to the Barker family, who lovingly restored the castle and
grounds, it is now a site for weddings. The party was treated to a tour by
Margaret Barker, who has spent 40 years establishing the gardens. "Our
farewell dinner was in the Curators Cottage of the Christchurch Botanic Gardens,
a fitting end to a fabulous adventure."
(21 March 2009)


High-country star-gazing
Plans for a Starlight Reserve and UNESCO world heritage recognition in the skies
above Tekapo continue with former cabinet minister Margaret Austin meeting a
UNESCO committee in Paris this month to discuss the proposal. Austin said that a
working party is examining it before a world heritage meeting in Seville, Spain,
in July and if approved it would go to the UNESCO general conference in October
for adoption. It would be another year before it became official, but the wait
would be worth it, she said. "Whenever world heritage sites are suggested,
it results in enormous interest worldwide. It gives recognition, status and
publicity." Aware that the Mackenzie region is in a priceless tourist and
scientific position, the local district council has imposed strict lighting
regulations. It has only sodium street lamps shielded from above and decrees
that all household lights must beam down. Floodlights are forbidden and all
outdoor lighting must be switched off between 11pm and sunrise to maximise the
view of the heavens. An observatory, which overlooks the village atop
1,031-metre Mount John, has six telescopes, including the country's biggest,
measuring 1.8 metres across, which is able to observe 50 million stars each
clear night.
(3 February 2009)


Pre-human New Zealand
Paleontology researchers from the University of Adelaide, University of Otago,
and the NZDEC have begun to paint a picture of ancient life on the New Zealand
islands by investigating the feces of the giant extinct moa bird. Some 1500
specimens of ancient feces, some multiple thousands of years old, have been
found all over southern New Zealand, preserved beneath the floors of caves and
rock shelters. The team of researchers has analyzed the samples' (which are
called coprolites) seeds, leaves, and DNA, gaining great insight into this
forgotten world. It turns out that the Giant moa, which was up to 900 pounds and
10 feet tall, grazed primarily on tiny plants under a foot tall, dispelling
previous thoughts of the birds as shrub and tree browsers. "New Zealand
offers a unique chance to reconstruct how a 'megafaunal ecosystem'
functioned," according to Professor Alan Cooper, Director of the Australian
center for Ancient DNA. "You can't do this elsewhere in the world because
the giant species became extinct too long ago, so you don't get such a diverse
record of species and habitats." The findings of the study have been
published in Quaternary Science Reviews.
(13 January 2009)


With loppers at the ready
Conservation Volunteers New Zealand is joined by British gap-year blogger Ruth Holliday who writes about her time spent with the group in the
Telegraph, “doing what is best described as heavy gardening in the back of beyond”, working on the construction and maintenance of Te Araroa national pathway. Also called the “Long Pathway”, Te Araroa is funded by a charitable trust and will eventually run the length of New Zealand from Cape Reinga to Bluff. “The embodiment of Te Araroa is a man named Noel,” writes Holliday, “the project’s construction manager
— a rangy Kiwi standing over six feet tall, 65 years old and still running marathons after a heart bypass. He wears very tiny shorts
— the old-school conservationist look. And he is exactly the kind of person who would choose to trek from one end of New Zealand to the other.”
(25 November 2008)


Islands preserved
New Zealand tourism is as much reliant upon maintaining the highest environment
standards and preserving the Maori concept of kaitiakitanga - guardianship of
the land and the animals - as it is giving visitors a great experience, say
industry leaders. New Zealand Tourism chief executive George Hickton said New
Zealand was aiming to become the world's first carbon-neutral nation, beginning
with offsets through tree planting and working up to the use of technology to
minimise emissions. "Kaitiakitanga guides us to preserve and protect
Aotearoa for generations to come," Hickton said. "I think we can show
how a small country that cares can get it right." Department of
Conservation director-general Al Morrison emphasised the more than eight million
hectares of public conservation land, one-third of the country's area, didn't
just belong to New Zealanders. "Because New Zealand is such an isolated
island nation, its plant and animal life has evolved uniquely," Morrison
said. "We do not believe that it belongs only to us. We think we have a
responsibility to the world to ensure that this place remains for all to enjoy
and benefit from."
(7 September 2008)


Kiwi-pukapuka relocate
Little Spotted Kiwi, the second rarest kiwi species, have been reintroduced onto
Fiordland's Chalky Island for the first time in a century. Sponsors of the
transfer, South Island tour operators Real Journeys, joined iwi and Department
of Conservation staff to move the first of 40 birds from Kapiti Island to the
predator-free island. In 1900 Richard Henry who was caretaker of Resolution
Island - the world's first island sanctuary for birds - predicted: "I think
that the brown kiwi and kakapo will be too strong for the weasels, but the
Little Spotted Kiwis will soon go". With the transfer in August, DOC
biodiversity programme manager Murray Williams said once established on Chalky
Island, the population of kiwi may be used as a source for transfers to other
predator-free islands throughout Fiordland. The kiwi join other reintroduced
species, including Mohua, Saddleback and Orange-fronted Parakeets.
(August 2008)


Investigating a colossus
Te Papa's colossal squid, the largest ever caught, has created a worldwide media
furore making headlines from South Africa and Germany, to Iran and Uruguay. Very
little is known about colossal squid; only about 10 have ever been caught and
brought to shore. This 495kg, 10-meter long female squid was caught in the Ross
Sea last year, defrosted this week and then dissected in a delicate operation
broadcast live on the museum's website. The squid's eyes are the size of soccer
balls and visiting Swedish professor Eric Warrant says they measure about 30cm
across. "These are without doubt the largest eyes that have ever been
studied, and probably among the largest eyes that have existed during the
history of the animal kingdom," Professor Warrant concluded. Once thawed
and examined, the squid will be embalmed and preserved.
(30 April 2008)


Leap for frogkind
Thirteen tiny, and extremely rare, Maud Island froglets have been spotted at
Wellington's Karori Wildlife Sanctuary hitching a ride on the back of a fully
grown male. Researcher Kerri Lukis said the frogs have never before been seen
breeding, even on their home islands of Maud and Motuara in the Malborough
Sounds. "It's wonderful timing for the 2008 International Year of the
Frog," Lukis said. Maud Island frogs are one of four native New Zealand
frogs, and unlike other frogs, they do not croak, live in water or have webbed
feet. They also hatch from an egg as opposed to going through the tadpole
stage.
(3 March 2008)


Godwits fly
Every year, godwits fly from Alaska to New Zealand in an astonishing six days. A
Seattle-based husband and wife team have been following the migratory patterns
of the tiny bird and write about their findings in The Christian Science
Monitor. The couple write that the first people to discover New Zealand owed
much to godwits. "One legend has it that ancestors of the Maori, who were
living on a nearby barrier island at the time, observed the annual southward
passage of what they called the kuaka. They thought, surely all those
birds aren't just circling the earth. Their outriggers, set sail, and found New
Zealand."
(28 February 2008)


World Environment Day in Wellington
Wellington is to host World Environment Day 2008, the UN Environment Program has
announced. The focus of next year's global celebrations will be encouraging
countries, companies and communities to "Kick the habit" and make the
transition to a low carbon economy and lifestyle. "New Zealand is among a
pioneer group of countries committed to accelerating a transition to a low
carbon and carbon-neutral economy," said UN Under-Secretary General Achim
Steiner. "We are therefore delighted to be holding the main WED 2008
celebrations in Wellington and in communities across this South Pacific
nation." World Environment Day was established by the UN General Assembly
in 1972 and is celebrated annually on June 5.
(1 October 2007)


Hong Kong follows NZ's lead
Hong Kong sees NZ as a role model for renewable energy and environmental
technology, according to its government's website. "New Zealand is renowned
for its high environmental standards and its use of new technologies to protect
the environment," said Chief Executive Donald Tsang. "Hong Kong can
learn much from New Zealand's record in this regard and that also translates to
business opportunities for New Zealand companies in our city and elsewhere in
Asia." Tsang was recently in NZ, where he visited a state-of-the-art water
treatment facility in Auckland.
(12 September 2007)


Green choice for NZ motorists
NZ has launched its first commercial biofuel - Gull Force 10. Available
through Gull Petroleum stations, the "green" fuel blends 90 per cent
premium gasoline with 10 per cent bioethanol made from cows' milk. "We are
serious about providing motorists with real choice and leading the way in
reducing greenhouse gas emissions," said PM Helen Clark at the biofuel's
Auckland launch. Gull is a family-owned business with 30 petrol stations in the
North Island. Gull commissioned NZ dairy giant Fonterra to produce bioethanol
for its Gull Force 10 blend in 2004.
(1 August 2007)


NZ scientists solve pigeon puzzle
Scientists at Auckland University have solved the enduring mystery of homing
pigeons. "We are now confident that pigeons ... use the intensity of the
Earth's magnetic field to determine position during homing," said Dr Todd
Dennis, who led the research. Dennis and his team released homing pigeons in an
area of NZ where the Earth's magnetic field is naturally distorted, known as the
Auckland Junction Magnetic Anomaly. They predicted that, if the intensity of the
magnetic field influenced the birds' ability to position themselves, they would
be confused by the anomaly upon release. Proving the team's theory, the birds
flew up to four kilometres in the wrong direction before redirecting themselves
towards their loft. The study has since been published in the Proceedings of the
Royal Society journal.
(14 February 2007)


Let them wear possum
The Independent reports on NZ's thriving (and environmentally kosher) possum fur
trade. "Elsewhere, designers who work with fur earn the wrath of animal
rights activists. But in New Zealand, they are considered national heroes."
Imported from Australia in 1837, the brush-tailed possum population has now
reached approximately 70 million. Attempts to eradicate the pest range from the
aggressive (DoC-sanctioned 1080 drops) to the whimsical (possum fur bikinis).
"I wouldn't work with anything endangered, it would be against my
conscience," says Teresa Angliss of fashion brand Possum
New Zealand. "But this is a national pest, so it's really appealing.
I'm exploiting a commercial demand to help contain an environmental
disaster."
(29 December 2006)


Prime coverage at Chelsea
The 100% NZ Garden won a silver
medal at the gardening world's most prestigious annual event - the Chelsea
Garden Show. The garden was inspired by the West Coast of Auckland, and features
a black sand beach framed by native rainforest, reminiscent of designer Xanthe
White's childhood holidays in the Waitakere Ranges. White documented the
lead up to the show in an online diary for the BBC, which received 1.5 million
hits in its first week. The 100% NZ Garden will soon be featured on BBC1 and
Australia's Better Homes & Gardens, and in magazines Gardens Illustrated
(UK), the Garden Magazine (UK) and Eden (Germany).
(24 May 2006)


Karate vs. Kea
Organisers of a vintage car rally near Mt Cook took an unusual defensive stance
against marauding local kea, which are notorious for damaging cars in alpine
areas. The car club hired 40 karate practitioners to protect the precious
vehicles, insisting that the birds would not be hurt but rather "scared
away."
(4 February 2006)


Up the Nile in 80 days
Two New Zealanders and a Briton have redrawn the map of Africa by following
the Nile River to its true source - something no explorer in history has
managed before. Lake Victoria was generally believed to be the Nile's starting
point but according to Neil McGrigor, Cam McLeay and Garth MacIntyre the real
source is located deep in Rwanda's Nyungwe Forest. This makes the Nile at least
107km longer and far more winding than previously thought. The 'Ascend
the Nile' adventurers covered 6,700km in 80 days, in a mission fraught with
danger. The initial attempt was called off after the team's driver, former
British diplomat Steve Willis, was shot and killed in an attack by Ugandan
rebels. The rest of the team battled tropical disease, hippos, gigantic
crocodiles and raging rapids to complete the journey. "Of all countries,
[Rwanda] has been one of the most incredible," says MacIntyre.
"Wherever you go, [people] appear: from banana plantations, sitting up
trees, alongside us on canoes. And if we can help to put their country on the
map, and to persuade people to come here, and to see what we believe to be the
real source of the Nile … then it'll be a great achievement."
(31 March 2006)


The real Big Bird
Joint research by Oxford (UK) and Canterbury (NZ) Universities has uncovered
startling new facts about NZ’s native Haast’s eagle. With a weight of 10kg,
the Haast’s eagle was 30-40% heavier than the largest living bird of prey
alive today, the Latin American harpy eagle, and is the only eagle ever to have
been top predator in a major terrestrial ecosystem. Most interesting of all, the
Haast’s eagle is descended from a tiny Australian eagle – not the large
Australian wedge-tail, as previously thought – meaning it must have increased
its weight 10 to 15 times in a period of less than a million years, an
unprecedented speed in evolutionary terms.
(5 January 2005)


National treasure in good hands
China Daily features the Kiwi Recovery Programme, a government sponsored
initiative to save the national icon from extinction. “NZ has a history of
making refuges for wildlife ... saying, these things are in trouble, we'll
scatter them around a few islands and we'll have some in reserve,” says
Programme Director Paul Jansen. “I think we've got enough technology and ability
to be able to hold on to a few fragments. None of the species of kiwi will go
extinct - we will not let that happen.”
(22 September 2004)


DOC plays tag
NZ's Department of Conservation plans to
use state-of-the-art satellite tagging in its fight to save the Maui's Dolphin,
whose numbers have plummeted to less than 150. The tags will help researchers
better understand the dolphins' territorial range and feeding habits, allowing
them - if necessary - to extend existing net fishing bans around the country. "Our
efforts to save NZ's rarest dolphin are being hampered by what we don't know
about them," says DOC spokesman Rob McCallum. "With less than 150 ...left, we
need to consider all means available to find out what we need to know to save
this dolphin. We can't afford to wait."
(2 March 2004)

Eco-friendlier fuel
NZ cars may soon be running on a petrol blend containing 10%
ethanol – a by-product of the country’s dairy industry. The move is being
welcomed in both environmental and agricultural sectors, and has already gained
the support of dairy giant, Fonterra, and all five oil companies operating in
NZ.
(5 September 2003)

Rats have rights too
Native rats (kiore) on Little Barrier Island were saved from a scheduled DOC
extermination by local tribe Ngatiwai, who claimed them as taonga. The rats, now
almost extinct on mainland NZ, pose a threat to tuatara and giant weta on the
island sanctuary. DOC has agreed to move the rat colony to another island.
(7 May 2003)

An end to sheep jokes?
NZ's sheep population is at an all-time low, plummeting from 70 million in 1982
to less than 40 million. Cows and fruit - particularly wine grapes - have
gradually replaced the woolly icons as more lucrative farming ventures.
(22 February 2003)


Cleaner greener NZ
The Kyoto Protocol on
greenhouse gas emissions came one step closer to enforcement after its
ratification by the NZ and Canadian governments. Although both countries are
relatively minor industrial polluters their signatures are vital in making up
the numbers necessary for the pact to be put into place. The refusal of the U.S
(the world's worst polluter) to sign the Kyoto pact has considerably held up its
progress, but its imminent ratification by Russia should see it in force next
year.
(11 December 2002)

 Some like It hot Volcano enthusiasts were recently treated to a bonanza 500 kilometres north east
of New Zealand. They discovered three new hydrothermal fields along the Ring of
Fire which marks the boundary between the earth's Australian and Pacific plates.
One vent was discovered by accident after the captain of the research vessel was
mistakenly given swapped coordinates.
(27 May 2002)

Deep sea wonder
NZ scientists catch the biggest octopus
ever found, a four-meter 75 kg giant hauled from 3,000 feet deep waters near
the Chatham Islands. "It's extremely deep, it's extremely large, it's the
first recorded in the South Pacific, it may not even be the species we've
attributed to it at this point in time - I've got a lot more work to do on
it." - marine biologist Steve O'Shea. And Discovery
Channel travels to the depths of the ocean with NZ scientist Stephen O'Shea
to search for the mythic Giant Squid.
(28 March 2002)

Giant icebergs leave penguins
stranded
NZ scientists involved in penguin dynamics research in Antarctica report on the deaths of
hundreds of thousands of baby penguins this summer, caused by the
blocking of food routes by giant icebergs.
(12 February 2002)

Left-handed crows
New Zealand scientist Gavin Hunt describes a new theory of
"how human beings came to be right-handed" by investigating the
"right beakedness" tendencies of crows when "ripping pieces from
leaves". The discovery makes it more likely that handedness has a more
general origin than previously believed".
(12 December 2001).

Adopted lambs for Japan
School children in Amagase, Japan have adopted lambs resident in Dunedin,
Amagase's sister city in New Zealand. The lambs have their own websites for the
children to access and catch up on what's happening with their charges. While
some of the lambs have innocent-sounding names such as Curly (www.curly.co.nz)
and Bunter (www.bunter.co.nz), others are named Luncheon (www.luncheon.co.nz)
and Lambchop (www.lambchop.co.nz).
(29 October 2001)

Famous NZ plants
The Times explores the unlikely problem of growing tea trees like they
do down in New Zealand.
(12 September 2001)

Honey sweet
New Zealand Manuka honey cures what ails you.
(22 July 2001)

Rat hunt
Department of Conservation launches "the largest rodent eradication project
the world has ever seen," to clear Campbell Island of rats, making it safe
for flightless teal and a rare species of wading bird threatening by the
predators.
Pdf Copy
(25 July 2001)
Easy-over or Sunnyside up?
Which ever way you flip it, global warming will affect every part of New Zealand
- but perhaps we'll among the lucky ones?
(10 July 2001)

Lucky pig
New Zealand Kune Kune pig Grunty, former star of British programme Pig at the
Ritz, currently resident at a farm in Wellington, southwest England, saved
from slaughter after being declared free of foot and mouth.
(21 June 2001)


Five dollar bird
Hohio (yellow-eyed penguins, literally noise-shouters) catch the attention
of an international money man.
(20 May 2001)


World Music
The BBC's Radio4 celebrates International Dawn chorus Day by listening to the
world wake up via some aural ornithology; singing the sun up is the enchanting
"Nightingale of New Zealand" - the Tui
(29 April 2001)

Flaxen splendor
New Zealand flax gives British gardens a spiky edge.
(31 March 2001)

Do they have sheep there?
Scotland's national collection of New Zealand Olearia attract visitors to
Inverewe Gardens on the shores of Lake Ewe.
(31 March 2001)


Clever kea
The inhospitable alpine environment has caused the kea to develop "a very
human-like curiosity and flexibility".
(29 March 2001)


Soil happy
Gardening makes you happy says Judith Kidd of Massey University.
(17 January 2001)


Demon cricket
New Zealand giant wetas - also known as "demon crickets" - are among the
most exotic animals at London Zoo.
(3 January 2001)


Born free
New Zealand organisation has succeeded in
liberating Sonny the chimp, a former performer with Ridgeways Circus. He has
been reunited with his brother Buddy in Zambia.
(3 January 2001)


Muse behind Watership Down dies happy talking to rabbits in New
Zealand
Ronald Lockley, internationally renowned naturalist, died in
New Zealand on April 12, aged 96. The Economist obituary dryly
notes that "New Zealanders liked Ronald Lockley, admired his reputation as
a protector of nature, and would never laugh at him just because he talked to
whales.
(29 April 2000)

Ozone in Godzone
Having suffered under the hole, New Zealand should be among the first places
to feel the benefit of ozone regeneration.
(6 December 2000)


Maine marine
The US Conservation Law Foundation calls for marine sanctuaries, citing New Zealand's flexible marine conservation
scheme.
(20 November 2000)

Soft-soaping protector
Waiuku orchardist Chris Henry has created the world's first organically
acceptable soft-soap fungicide. The product, branded as Protector, is
"just what environment conscious growers and customers have been
demanding".
(21 September 2000)

Dog eat cat world
Felines are unwelcome at Macquarie Island. New Zealand cat-hounds are cleaning
them up.
(7 November 2000)

Flax: a protective Edge
The Sunday Times garden columnist, Dan Pearson, gets all excited about Phorium tenax: New
Zealand flax, or Harakeke. Hes found its adaptation to New Zealands harsh
coasts makes it the perfect windbreak for a seaside garden in Devon.
(27 August 2000)

Just add soap and hey presto: 20m geyser!
In the notes and queries section of the Guardian a reader enquires about
the practice of putting soap down geyser spouts to stimulate eruption. Leo Pyle
elaborates on the science of the practice by referring to Rotorua's famous Lady
Knox Geyser. Rest assured that the soap used is organic and biodegradable.
(3 August 2000)

Japan harpoons ANZAC conservation efforts
Japan has gestured towards restarting 'scientific' whale-killing, despite
stern objection form New Zealand and Australia and environmental groups. New
Zealand IWC Commissioner Jim McLay, who is seen as a key anti-whaling speaker
inside the commission, said the Japanese proposal "deliberately and in a
quite calculated manner, raises the whaling debate to a new and unnecessary
level".
(6 July 2000)

Kiwi whispering on Stewart Island
The New York Times experiences the thrill of the chase in Kiwi
country. "I realised I had been holding my breath, so I exhaled. The
whole experience had lasted less than five minutes, but it had made the
whole trip worthwhile. "I'm so happy we saw his little face!"
Kiwi Wilderness Walks takes Ryan J. Donmoyer on a long hike to the lair of
an elusive bird.
(18 June 2000)


Hard work stars to pay off for Kiwi organic pioneers
At first farmers were concerned labelling
certain products 'organic' would
tarnish others as inferior, but many are beginning to see that increasing
demand from consumers, home and abroad cannot be ignored, as New Zealand
pioneers like Angela Aitchison are discovering.
(3 May 2000)
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