New Zealand Bird of the Year
The Kererū – “a native green and bronze wood pigeon with a taste for fermented fruit has been named the 2019 bird of the year in New Zealand” in a poll organised by Forest…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Fiordland Penguins Make Mammoth Migrations
Every December, the Fiordland crested penguins, Eudyptes pachyrhynchus, which live on the South Island, disappear, Jason Daley reports for the Smithsonian journal. A new satellite study shows the penguins migrate up to 7000km to…
Time May Be Running Out for Tāne Mahuta
New Zealand’s oldest and most sacred tree, Tāne Mahuta (Lord of the Forest), stands 60m from death, as a fungal disease known as kauri dieback spreads unabated across the country. Despite stringent efforts by…
Sign Up to Help Protect Our Iconic Bird
Kiwis for kiwi is a national charity working with community and Māori-led conservation projects to put a stop to the horrific decline of our national icon. With the support of Old Mout Cider, they have…
Frolicking Right Whale Charms Wellingtonians
A huge southern right whale frolicking in Wellington harbour brought the capital’s waterfront to a standstill last week as locals skipped work to catch a glimpse of the animal. Southern right whales used to be…
NZ Most Perilous Place for Seabirds
“Seabirds are more at risk of dying due to plastic in New Zealand than anywhere else in the world, new research presented to parliament has shown.” Eleanor Ainge Roy reports for
Towards Making Auckland Island Predator-Free
At Forest and Bird’s 2018 Conference, New Zealand Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage announced funding for the first step in the country’s “most ambitious island pest eradication”. Sage has committed $2 million over the next three…
Roadside Gyms Keep Kea Busy
To try to keep New Zealand’s Mountain Parrots “out of harm’s way, conservationists have developed roadside kea gyms which is equipped with ladders, spinning flotation devices, swings and climbing frames,” as reported in an…
Saving New Zealand’s Prehistoric Giant Wētā
New Zealand is rich in wildlife and, because of its isolation, there are hundreds of plants and animals that evolved here that cannot be found anywhere else. The country’s giant wētā (wētā punga) managed…
Bird’s Eye View of New Zealand’s Changing Glaciers
Every March, glacier “watchers” take to the skies to photograph snow and ice clinging to high peaks along the length of New Zealand’s Southern Alps. Researchers Andrew Lorrey, Andrew Mackintosh and Brian Anderson write…
New Zealand Rallies to Save its Iconic Bird
There are 68,000 kiwi left in New Zealand, and they are declining at the rate of 2 per cent per year. A century ago, there were millions. Outside the predator-free zones, kiwi chicks and…
Dubai Safari’s Timothy Husband Recovers Exotic Pets
It has been a busy first six months for Dubai Safari under the stewardship of its technical director, New Zealander Timothy Husband, Nick Webster reports for The National. Too big for owners to manage…
Genetically Distinct Blue Whales Discovered in NZ
A new population of at least 700 blue whales has been found living between the North and South Islands. The gigantic marine mammals are genetically distinct from whales found in the neighbouring Pacific and…
Spectacular Sinkhole Opens Up In New Zealand
“A spectacular sinkhole the length of two football fields and the depth of a six-story building has opened up on a New Zealand farm” near the North Island town of Rotorua, writes Guy Birchall in…
See the World’s Smallest Penguins in Oamaru
Life can be tough when you’re a blue penguin. For starters, you are no taller than a house cat and weigh less than a kilogram. That means many other creatures – rats, ferrets and…
Prehistoric Toothless Whale Among Oldest of Its Kind
A fossil found in South Canterbury is now one of the earliest members of the filter-feeding family of behemoths known as baleen whales. Modern baleen whales include many of the world’s largest cetaceans, such…
Sperm Race Helping Save Sugar-Lapping Hihi
“It’s likely you’ve never heard of a hihi, let alone seen one in the wild. Also known as stitchbirds, these colourful little critters are a true taonga. They’re only found in New Zealand, and…
Glowworms Are Stars of the New Zealand Night
“If you want to experience a starry night in New Zealand even when it’s cloudy, there’s an option. When foul weather hides the Southern Cross and the Magellanic Clouds of the southern skies, you…
How Bisexual Goose Thomas Became an Icon
A memorial was recently held for Thomas the goose, a “New Zealander who spent most of his life as a loving partner, caring father and an icon of the LGBT community”, Yvette Tan writes in a…
Frisky Spokesbird Sirocco Comes out of Hiding
Sirocco, New Zealand’s superstar kakapo, is alive and well in Fiordland, according to the Department of Conservation. The conservation ‘spokesbird’ shot to fame after he got a bit too friendly…
World’s Loneliest Bird Nigel Dies on Mana Island
Nigel, a handsome gannet who lived on a desolate island off the coast of New Zealand, died suddenly last week. Wherever his soul has landed, the singles scene surely cannot be worse, Karin Brulliard…
Extinct Giant Burrowing Bat Fossil Found in NZ
The fossils of a massive bat have been discovered near the historic mining town of St Bathans in Central Otago. The 16- to 19-million-year-old bat’s body mass was just 40g, but its teeth and…
Struggling Kiwis Get A Little Help From Friends
“The Farm Cape Kidnappers, a luxury resort in the North Island, sits inside one of the largest wildlife sanctuaries in the country, the privately-owned Cape Sanctuary. There, efforts are underway to save the native…
Experts Develop Roadside Gym for Endangered Kea
Conservationists want to stop New Zealand’s kea – dubbed the world’s smartest parrot – from wandering onto roads and begging humans for food, so they have designed a special gym for the country’s playful…
Largest Underwater Eruption Discovered off NZ
Researchers have found that the world’s largest deep ocean volcanic eruption happened 1000km north east of New Zealand. Named as Havre, the deep ocean volcanic eruption was first discovered in 2002. A solidified volcanic rock…
Adorable Penguin Melts Hearts in Bluff
Footage of a Fiordland crested penguin in Bluff waddling up to his awaiting human friend Rodney Clark has delighted the internet and amused many New Zealand locals. The video shows Bluff local Clark standing on the…
Human-Sized Penguin Remains Found on Hampden Beach
Remnants of a 1.77-metre-tall penguin who walked on earth 55m to 60m years ago have been found south of Christchurch on what is now Hampden Beach. Measurements of the partial skeleton show that the flightless…
New Zealand’s War on Rats Could Change the World
Before they were brought to New Zealand in the 13th century, the only land mammals in the country were bats and local birds could roam free. Today much of New Zealand, “has been so…
Trump Forest Countering Ignorant Climate Policy
Founded in New Zealand in March 2017 by British climate scientist Dr Dan Price, American PhD candidate Jeff Willis and French-New Zealander Adrien Taylor (pictured right), the Trump Forest movement has now gone global,…
NZ’s Winter Shorter by a Month over 100 Years
Studies by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) show that winter has contracted equally at its beginning and end. Winter has gotten shorter by a month over the last 100 years,…
Compassionate Conservation a Better Alternative
“It’s a well-known fact that New Zealand is at war with much of its wildlife. Of course, not all New Zealanders agree with this onslaught, the goal of which is to remove all non-native…
Kea Soars to Bird of the Year Victory
The kea, the world’s only alpine parrot, has been crowned New Zealand Bird of the Year, beating the kereru and the kakapo with thousands more votes cast for the species than there are surviving…
Teen Plans to Open Elephant Sanctuary in Thailand
Jack Lanting, from Hamilton, was eight years old when he fell in love with Lily, a rescue elephant he met at the Elephant Nature Park in Northern Thailand while on a trip with his…
New Zealand Wasp Named After Harry Potter Villain
Auckland University entomologist and Harry Potter fan Tom Saunders has named a parasitoid wasp after “redeemed” character Lucius Malfoy in the hope of showing not all wasps are bad. Saunders named and described the wasp…
Drilling Reveals Secrets of Sunken Lost Continent
The mostly submerged South Pacific landmass Zealandia may have been closer to land level than once thought, providing pathways for animals and plants to cross continents from 80 million years ago, an expedition has…
How to Raise the Rarest Kiwi
“When I first see the kiwi chick, I briefly wonder if I’m actually looking at a real animal. It’s a grapefruit-sized sphere of fluff with an adorably short version of an adult’s long beak,”…
New Zealand’s Iconic Kiwi May Be Losing Its Sight
The flightless nocturnal kiwi may be evolving to lose its eyesight altogether, suggest researchers. The blindness was discovered during a study of 160 Okarito brown kiwis (Apteryx rowi) in the South Island’s Okarito forest….
Quest to Rediscover Lost Pink and White Terraces
Roughly the size of a city block and up to eight stories high, the Pink and White Terraces were one of the top tourist attractions in New Zealand during the 19th century, Atlas Obscura…
You Never Saw a Dolphin That Looked so Cute
During the summer of 1955-56, the Northland township of Opononi attracted thousands of visitors from across the country. They came because they wanted to catch a glimpse of a visitor who’d appeared on the…
Timothy Husband Helping Animals at Dubai Safari
New Zealander Timothy Husband should have been enjoying retirement at his cattle farm near the Blue Mountains of Australia, but he couldn’t resist the lure of helping captive wild animals at Dubai’s new safari…
Brown Kiwi Hatches at Zoo in Virginia
A little brown kiwi chick has hatched at The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Virginia, United States. Zoo staff had been monitoring the egg closely the previous week after signs it would…
Forest Trump Plant Trees in Opposition to Policies
New Zealand-based green group, Forest Trump, is mounting an effort to protest President Trump’s environmental policies by planting trees. The group was founded in March by British climate scientist and glaciologist Dan Price, American Ph.D….
Queenstown One of the Best Places to See Southern Lights
The southern lights or aurora australis are the southern cousin to the aurora borealis and can best be seen from the most southern of landmasses, such as Tasmania, New Zealand and Antarctica, writes Jennifer…
Pohutukawa May Have Roots in Australia
The pohutukawa, a species of myrtle that erupts with fiery crimson flowers during warm weather, is one of New Zealand’s most iconic trees. The tree also has sacred significance to the indigenous Maori culture….
Seal and Octopus Fight Caught on Camera
Tourist guide Connor Staple was kayaking close to Kaikoura last week when he captured dramatic footage of a seal battering an octopus, Adam Boult reports for the Telegraph. The New Zealand fur seal spent about…
We Need to Appreciate Undervalued Non-Native Birds
In an opinion piece for Australian research news publication The Conversation, Lincoln University professor of ecology Stephen Wratten considers the place of non-native birds in New Zealand’s ecosystem. “New Zealand has an audacious plan to…
Our Yellow-Eyed Penguins in Trouble
According to a new study, New Zealand’s iconic yellow-eyed penguin (hoiho) may be locally extinct by 2043, Kendra Pierre-Louis writes for Popular Science. The study, published in the journal PeerJ, reports…
New Zealand’s Ambitious Plan to Save Birds
New Zealand has set itself an environmental goal so ambitious it’s been compared to putting a man on the moon: ridding the entire nation of every last rat, possum and stoat, The Telegraph reports. The…
Kea’s Laughter Positively Contagious
New Zealand’s alpine parrot the kea has become the first non-mammal to show signs of contagious “laughter,” according to a study published in the journal Current Biology. Kea aren’t quite cracking each other…
Data Shows How Powerful Quake Shifted Parts of NZ
New data, including satellite radar imagery, shows that parts of the South Island moved 5m closer to the North Island during last November’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake. Information has come from observations on the ground and…
Lost British Birdsong Discovered in NZ Birds
By comparing recordings of yellowhammer accents in New Zealand and the UK, scientists have discovered how the birds’ song might have sounded in Britain 150 years ago. The study, published in Ecography, examined…
Hockstetter’s Frogs Jump for Joy in New Sanctuary
New Zealand has declared the natural habitat of the very rare Hochstetter’s frog to be a conservation sanctuary, giving the tiny creature a chance to recover its numbers in a 400ha area of land…
NZ Takes the Fight to Pint-Size Predators
A leader in eradication campaigns, New Zealand is launching its most ambitious effort to wipe out the 30 million possums killing our native birds. The Wall Street Journal reports on the progress of the…
Ferret Smell Could Help Protect Native Birds
Landcare Researchers say that the stench of ferrets could be a useful tool to protect the country’s birds, as the smell helps to attract non-native predators. An experiment at a farm in northern Hawke’s Bay…
2016 To Be New Zealand’s Hottest Year On Record
“New Zealand is emitting more than seven times our fair share of greenhouse gases per person,” says Green Party co-leader James Shaw in response to a First Post report that 2016 will…
New Zealand, the Kardashians, and the Battle to Control Manuka Honey
“Kourtney Kardashian hawks its health benefits. Counterfeiters and chemists labor to unlock its molecular secrets. And now it’s at the center of an international branding war,” writes Ellen Airhart in an article for
