Tag Archives: BBC

Hockstetter’s Frogs Jump for Joy in New Sanctuary

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…

Ferret Smell Could Help Protect Native Birds

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…

NZ Model Set Up Luxury Travel Firm After Dare

NZ Model Set Up Luxury Travel Firm After Dare

“It’s often said that the inspiration for starting a business can come from anywhere. For Stephanie Chai it was a dare,” writes Sarah Porter for the BBC. The NZ-born model and former TV…

Masking Tape Saves Endangered Kiwi

Masking Tape Saves Endangered Kiwi

“Using nothing but tape, a fragment of shell and MacGyver-like ingenuity, nature park worker Claire Travers patched up a badly damaged egg sufficiently for the baby kiwi to survive,” as reported in an article…

New Zealand’s Plan to Save The Kiwi

New Zealand’s Plan to Save The Kiwi

“Some 100,000 wild kiwi could be roaming New Zealand in less than 15 years, according to a new government plan,” reports the BBC. “The Kiwi Recovery Plan 2017-2027 by the Department…

New Zealand’s ‘ATM for Mood Deposits’

New Zealand’s ‘ATM for Mood Deposits’

A cash machine-like terminal that asks people about their feelings instead of dispensing money has been installed in New Zealand city Whangarei as part of an art project called Moodbank, as reported in an…

NZ Kakapo’s Successful Breeding Season

NZ Kakapo’s Successful Breeding Season

The critically endangered kakapo – one of the world’s rarest birds – “saw its numbers boom by 28%” with 34 new chicks this year. That brings its population up to 157, as reported in…

Wimbledon’s Anthony Wilding a Superstar of his Day

Wimbledon’s Anthony Wilding a Superstar of his Day

Long before the PR driven age of image rights and social media, before Borg, Laver and even Perry, Wimbledon had its own matinee idol – New Zealand-born Anthony Wilding. Yet despite him being a…

Awaroa Beach Bought by Crowdfunding given to Public

Awaroa Beach Bought by Crowdfunding given to Public

The pristine Awaroa Beach in the Abel Tasman National Park bought through a crowdfunding campaign for almost $2.3 million has been handed to its new owners – the public, becoming part of the Department…

Bagpipes the Penguin Gets 3D Printed Foot

Bagpipes the Penguin Gets 3D Printed Foot

Bagpipes the Little Blue penguin, who had his left leg amputated in 2007 after it got stuck in a fishing line, has received a custom-made 3D printed foot. Having wriggled his way around his home…

Maori Emotiki Join Emoji Crowd

Maori Emotiki Join Emoji Crowd

People wanting to text in a Maori “accent” will be able to do so in July with the release of a special set of distinctive green emoji in New Zealand, called “emotiki”. Along with more…

South Canterbury Contractors Unearth Moa Bones

South Canterbury Contractors Unearth Moa Bones

Contractors at a site in South Canterbury have made an unexpected find while digging a trench – dozens of bones belonging to the long-extinct moa. Workers spotted the bones during excavations in an area which…

New Zealand Sky-High Trapeze Act in World Record Bid

New Zealand Sky-High Trapeze Act in World Record Bid

Anna Cochrane, a New Zealand paramedic, has performed a static trapeze act while suspended on a hot air balloon at an altitude of more than 3,000m, in a bid to break the world record,…

Kakapo Genome Sequencing a Whole Lot of Help

Kakapo Genome Sequencing a Whole Lot of Help

A group of kakapo will have their genomes sequenced in the hope it will improve the birds’ genetic diversity. There are only 125 kakapo left and every one of them will have their genetic…

New Zealand Top Women’s World Rankings

New Zealand Top Women’s World Rankings

New Zealand’s Black Ferns have been ranked #1 on the first rankings for women’s Test rugby. “It’s a positive step for one of the fastest growing team sports in the world, as it brings parity…

Measuring the Anzacs for Online Database

Measuring the Anzacs for Online Database

Researchers at Waikato University are calling on the public to help create an online database of all the New Zealanders who served during World War One for a project called Measuring the Anzacs. Volunteers are…

Peter Jackson: My favorite Doctor Who Episode

Peter Jackson: My favorite Doctor Who Episode

For Doctor Who’s 50th Anniversary, watch as Lord Of The Rings & The Hobbit director Peter Jackson wishes Doctor Who a very Happy 50th Anniversary and talks about his…

Henry Hargreaves Lets the Air out of the Chip Bag

Henry Hargreaves Lets the Air out of the Chip Bag

New Zealand-born artist Henry Hargreaves was so frustrated with the problem of empty space in a packet of chips that he decided to size up some of the worst offenders, calculating the difference between…

All Blacks Edge Boks for Finals Showdown with Australia

All Blacks Edge Boks for Finals Showdown with Australia

The New Zealand All Blacks have beaten South Africa’s Springboks 20-18 in the Rugby World Cup semi-final in England on Saturday. “In an atmosphere thick with tension at Twickenham, the All Blacks clung to their…

Murchison’s Never-Ending Fire

Murchison’s Never-Ending Fire

A seemingly typical clear and swift South Island river, the Blackwater has one unmistakable trait: the water carries a whiff of kerosene. It’s faint, but it was enough to give the Blackwater its name,…

Hello Sailor Frontman Graham Brazier

Hello Sailor Frontman Graham Brazier

Dave Dobbyn is one of a number of local artists who have paid tribute to Hello Sailor frontman Graham Brazier (pictured centre), who has died in Auckland aged 63. Dobbyn described Brazier as the consummate…

Finnian Galbraith’s Hit Te Reo Pronunciation Video

Finnian Galbraith’s Hit Te Reo Pronunciation Video

Raumati College pupil Finnian Galbraith’s YouTube video complaining about poor pronunciation of Maori words has proved a hit online, with more than 160,386 views. Galbraith, 15, says in his YouTube video that many people in…

South Island Skies Illuminated by Aurora Australis

South Island Skies Illuminated by Aurora Australis

Local photographers Stephen Voss and Blair Pattinson braved freezing temperatures in the South Island to capture images of the Aurora Australis, a natural light display in the sky. A solar storm meant that the Aurora…

Auckland May Well Be the World’s Edgiest City

Auckland May Well Be the World’s Edgiest City

Innovation happens on the edge and “you cannot get more on the edge than New Zealand,” according to the CEO of Auckland’s economic development group Brett O’Riley. Auckland may be New Zealand’s biggest city but…

Wellington Acting like a City but Loving like a Village

Wellington Acting like a City but Loving like a Village

Wellington, which celebrates its 150th year as New Zealand’s capital, has a funky, creative vibe, which comes in part from a strong community feel. These characteristics make it one of the BBC’s 2015 “Hottest…

Stars Dazzle At The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies World Premiere

Stars Dazzle At The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies World Premiere

Oscar Winning New Zealand director Sir Peter Jackson and his stars arrived on a green carpet for the world premiere of his latest film The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. The premiere was…

Valerie Adams is World Athlete of the Year

Valerie Adams is World Athlete of the Year

Shot putter Valerie Adams, unbeaten since August 2010, has been named female World Athlete of the Year for 2014, the first New Zealander to win the award. Two-time Olympic champion Adams, who this season enjoyed…

New Zealand to Rural Iceland – Extreme Commute

New Zealand to Rural Iceland – Extreme Commute

Every year, several dozen butchers make a lengthy commute – from provincial New Zealand to rural Iceland – for just two months’ work. Shawn Parkinson (pictured, far left), one of the butchers, explains that the…

New Zealand Cricket Fan Wins Fame with One-Handed Catch

New Zealand Cricket Fan Wins Fame with One-Handed Catch

Andrew McColloch is $5000 richer and slightly famous after his incredible one-handed catch at a Twenty20 cricket match went viral. Michael Bracewell hit a six in the match between Otago Volts and Wellington Firebirds, and spectator…

New Zealand Wins Seat on UN Security Council

New Zealand Wins Seat on UN Security Council

New Zealand has won a seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The 15-member council has five permanent members – the US, UK, France, Russia and China – and 10 non-permanent seats, filled…

Mark Burry Maintains Epic Work on the Sagrada Família

Mark Burry Maintains Epic Work on the Sagrada Família

Executive architect of the Sagrada Família New Zealander Mark Burry has been able to complete Gaudí’s designs by devising parametric computer modelling techniques, adapted from the aerospace industry. Burry has even sped up the…

BBC Announces Cop Drama “Bay of Plenty”

BBC Announces Cop Drama “Bay of Plenty”

Two female detectives will be the lead characters in a new BBC drama set in Rotorua. Luther creator Neil Cross will return to BBC as the creator of the drama, provisionally titled Bay of Plenty. The show will focus on…

Wales Coach Warren Gatland Receives OBE

Wales Coach Warren Gatland Receives OBE

Head coach of the Wales rugby team, New Zealander Warren Gatland has received an OBE from the Duke of Cambridge for his services to rugby at an investiture ceremony in Windsor Castle. Gatland said he…

Growing up in NZ Public, Broods Now Hitting the Big Time

Growing up in NZ Public, Broods Now Hitting the Big Time

Broods only started writing music together last year, but the Nelson brother-sister duo, Caleb and Georgia Nott, aged 21 and 19, are being tipped as New Zealand’s next big musical exports. They speak to…

Teenage Girl Tackling Men’s Club Rugby

Teenage Girl Tackling Men’s Club Rugby

A teenage girl in Southland has been allowed to play with the big boys, with April Miller, 18, taking to the field at lock in what is typically men’s club rugby. Despite admitting to some…

On the Hunt for a Prized Mollusc

On the Hunt for a Prized Mollusc

In Otago, a group of recreational fishermen are about to go on their regular autumn hunt for shellfish, but it is not just any mollusc that they’re after. They are looking for a humble…

Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson Quadskis into Lake Como

Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson Quadskis into Lake Como

Jeremy Clarkson, host of hit BBC show Top Gear, recently drove the New Zealand-designed Quadski, described as “the world’s first personal sports amphibian” vehicle, into Italy’s Lake Como in a race against co-presenter Richard…

Lorde Number One in the US

Lorde Number One in the US

Sixteen-year-old singer, Lorde has become the first New Zealander to top the US Billboard charts, following the release of her first album, Pure Heroine, in the US at start of this month. Her single…