Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives

From the mists of time: the enduring mystery of the adzebills

Nic Rawlence • Mar 07, 2019

• Adzebill,
• ancient dna,
• flufftails,
• isotopes,
• Madagascar,
• New Zealand,
• Saint Bathans,
• wood rails

As a kid, I remember visiting Canterbury Museum with my Dad. I was fascinated and terrified in equal measure by the giant moa skeleton in the entrance, just as my four-year-old is today. But what really interested me was the much smaller, but not less diminutive, skeleton of an extinct adzebill. The adzebills were built like tanks. They … Read More

Are deer the new moa: Ecosystem re-wilding or a flight of fancy?

Nic Rawlence • Feb 08, 2019

• coprolites,
• deer,
• Diet,
• ecological surrogacy,
• moa

It’s the depths of winter and I’m squatting in the snow, surrounded by southern beech forest, using a pair of tweezers to pick up fresh steaming deer poo. Pooper scooper: Braving the cold in the name of science, these deer droppings are a harbinger of a changing world. Photo courtesy of Jamie Wood. My wife Maria, and palaeoecologist … Read More

Sentinels of change: prehistoric penguin species raise conservation conundrum

Nic Rawlence • Nov 27, 2018

• ancient dna,
• climate change,
• conservation,
• hoiho,
• Waitaha Penguin,
• Yellow-eyed Penguin

Fossil hunting along the rugged and beautiful Wairarapa coastline is a dangerous exercise. Prevail against the harsh winds that blow you off your feet and fossil penguins will be your reward – prehistoric nuggets of gold from a lost world that is only now yielding its secrets. Risking life and limb: At the rugged Te Kaukau Point, bones of … Read More

Taxonomy, the science of naming things, is under threat

Nic Rawlence • Nov 14, 2018

• taxonomy,
• Te Papa

Museums are cathedrals of science, but they are under threat worldwide as part of a malaise of undervaluing museum collections and the field of taxonomy, the science of naming biodiversity. The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is the latest example. Te Papa confirmed a restructure in July, following leaked reports. Facing … Read More

Make taxonomy great again

Nic Rawlence • Oct 26, 2018

• Museums,
• New Zealand,
• science funding,
• taxonomy

On a dark and stormy Wellington street, Kerry is head down, bum up, searching for an elusive and rather dull looking snail. Kerry is one of a new breed of up-and-coming scientists that is taking up the mantle of taxonomy (the science of describing and naming new biodiversity) as members of the old guard get closer to imminent retirement. As … Read More

Critically endangered but not lost: the fight to save Te Papa’s collections from extinction

Nic Rawlence • Jul 23, 2018

• Collections,
• Collections Managers,
• museum,
• natural history,
• Restructure,
• Te Papa

In an unassuming building at the top of Tory Street in Wellington lies buried treasure: the remains of a lost world that rivals Smaug’s hoard, but the equivalent of the five armies is closing in. The proposed restructure of our national museum means we are in danger of losing the key to unlocking the secrets these biological taonga hold. Read More

Fossil Lucky Dip from a Lost World

Nic Rawlence • Jul 10, 2018

• ancient dna,
• archaeology,
• Birds of New Zealand,
• bulk bone DNA,
• dolphin,
• environmental DNA,
• fish,
• fossil,
• frag bag,
• frog,
• human impact,
• kakapo,
• Maori,
• marine mammals,
• Polynesians,
• seals,
• whales

I’m lying on a beautiful golden sand beach. The bright sun is beating down upon me. I could be on an isolated, tropical island, if not for the lone giant moa sculpture looming above my head. This sentinel to a lost world stands at the aptly named Old Bones Backpackers at Awamoa, (originally named Te Awa Kōkōmuka), south of Oamaru. Read More

Back to the Future in Northland: Fossils illuminate a flight path towards ecosystem restoration

Nic Rawlence • Apr 18, 2018

• Auckland Musuem,
• Bioblitz,
• Biodiversity,
• birds,
• Ecosystem Restoration,
• fossil,
• Kōhatu Shag,
• Moho,
• Ngāti Kuri,
• Northland,
• Sea Lion,
• tuatara

Ground control to Major Tom: The otherworldly Herangi Hill at Motu i Pao/Cape Maria van Dieman where Fred found the ancient Moho skull. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Carol. In the pouring rain, surrounded by flowing sand lava and cascading lahars, Fred Brook gingerly walks towards Matt Rayner and me. He’s sliding across a steep sand dune, his hands carefully … Read More

Through the looking glass: Fossils reveal a Miocene Wonderland at St Bathans

Nic Rawlence • Mar 19, 2018

• Adzebill,
• bats,
• Biodiversity,
• crocodile,
• Duck,
• Eagle,
• extinction,
• fish,
• fossil,
• frog,
• gecko,
• Heron,
• Kiwi,
• Lake Manuherikia,
• mammal,
• Miocene,
• moa,
• New Zealand,
• Parrots,
• Pigeons,
• rail,
• seabirds,
• shellfish,
• Skink,
• St Bathans,
• Swiftlets,
• tuatara,
• Turtle,
• Waddling Mouse

It’s the height of the Central Otago summer – barren, dry and dusty. Driving down the gravel road to St Bathans, we’re travelling back in time, down the rabbit hole to a world long gone. Only ghosts remain of this lost world and that’s what we’ve come here to find. The fossilised bones of a myriad of animals dating back … Read More

A tale of two penguins: Bice and Rosie

Nic Rawlence • Mar 05, 2018

• Bice's Penguin,
• Biodiversity,
• Cretaceous,
• Dinosaurs,
• evolution,
• extinction,
• fossil,
• marine life,
• New Zealand,
• Paleocene,
• penguin,
• predation,
• Rosie's Penguin

New Zealand has long been considered the cradle of penguin evolution. But two new fossil discoveries, affectionately known as Bice’s, (pronounced Bee-chee’s), and Rosie’s Penguins, are rewriting early penguin evolution and have taken the world by storm. Move aside Penguins of Madagascar; there are some new and cool kids on the block! But how did we get to this … Read More