Guest Author • Nov 07, 2020 •
Jane Younger, University of Bath When you think of scientists discovering new species, you might imagine searching the Amazon rainforest for new types of insect or the depths of the ocean for undiscovered crustaceans. But these days most new species we discover are found hiding in plain sight. Such “hidden” species can look so similar to … Read More
Guest Author • Feb 07, 2019 •
Theresa Cole; Jonathan Waters, and Kieren Mitchell, University of Adelaide Ever since Charles Darwin’s voyage to the Galapagos, biologists have been trying to figure out what determines the number of species that exist at any point in time. Our research, published this week, provides an answer to this question, at least when it comes to … Read More
Guest Author • Feb 05, 2019 •
Spencer McIntyre Last week, many of us scrolling through newsfeeds or popping on the news were horrified to see that two kororā-little blue penguins were stolen from their nest in Napier and a third killed in the process. Read More
Jean Balchin • Feb 19, 2018 •
Canterbury Museum is now the proud home of the world’s oldest penguin fossil and the world’s most complete specimen of any bird (also a penguin) that lived during the 10 million years following the extinction of the dinosaurs. Left to Right: Dr Paul Scofield, Dr Vanesa De Pietri and Dr Gerald Mayr with the skull of Rosie’s Penguin. The story … Read More
Guest Author • Dec 02, 2017 •
By Ursula Ellenberg, La Trobe University. Fishing nets pose a serious risk to the survival of penguin species, according to a new global review of the toll taken by “bycatch” from commercial fishing. Fourteen of the world’s 18 penguin species have been recorded as fishing bycatch. Among the species under threat are Tasmania’s little penguins and New … Read More
Guest Author • Jun 30, 2017 •
By Jasmine Lee, The University of Queensland; Justine Shaw, The University of Queensland, and Richard Fuller, The University of Queensland When you think of Antarctica, you probably picture vast, continuous ice sheets and glaciers, with maybe a penguin or two thrown in. Yet most Antarctic plants and animals live in the permanently ice-free areas … Read More
Guest Author • Dec 19, 2016 •
A year is a short time in science but a lot happened in 2016. In the first of its Summer Series articles, NIWA highlights its top scientific endeavours of the past 12 months and reveals we know a lot more about a whole range of things than we did this time last year. MARCH – Methane culprits identified Scientists … Read More
Victoria Metcalf • Apr 29, 2015 •
Over the weekend, in case you missed it, it was World Penguin Day, an annual day to think about those dapper-suited gentlemen and women and how much fun they bring to our lives. Let’s face it, I think everyone LOVES penguins. I’m yet to meet anyone that isn’t pretty mesmerised or completely besotted by the waddling … Read More
Victoria Metcalf • May 30, 2014 •
Four of the Antarctic or anything else headlines/social media bits that have grabbed my attention this week. Remarkably it looks like the diminutive Kiwi is the closest living relative of the extinct elephant bird. Image source: Wikimedia Commons uploaded by Glen Stewart. The importance of basic science 1. As a scientist I actually love it when what we think … Read More
Victoria Metcalf • Mar 28, 2014 •
Four of the Antarctic or anything else headlines/social media bits that have grabbed my attention this week. 1. A new study (full reference here) released has just shown that there’s a lot more ice being lost from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet than previously thought. We should … Read More