No boats are allowed—competitors must wade to their hunting grounds. Taupō’s highest densities of catfish are found in these warm, muddy shallows around Motuoapa Bay: a 1995 census caught 639 in a ...

Don’t call them swamps. Bogs soak up and store more carbon than forests do, but when they’re drained and used for agriculture, that immense amount of carbon is slowly released. The entrance to one of ...

August brought remarkable snowfalls to parts of the country. In Christchurch, still coping with earthquake damage and power outages, the snow compared with historic falls in 1992 and 1945 although, ...

At Manukau Heads, the current swirls in an eddy that Norman named “the Little Blowhole”. Across the harbour are the forested Waitākere Ranges, and the tiny settlement of Little Huia, which Norman and ...

What would the beach be without red-billed gulls? We may be about to find out. Two huge colonies have already gone under and the next biggest, in Kaikōura, is failing fast. In December 2023, ...

The release of Disney’s Moana in te reo was a landmark for Māori language revitalisation. As that rebirth gathers steam, mita, or dialects are returning to the fore. When The Lion King Reo Māori hit ...

Anave of silver-grey pillars, gnarled and imposing, rises heavenward. Ferns and perching grasses festoon the massive lower branches, while stout roots clasping the trunk reveal the pres­ence of other, ...

When schools of trevally foam the water in feeding mode, bringing krill and small fish to the surface, it’s a chance for tītī wainui/fairy prions to get a meal as well. In northern New Zealand, these ...

The world’s smallest, rarest dolphin lives in New Zealand. After the expansion of gill-netting in 1970, the population and range of Hector’s dolphin diminished rapidly. One extremely isolated ...

The invasive seaweed Caulerpa brachypus was discovered in New Zealand just over a year ago, and it promises to ruin everything. On Aotea/Great Barrier Island, people are sacrificing their way of life ...

Where do young sea creatures spend their first weeks? What’s at the root of oceanic food chains? Kelp forests are to Aotearoa what coral reefs are to other marine ecosystems. Or they used to be. South ...

The once abundant Hauraki Gulf is on the brink of collapse, and while science is clear on how to repair it, many are putting rights before responsibilities. Here’s what needs to happen. I’m going to ...