
Together at Home
Here we are—a nation of parents, grandparents and children all in the same boat, together at home. He waka eke noa. Every day of the lock-down we will post a story or video and set of activities that can be shared among your family to fill our days at home together. Mauri ora.
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Nov 16: Valley of the whales
The North Otago limestone country holds one of the world’s most important fossil cetacean records, a coherent story of how whales and dolphins evolved in the Southern Ocean. It’s a story that one small rural community has embraced as its own.
Nov 16: Waiheke Channel
At Pōnui Island, under the shade of picturesque pōhutukawa, effluent from a farm drains into the Waiheke Channel adjacent to the Te Matuku Marine Reserve. Stock roam freely through the waterway and the wetland above it. The smell, fortunately for the viewer, can only be imagined.
Nov 16: Make a Solar Cookie Oven
Make a solar cookie oven!
Nov 15: Natural values
For 200 years the Hauraki Plains and Firth of Thames have been bent to the commercial interests of man. We have extracted timber, gold, peat, fish and shellfish, then tipped in millions of tonnes of sediment as our thanks. We have drained the marsh and farmed it, then intensively farmed it, returning the run-off of agriculture. Today, the region is a case study for the carrying capacity of land and sea. How resilient are our natural systems, and how much development is too much?
Nov 15: Box dolls-house
Box dolls-house!
Nov 15: Leigh Wharf
The irony is that the camera can't see far enough to properly document the worst sites in the Hauraki Gulf—they're too turbid to see more than a foot. So we're here, in the serene and relatively intact harbour environment at Leigh, to film human impact where the water remains clear enough to get a picture, but where our influence is becoming obvious.
Nov 12: Enraptored
The New Zealand falcon, or karearea, is the country’s only endemic raptor. Able to take prey six times its own weight, it has no enemies but man. Habitat destruction, the gun, and obstacles such as wire fences and power lines have all contributed to its decline. But today the timeless art of the falconer is returning sick and injured birds to a new life in the wild.
Nov 12: Make your own lollies
Make your own lollies!
Nov 11: The greening of the red zone
During the two devastating earthquakes of September 2010 and February 2011, land in the suburbs east of Christchurch sank by a metre. What’s a city to do when an apocalyptic landscape appears right on its doorstep?
Nov 11: Invisible Ink
Invisible ink message!
Nov 10: The Phantom Menace
In a land where invaders are cinematically popularised as battle-clad Orcs thundering down a mountainside wielding spiked clubs, it’s ironic that Public Enemy No. 1 is a butterfly—an ephemeral being borne on alabaster wings, not dissimilar to an already well-established cousin. And yet, this phantom menace threatens to wipe out a large number of native plants and more than 230,000 hectares of commercial crops.
Nov 10: Make a sundial
Make a sundial!
Nov 10: How to restore a wetland
What was once a mess of mud after being chomped and stomped by cattle is now teeming with tūī after flax and cabbage trees were planted on the land more than ten years ago and pest control was undertaken. "The wetland has returned to its original function of being the kidneys of the land," says Dean Baigent-Mercer. "It slows down water during floods and cleans the water as it goes through." www.betterancestors.org
Run for your life
In the 1960s, New Zealander Arthur Lydiard introduced the concept of jogging to the world and sparked a global revolution towards fitness and well-being. Running became the most popular participation sport on the planet, but also the cause of numerous preventable injuries. Now, new scientific evidence and an emerging movement of ‘natural running’ serve to reinforce Lydiard’s original vision of the sport—the ultimate regimen for “a healthy, vigorous life”.
Nov 9: “Running Kid” flip book
“Running Kid” flip book!
Miranda
Godwits and wrybills roost on chenier shell banks at Miranda, and the western shore of the Firth of Thames. Each year, godwits will embark on the longest non-stop migration of any bird in the world, flying from this site to the Yellow Sea in China, then to Alaska, and returning across the Pacific, direct, to New Zealand.
Nov 5: Street wise
Graffiti or street art? Virtuosity or urban menace? While arguments rage over the definition, clandestine art of every colour is changing the face of the Christchurch CBD.
Nov 5: Make a magazine-strip collage
Make a magazine-strip collage!
Nov 4: A delicate balance
Deep in the Mackenzie Basin, the world’s rarest wading bird roams free in the wild, unaware that behind the scenes, a handful of people are trying to solve a problem: how to protect a species that refuses to be contained?
Nov 4: Make a bent-legged Kakī
Make a bent-legged Kakī!
Nov 3: No place like home
More than 30,000 New Zealanders lack a proper home, and live instead in cars, caravan parks, night shelters, boarding houses or on the street. It’s one of the most striking symptoms of a country in which people lead increasingly precarious lives.
Nov 3: Make a Pomander
Make a pomander!
Nov 2: What Lies Beneath
A small group of New Zealand’s elite cavers are pushing further than ever before into the marble heart of the Arthur Range, west of Nelson. To date, they’ve discovered 14 kilometres of previously unknown passages, and now, battling extreme cold, exhaustion and unrelenting rock, they are a hair’s breadth from connecting two of the country’s biggest and deepest cave systems.
Nov 2: Folded Paper Streamer
Folded paper streamer!
Nov 2: Better Ancestors: fresh water or not?
New Zealand is at a tipping point. The cumulative adverse impacts of our land use and the impact of synthetic fertilisers and industrial agriculture are harming our freshwater ecology, driving species to the brink of extinction and impacting human health. But we have the capacity to change and now is the time. If we can respect our unique natural world; if we can change the way we farm, reduce the number of animals and our dependence upon synthetic inputs; and if we can reclothe the land with appropriate plants and stop sedimentation, we will give the natural world the opportunity to heal. www.betterancestors.org
Nov 1: Block busters
New Zealand’s forests were cleared at a record pace, and from this destruction, a sport arose: who can fell a tree the fastest? Competitive woodchopping transformed the labour of forestry into a community event. Now, 150 years on, a diminishing number of axemen and axewomen chop for top honours at A&P shows around the country.
Nov 1: Make a batch of scones
Make a batch of scones!
Nov 1: The avian election
Forest & Bird's annual campaign to give a voice to New Zealand's native birds* has grown from a small-scale promotion to a national obsession. Led by teams of volunteers who employ creative - and occasionally fraudulent - methods to drum up votes for their chosen bird, the 'country's most anticipated election' is fun and engaging, but it also aims to draw attention to the serious plight of many of our most-loved birds. As Forest & Bird's Lissy Fehnker-Heather says: "They disperse seed, they pollinate our native trees, they recycle nutrients and because humans are interconnected with nature they're part of our extended family. It's really important that lots of people are fighting
Oct 29: Three chords and a story
Country music resonated in 1940s rural New Zealand, and its legacy burns here still, no more so than at the annual Gold Guitar Awards in Gore.
Oct 29: Make a Box Guitar
Make a box guitar!
Oct 29: The nitrate experiment
For decades scientists have known that increased nitrate levels in freshwater have a profound impact on the ecology of freshwater systems and there is growing evidence of the impact on human health. Despite this, and despite our continued belief in the image of a clean, pure New Zealand, we embarked upon a multi-generational experiment by spreading millions of tonnes of synthetic nitrogenous fertiliser across our lands. Now the evidence of the harm is upon us. Will our governing structures and associated institutions be up to the task of acting, or will the cost be passed on to future generations? www.betterancestors.org
Oct 28: Blazing a trail
In 1994, the first Moonride mountain-bike race was held in Rotorua, an event which has followed the growing popularity and evolution of the sport.
Oct 28: Tears of the albatross
The Toroa or Royal Albatross is the world’s largest flying bird - and an endangered species native to New Zealand. When one of the majestic birds washed up on the East Coast in obvious distress last year, the family that discovered it took it to the vet, but the three-year-old bird died a few days later. It had swallowed a 500ml plastic drink bottle, which it probably mistook for a squid. Nine out of ten seabirds have eaten plastic and eight million metric tonnes of plastic make it into the ocean every year. So is there anything that can be done to stop the problem? www.betterancestors.org
Oct 28: Make stuffed grapevine leaves
Make stuffed grapevine leaves!
Oct 27: Between two worlds
Hatched in rivers, mayflies rise to the surface and unfurl new wings, the final phase of their precarious and astonishing lifecycle.
Oct 27: Greening the concrete jungle
In California, the Sutro Stewards blend conservation, recreation and the concept of stewardship in an intense urban environment. By mobilising volunteers to build trails, remove invasive species, and grow and establish native plants, a severely degraded ecosystem is being restored. "When you restore the plant communities, you're restoring the base of the foodchain that other animals can participate in. It all starts with the plants," says Ildiko Polony, the director of Sutro Stewards. The story of the area's restoration provides hope that when we make the choice to give our natural spaces more love, we can reverse some of the damage we've done to them. www.betterancestors.org
Oct 27: Surface Tension Experiment
Surface tension experiment!
Oct 25: Deep trouble
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 subspecies, Māui dolphin, now numbers barely 100 individuals. Yet science has revealed that the species may yet recover, even from the brink of oblivion.
Oct 25: Home-made Jigsaw
Home-made jigsaw!
Oct 25: Tale of the Crayfish
Crayfish, Lobster or Langouste whatever the name, it is among the most sought after animals in the sea, but surprisingly little is known of the life of crayfish on the reef.
Oct 22: A tale of two currents
Morgan Gorge, a spectacular chasm on the South Island’s West Coast, is a showpiece of whitewater power. Although it has been paddled by fewer than a dozen people, it is the aspiration of kayakers here and around the world to tackle its supreme challenge. If the Minister of Conservation grants a concession to electricity company Westpower to build a hydro-generation scheme on the Waitaha River—as she says she intends to do—Morgan Gorge will become an emaciated trickle for much of the year. Opponents say this would be an environmental tragedy and a cultural loss, tantamount to building a windfarm on the summit of Aoraki/Mt Cook.
Oct 22: The nature of business: how the Begley family's restaurants help protect the environment
Warren Begley and his family run two restaurants in Ōtautahi Christchurch - Tutto Bene and Formaggio's - and they are also passionate environmentalists who support a range of conservation projects in the region. As Begley says, without the natural world, they would have no business, so, in his view, it is the most important stakeholder. The collaboration between the restaurants and the Ōtamahua Quail Island Ecological Restoration Project, which trust chair Ian McClellan says is a small attempt to right the wrongs of the past, is consistent with this ethos of kaitiakitanga or guardianship across time. "We have no right to operate if we can't manage our footprint to the very best of our abil
Oct 22: Nature Journaling
Nature journaling!
Oct 21: Thick and thin
New Zealand’s economy was built on ‘the back of a sheep’, but in recent decades, the fortunes of wool have been largely eclipsed by the dairy industry. The twin strands of the fine- and coarse-wool industries have taken diverging paths, focusing on the economic challenge of adding value in New Zealand, rather than exporting the raw material. Will wool rebound?
Oct 21: Have a Foot Bath
Have a foot bath!
Oct 21: Refill Nation
The magic of package-free groceries.
Oct 19: When worlds collide
Ihumātao, a west-facing peninsula on the shore of Auckland’s Manukau Harbour, is the city’s oldest settlement. In 1863, the land was illegally confiscated from Māori. Sacred hills were quarried, 800-year-old burial sites were demolished, archaeological remains were destroyed, a sewage-treatment plant was built over traditional fishing grounds, and a dye spill killed the local creek. Now Ihumātao has been designated a Special Housing Area, without public consultation, and a development of nearly 500 houses is in progress. But for some tangata whenua, enough is enough.
Oct 19: Candid camera
Environmental groups concerned about the amount of fish being dumped back into the sea by the fishing industry have been asking for cameras to be put on boats for years. While new regulations came into place this year requiring boats to land everything they catch, the industry has resisted the move to place cameras on those boats and those in power have continued to delay the requirement. Without cameras to ensure compliance, we are reliant on self-reported data. And as Barry Torkington, a fisheries strategist and ex-director of Leigh Fisheries says, that self-reported data is not particularly accurate. "All the delays have been red herrings," he says. "There's nothing to invent. There's
Oct 19: Print with Foam or Polystyrene
Print with foam or polystyrene!
Oct 18: The hunting of the snipe
An unlikely crew is given the assignment of catching birds in butterfly nets on a weather-beaten subantarctic island.
Oct 18: Make an Upside-Down Planter
Make an upside-down planter!
Oct 18: A song for the Noises
Sue Neureuter grew up visiting the Noises Islands which have been in her family since the 1930s. Having witnessed the decline in marine life and seabirds in the Hauraki Gulf first-hand she recalls her parents' stories. “When Mum first got to the Noises which was the late fifties, Dad used to make her row out and he’d put his rugby jersey on and plop over the side and pick crayfish up and dump them around her feet.” This personal account is the first of a New Zealand Geographic-produced web-series—made in association with Live Ocean and Pew Charitable Trusts—that examines the former abundance of the Hauraki Gulf through the memories of those who can still remember these Songs of
Oct 15: Last chance to see
Twice the kākāriki karaka has returned from the dead. Orange-fronted parakeets were declared extinct in 1919 and again in 1965, but each time, the birds were concealed deep in the beech-forested valleys of Nelson and Canterbury. Now, the bird is approaching its third extinction, and this time, rangers have already scoured the valleys for hidden strongholds. This time, there isn’t a secret population waiting in the wings.
Oct 15: Make a Collage
Make a collage and parakeets!
Oct 15: A song for Pakiri
Laly Haddon and daughter Olivia grew up on the pearly sands of their turangawaewae at Pakiri, and have witnessed radical change.
Oct 14: No swimming
Five millimetres of rain in a day is not uncommon in Auckland, but it is enough to cause parts of the city’s wastewater network to overflow, spilling raw sewage into the sea and making beaches unsafe for swimming. This summer, permanent warning signs were posted at 10 locations where water quality is so bad that Auckland Council no longer monitors it. Why are Auckland’s beaches so frequently unswimmable? Is the solution better plumbing—or more enlightened thinking?
Oct 14: Make a Sediment Jar
Make a sediment jar!
Oct 14: A song for the hāpuku
Pioneer diver and lifelong environmentalist Wade Doak laments the loss of the hāpuku, our behemoth groper that was once common even in shallow water in the Hauraki Gulf.
Oct 13: A night at the Globe
When a 400-year-old play was brought to life in Auckland with Pasifika costume, dance, language and actors, audience numbers broke records.
Oct 13: A song for the crayfish
Pioneer divers Keith and Ailsa Lewis reflect on a lifetime of exploration in the Hauraki Gulf, the abundance of crayfish and their hopes for the future.
Oct 13: Ice-cream in a bag
Ice-cream in a bag!
Oct 12: A feeling for clay
That Earth's humblest materials can be transformed into sublime and beautiful objects is part of the romance of the potter's art. But it takes patience and strong hands to work such miracles. Barry Brickell, the doyen of Coromandel potters, has shaped clay dug on his property at Driving Creek for close to 40 ears. His trademark work are tall, sensuously curved sculptures, in which the clay has been laboriously kneaded and pressed into shape without the use of a potter's wheel. A single piece may take up three weeks to complete.
Oct 12: Spotting chaffinches
Can you spot a chaffinch in your backyard?
Oct 12: Excavate Your Own Clay
Excavate your own clay!
Oct 11: The 147th year at Castlepoint
Freelance jockeys, keen spectators, farming families with station hacks and horse trainers with thoroughbreds descend on the Wairarapa every autumn to take part in one of New Zealand’s longest-running events.
Oct 11: Three-Legged Race
Have a three-legged race!
Oct 11: Spotting rosellas
Can you spot a rosella in your backyard?
Oct 8: Eyes in the land
New Zealand is a global hotspot for dune lakes, and nowhere has more of these freshwater gems than Northland. It’s here, in our country’s northernmost reaches, that iwi are reconnecting with these taonga and the stories that surround them.
Oct 8: Make a Weaving Loom
Make a weaving loom.
Oct 8: Spotting ruru
Can you spot ruru in your backyard?
Oct 7: Doing the Burt
For one fossil-fuelled week every summer, anyone can be an Invercargill motorcycling legend.
Oct 7: Make a go-kart
Make a go-kart.
Oct 7: Spotting kingfishers
Can you spot a kingfisher in your backyard?
Oct 6: Gold rush
Mānuka honey has exploded in value in recent years, and now it’s a high-stakes business, attracting hive thieves, counterfeit products, unscrupulous players—and triggering a race for the blossom every spring, wherever the trees are in flower.
Oct 6: Spotting kererū
Can you spot a kererū in your backyard?
Oct 6: Bee-friendly Garden Hunt
Bee-friendly garden hunt.
Oct 5: Tupaia
No portraits exist of one of the most important people in Pacific history. Tupaia was a man of many talents: high priest, artist, diplomat, politician, orator and celestial navigator. After fleeing conflict on his home island of Ra’iātea for Tahiti, he befriended botanist Joseph Banks, and joined the onward voyage of James Cook’s Endeavour. Arriving in New Zealand in 1769, Tupaia discovered he could converse with Māori. He became an interpreter, cultural advisor and bringer of news from islands that Māori had left long ago. 250 years on, we are barely beginning to know who he was.
Oct 5: Grow a Kūmara House Plant
Grow a kūmara house plant.
Oct 5: Spotting silvereyes
Can you spot a silvereye in your backyard?
Oct 4: Track and trace
Most introduced mammals have had a devastating effect on native wildlife, but one species is bucking the trend. About 80 conservation dogs are deployed around the country, helping to protect vulnerable native species by leaping into action at a single command: Seek!
Oct 4: Spotting kākā
Can you spot a kākā in your backyard?
Oct 4: Make a Fairy Door
Make a fairy door.
Oct 1: Wetlands
Dismissed as worthless, pestilent places, wetlands—where the water table is at or near the Earth’s surface—are anything but. They purify water, prevent floods and erosion, store carbon, provide resources like peat and flax, process nutrients, act as nurseries and offer recreation and aesthetic value.
Oct 1: Make your own laundry detergent
Make your own laundry detergent.
Oct 1: Spotting fantails
Can you spot a fantail in your backyard?
Sep 30: The people’s fruit
Feijoas have become a New Zealand emblem. So how did they end up in Aotearoa, and how did we end up adoring them—to the point of obsession, for some—when feijoas have not really caught on anywhere else?
Sep 30: Spotting tūī
Can you spot a tūī in your backyard?
Sep 30: Make a wasp trap
Make a wasp trap
Sep 29: Treasure Island
Great Mercury was one of the first sites of human habitation in New Zealand. Last year, a radical new public-private partnership sought to rid the island of pests. It was a unique operation, and the results have been astonishing.
Sep 29: Spotting a songthrush
Can you spot a song thrush in your backyard?
Sep 29: Make a Bug Hotel
Make a Bug Hotel
Sep 28: Making birds
What would happen if city suburbs as well as offshore islands enjoyed freedom from introduced predators? Is it possible for New Zealand to eliminate them all—stoats, ferrets, weasels, possums, and three species of rat?
Sep 28: Spotting blackbirds
Can you spot a blackbird in your backyard?
Sep 28: Conduct a 5-minute bird count
Conduct a 5-minute bird count
Sep 27: The puzzle of pilot whales
They strand on our shores in greater numbers than any other species of whale. Scientists believe they know why, but there is much about these animals that remains an enigma, and the strandings continue to happen.
Sep 27: Nail and string art
Nail and string art.
Sep 27: The Eco School - Pt.2
Can permaculture thinking save our future?
Sep 24: The war on koi
Invasive koi carp now writhe through wetlands from Auckland to Marlborough, displacing native species and destroying freshwater habitats. For 25 years, bowhunters in Waikato have ministered their own brand of pest control, the World Koi Carp Classic, resulting in prizes, and 70 tonnes of puréed fish.
Sep 24: 'A bird of great size...'
At the sight of the first Endeavour, the natives of New Zealand were amazed and afraid, describing the vessel with its yards of flying canvas as a "bird of great size and beauty" and "a houseful of divinities." Astonishment quickly gave way to curiosity—the same emotion which drew thousands to wharves around the country this summer to inspect a sailing replica of one of history's greatest ships of discovery. For volunteer crew—here shortening sail in a freshening blow—the work of hauling rope and climbing shrouds was a chance to taste 18th century exploration and to relive momentous events in this country's history.
Sep 24: Colouring Flowers
Fish and colouring flowers...
Sep 23: Hunting Kiwi
A year spent in search of kiwi among the ranges of the West Coast.
Sep 23: Ancient knowledge, modern medicines
Plants have been used continuously as medicines for 60,000 years and 80% of the world’s population uses plants for health care and natural remedies. Dr Sandra Clair, the founder of Dunedin-based company Artemis, is keeping the knowledge, skills and experience of traditional plant-based medicines alive and believes they are as relevant for health care as they have ever been. betterancestors.org
Sep 23: Make an ear trumpet
Make an ear trumpet, for hunting kiwi!
Sep 22: The weed eaters
Edible plants grow throughout our towns and cities: in verges, margins, berms, parks and empty sections, along driveways, pavements and hedgerows. The trick is knowing what to look for.
Sep 22: Go on a foraging scavenger hunt
Go on a foraging scavenger hunt.
Sep 22: Using the power of nature to improve farming
The health of the soil plays a crucial role in water quality, food quality and carbon sequestration but the pressures placed on it from industrial agriculture and excessive fertiliser use means it's currently not in the best shape. There are some farmers who see a return to nature as the smartest approach, however, both to create a more efficient business and to reduce their impacts on the environment. As Nicole Masters of Integrity Soils says, if we want to feed the world and still have a habitable planet, the only way to do it is through regenerative agriculture. www.betterancestors.org
Sep 21: First ascent: finding unclimbed walls in the Darrans
The Darran Mountains lie deep in the marrow of northern Fiordland—a chunky, perplexing range of diorites and sandstones, gneisses and granites. This is a land of extremes, with the country’s most remote summits, the greatest rainfall and the longest, hardest-to-climb alpine rock walls. Adventurers have been coming here since William Grave and Arthur Talbot in the late 1800s, to test themselves and forge new routes through this vertical landscape.
Sep 21: Understanding Antarctica
Whether it's climate change, microfibres in the ocean, or loss of biodiversity, the impacts of human activity are also being seen in Antarctica. Scientists, researchers and organisations like Greenpeace are monitoring these changes in an effort to create a baseline but, as University of Exeter marine scientist Kirsten Thompson says: "It's time we put conservation first. Seems obvious to me." www.betterancestors.org
Sep 21: Scanned rock art
Make some rock art
Sep 20: Hauturu - Resting Place of the Wind
Mountainous, densely forested and bounded by cliffs and boulders,Little Barrier Island (Hauturu) crouches in the outer reaches of the Hauraki Gulf, a relic of a wild New Zealand now largely vanished. Set aside as a nature reserve over a century ago, the island houses a matchless cargo of wildlife inhabiting an unusual diversity of forest types.
Sep 20: Make a stalk-necklace
Make a stalk-necklace
Sep 20: Andy Mardell's environmentalism and art
Beautiful art created from naturally fallen trees.
Sep 17: Have raft, will travel
Lightweight, inflatable boats are changing backcountry travel. Easier to paddle than a whitewater kayak, and more forgiving of mistakes, packrafts are opening up river sports to a wider audience.
Sep 17: Make a twig raft
Build your own twig raft!
Sep 17: Restoring our taonga: inside Jeff McCauley's native nursery
The plants and animals that are native to Aotearoa have evolved away from large landmasses, which means we have some of the highest numbers of endemic species on earth. Unfortunately, the sometimes accidental and sometimes deliberate introduction of tens of thousands of exotic plants and animals has pushed many of our unique species to the edge of extinction. With the widespread destruction of ecosystems, the ecological requirements for endemic species often no longer exist, but by nurturing and propagating at-risk species and making nursery plants available to restoration projects, Jeff McCauley is helping to turn things around at the Native Plants Nursery in Piha. www.betterancestors.or
Sep 16: Up the Creek (without a paddle)
Sometime in the mid-1950s a young boy asked “Would you like to come for a ride in my boat?”, and the world has been saying yes ever since. The jet boat’s unrivalled performance in the shallowest of rivers revolutionised water transport and remains a quintessential New Zealand invention, perhaps our greatest contribution to the world of engineering. And the man who perfected it, in a farm workshop of a remote high-country station, was our original “bloke in a shed”, an inspiration and a role model for generations of Kiwi tinkerers, inventors and innovators.
Sep 16: Make a jet boat
Build your own jet boat!
Sep 16: Wildlife.ai's mix of ecology and technology
How artificial intelligence can fight species extinction.
Sep 15: Ward of the state
Chatham Islanders treasure their independence, but they have been forced to rely on the government to survive. Can they find a path to a self-sufficient economy?
Sep 15: Create a bean tepee
Learn about the Chathams, build a teepee!
Sep 15: Teaching green
Tania de Basin's mission to show primary students the link between responsibility and sustainability.
Sep 14: In search of the Grey Ghost
The South Island kōkako is widely believed to have died out a half century ago, but some committed bird experts are convinced there are signs a few remain: disturbed moss, glimpses of grey wings and orange wattles, an occasional haunting call. Yet despite decades scouring southern forests, the kōkako has remained elusive—a single feather is the closest the searchers may have come to proving the bird still exists.
Sep 14: Musical Bottles
Musical bottles to mimic the music of the forest.
Sep 14: Bay Bush Action
A vegan pest-control trapper finds the beauty in his work.
Sep 13: From taro to tourism
One of the world’s smallest nations is transforming its economy from subsistence to sustainability. Will Niue’s brave new plan work?
Sep 13: From waste to wonder
Adrienne and Robert Scott of Reclaimed Timber Traders (RTT) in Palmerston North lead a team pioneering a sustainable business model that not only repurposes our precious timber resource but also provides employment opportunities and a sense of purpose for those who are disadvantaged or struggle to find a role in the system.
Sep 13: Make a Pacific-inspired wreath
Learn about our Pacific neighbours.
Sep 10: The power of Taupo
Lake Taupo lies in the caldera of an active supervolcano, the site of the world’s most violent eruption of the last 70,000 years. Just 10 km beneath it sits another lake of molten rock 50 km wide and 160 km long. With a growing need for alternative energy sources, plans for tapping this latent reservoir are hotting up.
Sep 10: Make edible pumice
Hokey, pokey, powered by heat, just like Taupō.
Sep 10: Backyard paradise
A permaculture haven in a farm desert.
Sep 9: The Roaring Game
Curling requires perfect weather conditions for its national tournament, the bonspiel, to take place. For the first time in 84 years, the frosts aligned and New Zealand’s gathering of curlers returned to the Central Otago town where it all began in 1879—Naseby.
Sep 9: Make your own ice rink!
Curling, and make and ice rink!
Sep 9: Aotearoa Water Action's fight for water security
Without water there is no life and yet across Aotearoa and beyond exploitation of water for profit is accelerating. But Aotearoa Water Action provides support to communities who are battling to protect water security in their region and shows the power of a community coming together, resourcing and supporting each other to confront a massive problem. As Aotearoa Water Action's Peter Richardson says, we've had decades of unconstrained capitalism focused on short-term growth, but the wheel is turning and "the more people who get involved, the quicker that will happen". www.betterancestors.org
Sep 8: Tiny houses
The idea of minimal living, an international fad, has fallen on fertile soil in New Zealand, thanks to our national housing crisis and shifting ideas about the way we want to live. For some people, a tiny house is the only home they will ever afford to own. Others are stepping off the treadmill of modern life to ask: How much space does a person really need?
Sep 8: Make a Tent
Tiny homes, and tiny tents.
Sep 8: Tiny homes
Use less and find happiness.
Sep 7: Under the Ice
Antarctica’s fragile ecosystem is a barometer for the warming and acidification of Earth’s oceans. Over the last decade, NIWA scientists have been diving under the ice as part of Project IceCUBE to gauge just how the ecosystem might cope with these threats.
Sep 7: Firefly Creations
Under the ice, and making fireflies with pasta!
Sep 8: Tiny houses
The idea of minimal living, an international fad, has fallen on fertile soil in New Zealand, thanks to our national housing crisis and shifting ideas about the way we want to live. For some people, a tiny house is the only home they will ever afford to own. Others are stepping off the treadmill of modern life to ask: How much space does a person really need?
Sep 8: Make a Tent
Tiny homes, and tiny tents.
Sep 8: Tiny homes
Use less and find happiness.
Sep 7: Under the Ice
Antarctica’s fragile ecosystem is a barometer for the warming and acidification of Earth’s oceans. Over the last decade, NIWA scientists have been diving under the ice as part of Project IceCUBE to gauge just how the ecosystem might cope with these threats.
Sep 7: Firefly Creations
Under the ice, and making fireflies with pasta!
Sep 7: Tama Blackburn, Waitara Taiao
We are nature and nature is us.
Sep 6: The great retreat
Some species just like it cooler. Others have withdrawn little by little to higher altitudes, making new homes where it’s too cold for their enemies to follow. But warmer seasons allow predators and diseases to gain ground and advance above the bushline—meaning that the alpine zone is no longer the refuge it once was.
Sep 6: Staveley Camp: where the forest is a teacher
In the foothills of the Southern Alps, Staveley Camp provides inspiration for regeneration.
Sep 6: Painted Trinket Bowls
Learn about the changing environment, and paint some bowls!
Sep 3: Volunteer firefighters
Gaza, Beetle, Lily and Jaq, Inky, Tootle, Shrek and Skippy—every town and community has them. They style themselves as ordinary people but their lives and service are anything but ordinary. Unpaid and unheralded, they are our first line of rescue in 65,000 emergency calls a year, routinely saving the lives and assets of people they don’t know.
Sep 3: Fun lolly jars
Firemen and lolly jars...
Sep 3: The community saying no to waste
Inside Xtreme Zero Waste's collaborative success in Raglan.
Sep 2: Three feet high and rising
With predicted increases in sea level of a metre or more by the end of this century, present-day problems of coastal erosion, flooding and salt-water intrusion into groundwater are going to get much worse. As world leaders gather in Paris to seek a political solution to climate change, it’s timely to ask how we in New Zealand are responding to the challenge of rising seas.
Sep 2: 3D Owl Art
Make some 3D owl art, read about rising seas...
Sep 2: Can we harvest sustainably from permanent forest?
In Aotearoa, only 3% of decorative timbers used in our buildings are sourced from our own country. But John Dronfield of Forever Beech and Robin Curtis of Health Based Building are trying to change that. When it comes to timber, they believe it is possible to harvest sustainably from a forest and build homes that are not only genuinely sustainable but are beautiful, healthy spaces in which to live.www.betterancestors.org
Sep 1: Rock stars
In the heart of the Waikato there’s a multimillion-dollar industry based on a gnat. Glowworms are big business, attracting well over half a million people a year to Waitomo and prompting some to shift from working the land above ground to commercialising the creatures below it. But keeping the caves and their thousands of tiny performance artists in good health requires round-the-clock care.
Sep 1: Paper Plate Dinosaurs
Learn about glow worms and make some dinosaurs!
Sep 1: Better Ancestors: fresh water or not?
New Zealand is at a tipping point. The cumulative adverse impacts of our land use and the impact of synthetic fertilisers and industrial agriculture are harming our freshwater ecology, driving species to the brink of extinction and impacting human health. But we have the capacity to change and now is the time. If we can respect our unique natural world; if we can change the way we farm, reduce the number of animals and our dependence upon synthetic inputs; and if we can reclothe the land with appropriate plants and stop sedimentation, we will give the natural world the opportunity to heal.www.betterancestors.org
Aug 31: Noughts and Crosses Game
Hospital for birds, and make your own noughts and crosses game.
Aug 31: The call of the kōkako
Parininihi consists of 2,000 hectares of coastal and inland forest in Taranaki and Conrad O’Carroll has committed his life’s work to caring for it and its resident kōkako population by managing introduced predators and teaching the next generation of kaitiaki / guardians.Ngāti Tama are tangata whenua and kaitiaki of Parininihi and these lands hold great cultural, historic and spiritual significance to Ngāti Tama, who strive to maintain the health of Parininihi.Kōkako (Callaeas wilsoni) are of the genus Callaeidae, Wattle Birds, and very distant relatives of the crow. They were previously widespread in Aotearoa. However, populations have been decimated by the predations of mam
Aug 31: When birds get sick
Diseases can take a huge toll on wild animals and hasten rare species towards extinction. In New Zealand, scientists, vets and conservation volunteers are teaming up to try to beat the viruses, parasites and fungi threatening some of our rarest bird species.
Aug 30: Possum. An ecological nightmare.
Brushtail possums are a protected species in their native Australia. Across the Tasman, they have established themselves as New Zealand's most voracious and intractable pest, attacking simultaneously the beauty of our forests and the good name of our farming products.
Aug 30: Stitch-o-Mat: the service sowing sustainability through sewing
The fashion industry is one of the world's biggest polluters. But Samantha Fay and Bridget Allen are doing their bit to reduce its impacts through Stitch-o-Mat, a community service that helps people improve their sewing skills - and provides a hands-on way to recycle fabric and develop creativity.In New Brighton, Christchurch, sewing machines are available for people to use for their own sewing projects or to sew for a community project. People pop in, work away and learn new skills. An important co-benefit is the development of a sense of community and support for one another.As Samantha explains, a great choice we can make in terms of minimising harm to the environment is to repair
Aug 30: Paint your own shoes
Learn about possums, and paint some designer shoes—like, you're the designer!
Aug 27: The fire beneath us
New Zealand’s largest city sits atop an active volcanic field that has erupted at least 53 times in the past 250,000 years. The catastrophic blasts felled forests and set the Auckland isthmus alight. The fire-fountaining cones and lava flows rode roughshod over the land. Scientists are not wondering if it will happen again, but what it will cost Auckland in lives and infrastructure when it does.
Aug 27: Make volcano cupcakes
Volcano cupcakes. Delicious and deadly.
Aug 26: Blood suckers
Lampreys have done without bones—even jaws—for 360 million years, making do instead with a mouthful of rasps designed for shredding. But those teeth are no match for a new and invisible enemy. Are pesticides killing the lampreys? Scientists are scrambling to find out.
Aug 26: Sam Mahon's fight for New Zealand rivers
The art of outrage.
Aug 26: Get arty with striped vases
Make some painted vases...
Aug 25: The wisdom of fungi
Brendan Linnane began his journey into the world of fungi with a chance reading of Mycellium Running by Paul Stamets. In the book, he speaks of the importance of fungi as "the grand recyclers of our planet - as the interface organisms between life and death and life again". Inspired by his writing, he created Foggy Dew Fungi and learned to appreciate fungi as our teachers.All living creatures are connected, but most connections are invisible to us unless we learn to perceive things in new ways. Perhaps by slowing down and taking time to sit quietly, to look and listen carefully, we can learn from the natural world.www.betterancestors.org
Aug 25: Create a clay fungi
Make your own toadstool garden...
Aug 25: The underground forest
Buried in the soil are the lattices and networks of another kingdom of life, one that’s inextricably connected with what grows above the ground. Fungi determine the types of trees that thrive, and change the quality and health of soil. So, what exactly are they up to down there—and what powers do fungi have that humans could harness?
Aug 24: Where the seabirds go
During winter, dozens of seabird species take flight from New Zealand on epic migrations across the planet—and recent advances in tracking technology mean we can now follow them. What we’re learning has upended scientists’ ideas about the lengths animals will go to in order to raise a family.
Aug 24: Paint your own cloth bags
Read about birds, make some bird paintings with your hands!
Aug 24: Giving native birds and reptiles a second chance
New Zealand is unique in the world. With the exception of bats, Aotearoa has no native land-based mammals. Our bird populations have adapted to this – some, like the kiwi, are flightless, and others nest on the ground. Into this environment introduced predators like stoats, cats, possums and rats have wreaked havoc, pushing populations of our precious taonga towards the precipice of extinction. Humans also exact a mighty toll. But the South Island Wildlife Hospital in Christchurch, which is operated by volunteers from the Wildlife Veterinary Trust, is doing its bit to help by treating and rehabilitating injured and sick native birds and reptiles.www.betterancestors.co.nz
Aug 23: Eight legs, two fangs and an attitude
Frequently feared, but mostly misunderstood, spiders have a dazzling repertoire of behaviour, and engineering skills which are unmatched in the animal world.
Aug 23: Create a rock turtle
Read about spiders, make a spider, or a turtle out of rocks and paint...
Aug 23: The cloth works
By re-purposing second-hand fabrics, using eco-printing and dyeing techniques Seonaid Burnie reveals art from within nature.
Aug 20: The whales are back
Last century, southern right whales were hunted until there were none left—none that we could find. A small group of these whales, also called tohorā, hid from the harpoon. Deep in the subantarctic, the survivors birthed and nursed their young. Now, tohorā are returning to the coasts of New Zealand. Are we ready for them?
Aug 20: Make a silhouette painting
Read some stuff, make some stuff, watch some stuff...
Aug 20: Saving marine mammals
Aotearoa / New Zealand has one of the world’s highest rates of whale strandings, and hundreds of whales can beach themselves at one time. During these strandings, it is the highly skilled volunteer medics, trained by Project Jonah, who offer the best care possible.By directing the public on how to help and maintain personal safety, these volunteers are able to keep stranded whales from overheating and, if possible, return them to the water.Through the disruption of migratory routes by shipping, habitat threat from commercial fishing, pollution of ocean ecosystems and changes to water chemistry, whales face multiple severe obstacles to their survival. So if we truly wish to help the
Aug 19: Guardians of the ocean
Ricardo Christie and Jo Holley call themselves guardians of the ocean. And they're calling on more New Zealanders to do the same; to learn about the immense pressure being placed on our marine ecosystems and exert some pressure of their own on politicians so we can protect what remains.www.betterancestors.org
Aug 19: Blue Water Islands
A thousand kilometres north-east of the mainland, the Kermadec group basks in a subtropical environment and two decades of marine protection. In May this year, scientists scoured this untouched world to catalogue, collect and expand the list of species found there, and discovered an ecosystem unlike anything else in the country.
Aug 19: Design your own fish!
Make your own school of fish using whatever you have around the house.
Aug 28: What happened on Stack H?
The Mokohinau stag beetle is one of the world’s most endangered species, occupying less than an acre of scrub on a rocky tower in the middle of the ocean. Its habitat is so precarious that Auckland Zoo and DOC are hoping to safeguard a population of beetles on the mainland as a form of insurance—that is, if there are any left.
Aug 28: Sugar dear?
At Auckland Zoo there’s an elderly primate whose unobtrusive presence and minimalist surroundings understate her significant role in our history. Isolated from the other chimps, she looks lonely, but this is her choice. She doesn’t get along with her fellow primates and prefers her solitary enclosure to their park-like surroundings. When her longtime friend, Bobbie, died four years ago, Janie, 58, became the last of the famous tea party chimpanzees.
Aug 28: Tea-party Chimp
We've changed our minds about zoos should be over the past generation. Let's visit Auckland Zoo to figure out what we've learned...
Sunday doco: Awesome Pawsome
Experience tigers in a completely new way as four cubs grow up to become part of a rare kind of family at Australian’s Dreamworld.
Aug 27: Auckland's green heart
In 1845 Governor George Grey set aside 80 hectares of central Auckland for a park. On the crest of an ancient volcano, it is a memorial, a recreation space, a green heart for the city and its citizens.
Aug 27: Auckland Museum
Let's learn about something close to home—at the centre of our city.
Aug 26: Silence of the Fantails
The fantail is one of our commonest native birds, loved for its flamboyant tail, acrobatic flight and inquisitive friendliness. Yet life is no bed of roses for these charming little birds. Between August and February each year they pour their energy into reproduction, only to have almost all of their infant offspring devoured by rats and other predators.
Aug 26: Pīwakawaka
Let's learn about fantails...
Aug 25: Where are all the spotted shags?
Seabird scientists are creating a fake home for shags on the Noises, an island group off the coast of Auckland, in the hope that the Hauraki Gulf’s rapidly diminishing spotted shag population will be fooled into thinking it’s a great place to start a family.
Aug 25: Spotted Shags
Let's learn about spotted shags...
Aug 24: The governor's island
In a succession of difficult postings—South Australia, New Zealand, South Africa—the energetic George Grey proved himself one of the British Empire's most able governors. Yet when he returned to New Zealand in 1861 for a second term, the magic was fading. The colony was on the brink of civil war, and local politicians were unwilling to allow Grey his former power. As an escape from the increasing pressure and frustration of public life, Grey purchased Kawau Island, building a grand house there amid exotic gardens and filling it with treasures. On the centenary of the death of Sir George Grey—soldier, statesman, explorer, philanthropist—we pay a lingering visit to Mansion House.
Aug 24: Kawau Island
Many Aucklanders know Kawau Island, but how many know it's truly weird history?
Aug 21: Return of the ancients
Sea turtles survived a meteor that killed the dinosaurs, millions of years of predator attacks, even the slow warming of the seas, only to be threatened by nylon fishing lines and plastic bags. Those that wash up in New Zealand almost always need the help of humans.
Aug 21: Turtles
Here's a lockdown life-hack... wear your home on your back like a turtle and you can travel anywhere!
Sunday doco: The Forgotten Atoll
The fascinating secrets of the South Atlantic Ocean’s only atoll have remained hidden from humankind… until now.
Aug 20: The Kiwi Bushman
Josh James reinvents adventure and manhood on the West Coast, with the world watching.
Aug 20: The Kiwi Bushman
While we're in lockdown, just imagine we can go bush...
Aug 19: Bird Island
The spade brigade, as they were dubbed, planted 280,000 seedlings—a city of trees—into which a host of rare birds and reptiles were released. Within sight of New Zealand's largest city, Tiritiri Matangi is now a template for island restoration and endangered species management.
Aug 19: Tiritiri
Our ground-based native bird species would be lost on the mainland, but have found safety in lockdown on offshore islands.
Velvet underground
It may look like a subterranean soft toy, but a prowling peripatus is anything but cuddly. The "velvet worm" is a voracious predator with a startling method of catching prey, and one of the forest's more unlikely denizens.
August 18: Peripatus
Let's learn about something weeeeeeird...
Aug 17: No Take Zone
Rolling a fresh cigarette, Bill Ballantine gives a sardonic laugh as he recalls the headline in the local newspaper when New Zealand’s first marine reserve was opened in 1977—“Nothing to do at Goat Island Bay any more.” He had fought for 12 years to protect five square kilometres of marine habitat on the Northland coast. That protection was finally in place. To Ballantine it was the start of a new era. To the newspaper, voicing community opposition, it was the end of one.
Aug 17: Goat Island
Let's learn about marine protection, and the making of Goat Island.
Aug 13: Bryde's whales
In the Hauraki Gulf
Aug 13: Bryde's Whales
Let's learn about the whales in the Hauraki Gulf!
Sunday doco: Spinner Dolphins
Enter the mysterious world of spinner dolphins and discover how and why they perform the complex aerial activities, unique to their kind.
August 13: Deep insight
Here we are, back in lockdown. But before we go out of our minds, let's delve into the many minds of the octopus.
August 13: Octopus
Let's learn about octopii!
May 16: Black Tide - the Rena accident and its implications
New Zealanders have become accustomed to sea freight slipping silently in and out of the country’s ports without incident. But on October 5, that impression of well-oiled efficiency foundered on Astrolabe Reef, and our coastlines suddenly seemed acutely exposed. What went wrong?
May 16: The Rena accident
Nearly ten years ago the Rena slammed into Astrolabe Reef. What can we learn from that tragedy?
May15: South by Kayak
Pushing through a field of brash ice, an intrepid New Zealand expedition closes in on the bottom of the world. Their goal: the Antarctic Circle. Their route: wherever wind, wave and ice permit a passage along the western shore of the Antarctic Peninsula. Their means: three fibreglass kayaks and a fair measure of grit.
May 15: Kayaking Antarctica
Let's kayak around Antarctica!
May 14: Raising Baby - Gorilla
Enjoy the antics of two orphaned baby gorillas as they journey through their first year of life.
May 14: Raising Baby - Gorilla documentary
What does it take to raise a gorilla?
May 13: A new day for solar power
The sun powers our planet and provides us life. It’s as simple as that—though the processes can be mysterious and the applications surprising. In December last year, a bunch of Kiwis with a budget of less than $40,000 proved that it was possible to drive the length of the country using nothing but sunlight.
May 13: Solar Cars
Can we make a new future with renewable energy?
May 12: Best in Show
New Zealanders boast one of the highest dog ownership rates in the world—one third of households own at least one dog and 300 kennel clubs across the country run hundreds of dog shows a year. The competition will always be fierce, but there can only be one Best in Show.
May 12: Show Dogs
Only two more days in alert level 2, four more days of home-schooling. Love it or hate it, our time Together at Home is drawing to a close. Let's go to the dog show...
May 11: Australia
The epic journey of the world’s most arid continent has driven the evolution of its bizarre pouched mammals, until Australia became the realm of marsupials.
May 11: Australia video
Let's look at life across The Ditch...
May 10: Shooting stars
For stargazers, the clear skies over Tekapō afford a remarkable view of the heavens.
May 10: Shooting stars
Let's shoot for the stars!
May 8: Mana Island
In fading light, a fairy prion returns to its roost on Mana Island as a host of nocturnal creatures are just beginning their day. After concerted conservation efforts, the island is now a hive of activity after dark.
May 8: Mana Island
Let's go to Mana Island... at night!
May 7: Fussy Eaters
In the world of Extreme Animals, meet the Babies! From the cute and the seemingly helpless, to the weird and sometimes downright creepy, get ready for a top ten countdown of the world’s most extreme animal infants.
May 7: Fussy eaters video
OK, it's weird to think about how we eat... but let's think about how we eat.
May 6: Waste not, want not
In our rush through modern life, we leave behind a mountain of rubbish that gets a little higher every year. The problem starts in our homes—so does the solution.
May 6: Rubbish
What happens to nature's rubbish? Let's find out...
May 5: Deep space
By night, a menagerie of species rises to the surface of the ocean—rarely glimpsed, and in some cases never photographed.
May 5: Blackwater Photography
Enter the unknown, a liquid world beneath the sea...
May 4: Citizen science
You don’t need a PhD to find a new species, unearth a rare fungus or name an asteroid. New Zealanders with no specialist training are contributing to scientific research by monitoring streams, spotting rare plants, counting the birds visiting their back gardens, and putting GPS trackers on their cats.
May 4: Citizen Science
You can be a scientist too...
May 3: Chatham Islands
Perched way out in the Pacific, Rangatira Island is pockmarked with thousands, maybe millions, of seabird burrows. Its forest remnants and rocky platforms also shelter some unique and critically endangered birds. But even endangered birds can make a tasty snack and, on a crowded island, there might not be enough room for everyone to rear their chicks.
May 3: Chatham Islands video
Let's go to the Chathams...
May 2: Kelly Tarlton
Although he is best remembered for the Underwater World on Auckland's waterfront which still carries his name 22 years after his death, that project was just the last in a life brimming with adventure, discovery, originality and zest.
May 2: Kelly Tarlton
Would you like to be a pioneer? What would it feel like to explore a world no one else had seen?
May 1: The leg shop
What happens when you lose a limb?
May 1: The leg shop
So, you don't have any legs. What do you do? You build some new ones that are even more awesome.
Thu 30: Banks Peninsula: Mountains Meet the Sea
A drowned volcano, jutting out into the ocean, shelters one of the world’s tiniest marine dolphins. Fresh meltwater from Southern Alps rushes down braided rivers, washes food into the sea and percolates into wetlands that provide a home for the long lived and mysterious eels.
Thu 30: Banks Peninsula video
Let's travel to Banks Peninsula...
Kids respond: Jellyfish
Kids get slimy with jellyfish...
Wed 29: Jellyfish
Drifting at any depth in all the world’s oceans, these creatures range from an Arctic species with a bell the size of a car, to a venomous microscopic Australian. Carnivorous predators, jellyfish swarm around our coasts and litter our beaches, yet we know surprisingly little about them. Some of the most recognisable species don’t even qualify as true jellyfish. One such, a Portuguese Man of War (Physalia physalis), its inflated bladder keeping it poised at the surface, is not even a single animal, but a sizeable colony containing four types of minute, highly modified polyps.
Wed 29: Jellyfish
They don't have a brain or a butt, but jellyfish are cool...
Tue 28: Fields of Plenty
Look closer. The straggling plants on the riverbank, the so-called weeds in the garden, the insect-eaten leaves on the forest’s edge—often ploughed, sprayed or simply ignored—are finding their way back into the medicine chest. And Maori herbal remedies, once derided and outlawed by an act of Parliament, are revealing their curative power.
Tue 28: Medicine
Lots of plants have medicinal properties, even in New Zealand. Let's learn about rongoa.
Sun 26: The Kermadecs
Alone in the Pacific, halfway to Tonga, sit the Kermadec Islands. This remote archipelago is New Zealand’s northernmost frontier and our toehold on the tropics. Everything that lives on and around these young islands has travelled far to be here and a unique mix of creatures thrive in its warm waters. As a marine community the Kermadec is unrivalled in New Zealand waters.
Sun 26: Kermadecs video
Follow us north, 1000 kilometres north to the Kermadecs Islands.
Sat 25: Gallipoli—a hill too far
In the battle for Chunuk Bair, Imperial Britain’s campaign to occupy the Gallipoli peninsula reached its harsh climax, and fighting centre stage were the soldiers of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Artist Ion Brown’s re-creation of the scene—a sesquicentennial gift to the people of New Zealand from the country’s armed forces—celebrates the unquenchable resolve of the few in the face of a massive Turkish counter-assault.
Sat 25: Gallipoli
It's April 25th, ANZAC Day.
Fri 23: Road to recovery
Takahē numbers are rising by 10 per cent a year. The problem now is where to put them.
Fri 23: Takahē
Once thought extinct, takahē have endured a lockdown to protect them—just like us! Did you know you can knit your own baby takahē? With a fork?
Thu 23: Open Bay Islands
On New Zealand’s remote Open Bay Islands, New Zealand fur seals protect their newborns from surging seas, starvation, and predation by great white sharks.
Thu 23: Open Bay Islands video
Let's travel to the wild West Coast!
Wed 22: The glory of clouds
They are the supertankers of the sky, ferrying billions of tonnes of water vapour around the atmosphere and making possible life on land.
Wed 22: Clouds
Look up! Behold, the architecture of the skies!
Tue 21: Signs of Life
Like a planet in space, a rainbow trout egg sparks and crackles as biological processes begin a miraculous transformation, the same that progresses silently in the inscrutable waters of New Zealand’s wild rivers every day. But even in clean rivers, the odds are stacked against this small vessel of life—only one in a thousand eggs will hatch and survive until adulthood.
Tue 21: Baby trout
Ba-by fish doo doo tu-doo-tu-doo...
Mon 20: Poor Knights Islands
New Zealand’s Poor Knights Islands is considered one of the world’s top dive sites and for good reason, with a rich collection of extraordinary characters and bizarre behaviours, including a unique congregation of stingrays and sex-changing Sandager's wrasse.
Mon 20: Poor Knights video
Let's dive in to the pristine waters of the Poor Knights...
Sun 19: The microscopic world of lichens
There is a slow war raging, under our noses.
Sun 19: Lichens
Lichens—like us at the moment—are playing the long game. Let's learn some lessons from our most patient plants...
Kids respond: Spider webs
We build spider webs with wool...
Sat 18: Aquatic assassins
The secret life of fishing spiders
Sat 18: Aquatic assassins
Today we go hunting for the creepy and crawler critters in our backyards and berms!
Fri 17: Fiordland
In the cold, steep world of the fiords, tannins block out sunlight to the world below. The fiords are cold and inhospitable in winter, when they receive little light and freeze over at their extremes. In this unforgiving world there are no second chances
Fri 17: Fiordland video
Let's slip into the shadowland...
Thu 16: Seven steps
An Otago man out for a walk made a significant palaeontological discovery.
Thu 16: Moa footprints
Let's travel back in time...
Kids respond: Frog reveal
Let's draw pictures of frogs.
Wed 15: P class
Most of the stellar yachting careers of New Zealand’s America’s Cup sailors began in humble seven-foot boats—a class now a century old—designed by a Public Works employee who couldn’t swim, and who was too hard up to build anything larger.
Wed 15: Let's go sailing!
It's breezy out there... let's learn how to harness the wind.
Kids respond: Volcano
Kiwi kids build volcanoes.
Tue 14: White Island
In the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand’s most active volcano fills the sky with plumes of white cloud. Sterile and inhospitable, the forces that built White Island influence the seas around it.
Tue 14: White Island video
Whakaari/White Island was recently the scene of tragedy, but it's also a natural wonderland that we can learn from.
Mon 13: Liquidation
Water, our most precious natural asset, offers amenity, a habitat for aquatic species and a focus for recreation. But it also turns the turbines of industry and powers New Zealand’s agricultural economy. Economic development and environmental integrity are at odds in a struggle for control over this great resource. Are we mortgaging our future for a little more economic growth?
Mon 13: Water
A 'weather bomb' threatens the nation, but not to fear, a bit of foul weather creates an opportunity to create...
Sun 12: A leap in the dark
Of all the world’s amphibians, the most evolutionarily unusual and critically endangered is the Archey’s frog. The smallest of New Zealand’s four native frogs, this ‘living fossil’ hasn’t changed much in 150 million years. It didn’t evolve ears or a voice, prefers the forest floor to water, and can’t leap without landing in a bellyflop. Why are Archey’s frogs so strange, and what makes them so important?