He tohu te whakarerekētanga o te korihi a ngā manu kāore e tika ana tētahi āhuatanga mō te tangata whenua i te Waitākere. He māuiui ngā...
E whakapae ana kei te āhua 209 ngā momo manu whakawhānau i Aotearoa. Me pēhea tātou e mōhio he aha ngā momo manu e mātaitia ana...
It is estimated there are currently 209 breeding bird species in Aotearoa New Zealand. How can we tell what bird species we are observing? All living...
What are extremophilic microorganisms? Let’s start by looking closer at microorganisms. All the organisms we know about on Earth are either cellular (by far the majority)...
This Connected article takes a Pacific worldview and describes how the people of the Cook Islands have attempted to manage and protect their marine resources with...
This Connected article, written by Matt Boucher, looks at why our wildlife is so distinct and how the species developed and adapted to their current state....
Ruminants are mammals with specialised digestive systems that use fermentation processes to gain nutrients from plant material. Cattle, sheep, deer, goats and camels are all ruminants....
In Spring 2020 Countdown developed a fantastic collection of insect cards and an album full of amazing facts and activities all about insects found in Aotearoa...
Insects can be large – like the 130 mm wingspan of the kapokapowai/bush giant dragonfly – or tiny – like the 2 mm namu/West Coast blackfly....
In the Connected article Catch my drift, students learn about phytoplankton – tiny floating organisms that form the base of the marine food web. The article...
Kākā (Nestor meridionalis) are one of New Zealand’s endemic parrots and a great example of how concerted efforts can improve a native species’ conservation status. It...
The ‘Buzz of bees’ is a Connected journal devoted entirely to bees. Each article has diagrams and illustrations that offer opportunities for students to develop the...
What is a mast? You might be forgiven for thinking it had more to do with ships than conservation! The term comes from the ancient English...
Introduced wasps cause all sort of problems for people and native species, but did you know we have native wasps in New Zealand? What is a...
Imagine being able to smell your dinner from the other side of a sports field. Insects do this with the pair of antennae on their heads....
Have you ever wondered how animals manage to survive in the harsh Antarctic environment? What do they eat during those long winter months when ice and...
An inquiry approach is often recommended for science education. It supports student-directed learning and can enhance engagement because students pursue questions and lines of inquiry that...
Takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri) once lived throughout the South Island. Their original habitats were the bushy edges of lowland swamps and rivers. Today’s remnant takahē population lives...
Nō te whaitua eukaryota ngā hekaheka, ko te īhi, ko te puruhekaheka, ko te harore ētahi o ōna huānga. He pūtautini ētahi hekaheka, ko ētahi ia,...
Fungi are eukaryotic organisms and include yeasts, moulds and mushrooms. Some fungi are multicellular, while others, such as yeasts, are unicellular. Most fungi are microscopic, but...
He puna koiora puiaki te wao nui a Tāne. Waihoki, ko Aotearoa anake te kāinga e tupu māori ai te nuinga o ōna hanga ora. Ko...
New Zealand plants are unique! New Zealand has some of the oldest primeval forests in the world, the largest type of moss and some of the...
Moths make up the third most diverse insect group in New Zealand, and their day/night habits are also diverse. While most moths are nocturnal (active at...
Whio/blue ducks were once commonly found on rivers and streams throughout mainland New Zealand. However, the populations are now severely restricted and isolated from each other....
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