evolution

Around 3,500 years ago the earliest ancestors of many Pacific people and Māori – the people provisionally named Lapita – appeared in Oceania. Records of the...

One of New Zealand’s iconic moa species was almost wiped out during the last ice age according to recently published research. DNA from ancient eastern moa...

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....

This Connected article by Sophie Fern covers the discovery of Squawkzilla – a giant parrot that lived in New Zealand 19 million years ago. Two leg...

This Connected article by Priscilla Wehi and Hemi Whaanga explores how early Māori named and grouped the plants and animals they found around them. Discover what...

Our planet has life on it, and for that reason, it may be unique in the universe. Ironically enough, we know much more about some of...

In 1880, Alice McKenzie saw a large blue bird in a remote part of Fiordland. Alice and her family made careful observations of the bird 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...

In any one species, there is a large amount of genetic variation. The survival of a species is often linked with the extent of genetic variation...

Population biology is a field of study that explores populations and how they interact with their environment. Scientists observe all factors influencing a population within an...

Scientifically, takahē have been something of a mystery. For several decades, it was assumed that takahē were extinct in both the North and South Islands –...

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...

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...

Genomics has opened up our understanding of ancient hominins and human evolution. Genomics is an area within genetics that concerns the sequencing and analysis of an...

Mapping the whole genome of the sheep (Ovis aries) was completed in 2014. The information is contributing to a myriad of new research projects to improve...

Island gigantism is a phenomenon sometimes seen in animal evolution in such species as the Komodo dragon, Madagascar’s extinct elephant bird and New Zealand’s extinct moa....

School science is engaging when it makes connections to students’ everyday lives (Osborne & Collins, 2001) and when they have an opportunity to experience physical phenomena...

A DNA study of extinct elephant bird specimens held at Wellington’s Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa have revealed the birds to be the kiwi’s...

Wasps are usually the bad guys when it comes to New Zealand’s biodiversity, but some good news has come out of Middle Earth. In December 2013,...

What usually happens when you cut up a piece of fruit to eat or to put in a salad? If it is an apple, a pear,...

In this activity, students use activity cards to match seeds with the fruits from which they grow. They learn that a seed will produce the same...

Plants make seeds that can grow into new plants, but if the seeds just fall to the ground under the parent plant, they might not get...

Humans have many reasons to grow plants. We use them for food, for building materials, for pleasure and for many other purposes. A plant really just...

New Zealand’s little spotted kiwi (Apteryx owenii) population in 2013 numbered around 1,600. They are vulnerable to disease and other environmental stresses according to a genetic...