Only 300 individual birds in New Zealand have any sort of protection from H5N1, which has devastated wild birds and domestic ...

Avian flu has arrived in New Zealand, riding along with a sick skua. Scientists have been worried about this moment for ...

“Forever chemicals” linked to serious health effects in humans are finding their way into our freshwater fish, a new study has found. PFAS are oil- and water-resistant chemicals used in the ...

Winding up to competitions, Te Toki’s teenagers endure pre-dawn alarms, 3.8-kilometre runs around the lake, customised gym routines, and training to finesse paddle skills. On the south-eastern shore ...

The bird with a big mouth. The bird who leads the flock. The bird who announces the day. The bird who sounds the alarm. The dark bird. The rare bird. The noble, silly, insomniac parrot we’re going to ...

Science & Environment Hall of mirrors Every autumn, hundreds of newly fledged Cook’s petrel chicks emerge from their burrows in the dark of the Hauraki Gulf and launch into their first big flight—a ...

In 2024, Naomi Arnold slogged her way up Te Araroa, walking from Bluff to Cape Reinga over about nine months. Here, 100 kilometres into her odyssey and deeply unsure about her capacity to finish it, ...

Leslie Adkin wore a lot of hats: photographer, farmer, pioneering tramper, husband and father, self-taught geologist, anthropologist. But it’s his pictures that have had the broadest impact. His ...

Until recently, scientists didn’t think our amber held any insects. Now, they’ve found more than 200 specimens—immaculately preserved, and each telling a story about our prehistoric past. The digger ...

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, ...