The fossilised fin of an ichthyosaur has given up an ancient secret: it seems the massive marine predators were very, very ...

For decades, scientists have been collecting brittle stars, or Ophiuroidea, a relative of the starfish, and storing them in museums and universities. Now, DNA analysis from thousands of these ancient, ...

In the northwest Pacific, a crushing 10 kilometres below the surface, a community of shellfish, worms and anemones is quietly ...

It all flows, Togiaso says, from the principle that “we play for each other. You play for your teammate, your brother next to you.” Most of the team are Pasifika and Māori; Togiaso is Samoan.

Some, like clownfish, swap when there’s a gap in the social order. Others switch when they get to a certain size, when they’re looking for a mate, when the weather is hot, when the environment is ...

Lots of spiders are very good at one or two things. Stalking, maybe. Setting traps. Biting. But Steatoda nobilis, the invasive spider now spreading in New Zealand, has an arsenal of tactics—including ...

Willows can stop a river flooding a farm. Or they can turn a river dark and mean. Trying to control them, we’re realising, has always been a fool’s game. But we can’t stop now. For centuries, the ...

“Epic” is an overused word. I’m in the heart of Mount Aspiring National Park. We’re surrounded on three sides by 400-metre cliffs, over which tumble curtains of water. Boulders the size of townhouses ...

From more than 6000 entries, judges have assembled a gallery of 68 images that tell the story of an exceptional year in Aotearoa. Select five of your favourites to vote in the Ockham Residential ...

Bruce “Chopper” Reay has lived in a remote deerstalkers’ hut on the edge of Fiordland National Park for most of his life. But he’s not exactly off the grid. If you didn’t know better, Bruce Reay and ...

Between 6–10 metres of rain falls in Fiordland each year. An incredible amount. It’s part of what powers the forest-to-fiord carbon storage pump that makes Fiordland exceptionally good at locking away ...

Kina numbers have exploded as we’ve eaten too many of their predators – like big snapper and crayfish – that usually keep them in check. The urchins munch through kelp and seaweed, leaving bare rock ...