New Zealand’s native species evolved in isolation from other regions for millions of years after the last land bridge to Gondwana was lost. Birds and insects dominated our ecosystems, and the ...
Frogs are vertebrates and belong to the class Amphibia. They are the only amphibians naturally occurring in New Zealand. All frogs have delicate, semi-permeable skin that allows them to absorb ...
Skinks and geckos are the only 2 native families of lizard found in New Zealand (note that tuatara are not lizards). They are vertebrates and belong to the class Reptilia. All our native skink ...
In this activity, students have the opportunity to create a lizard-friendly habitat in the school grounds. The extension activity involves designing a suitable environment for keeping lizards in ...
In this activity, students work in small groups to rank a number of native reptiles and amphibians according to their conservation threat status or risk of extinction. By the end of this ...
In this activity, students consider the conservation of native frogs from a number of different perspectives. By the end of this activity, students should be able to: examine the conservation of ...
FrogID is an Australian app that uses audio of frogs’ unique calls to identify various species and their locations. We can use it in New Zealand to record the location of introduced frogs. There ...
The Great Kererū Count is New Zealand’s biggest citizen science project to help gather information on the abundance and distribution of the endemic New Zealand pigeon. The 2020 count takes place ...
iNaturalist logs hundreds of thousands of photos of flora, fauna and fungi. There are even sound recordings too. Each is described and geo located. iNaturalist is used by citizens and scientists ...
To most of us, one earthworm resembles another. Although earthworms do have common characteristics, species differ widely in their size, skin colour and in the roles they play in the soil ...
Students of any level develop a board game illustrating knowledge of New Zealand’s possum problem and the strategies used to control it – including biocontrol strategies. Purpose To demonstrate ...
Students collect information from the public about methods of controlling possum numbers and then present a report on the use of biocontrol. Purpose Although the active biocontrol research ...
Dr Phil Bishop, from the University of Otago, talks about the threats facing our native frogs. The most significant threat in New Zealand is introduced mammalian predators. Point of interest: ...
Mainland sanctuaries, also known as mainland islands, are an important conservation strategy in New Zealand. In this video clip, Associate Professor Alison Cree, from the University of Otago ...
Dr Phil Bishop, from the University of Otago, talks about his research into metabolic bone disease. This disease only affects captive frogs, and the cure involves an elaborate UV tanning booth ...
Explore this interactive to learn more about New Zealand’s unique reptiles and amphibians.
After students have researched an earthworm of their choice they can use this interactive to complete a Wormface profile for their earthworm. You will need the Adobe Flash Player to view this.
Dr Candida Savage explains the clues she collects in estuaries and fiords, to understand how changes in land use affect these environments.
