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 ...
New Zealand has 4 species of native frogs that are all endemic. All 4 are threatened with extinction. A major focus of the amphibian research at the University of Otago is how to save these ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Skink Spotter NZ is interested in weather conditions that best suit skinks to be active. This information will enable the research team to consider how skink activity might change as the climate ...
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 ...
Dr Phil Bishop, from the University of Otago, talks about the challenges and the importance of breeding frogs in captivity.
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: ...
Explore this interactive to learn more about New Zealand’s unique reptiles and amphibians.
