Evolution is the process of change in a species that occurs over a long period of time. The origin of species Charles Darwin published his book The Origin of Species in 1859. Darwin’s ideas were ...
New technologies can extend our scientific understanding. They can also mean we have to throw out earlier ideas. Prior to the 1950s and the ‘radiocarbon revolution’, archaeology relied on forms ...
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 enough sun, water or nutrients from the soil. Because plants ...
Relative dating is used to arrange geological events, and the rocks they leave behind, in a sequence. The method of reading the order is called stratigraphy (layers of rock are called strata) ...
Geologists often need to know the age of material that they find. They use absolute dating methods, sometimes called numerical dating, to give rocks an actual date, or date range, in numbers of ...
Adaptation is an evolutionary process whereby an organism becomes increasingly well suited to living in a particular habitat. Natural selection results in helpful traits becoming more common in a ...
Although earthworms are classified as animals, their bodies are quite different to animals that live above the ground. This video highlights some of the interesting physical characteristics ...
The earthworm’s body is well adapted for life in the soil. Click on the labels to see images and learn more.
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 has one reason to grow – to reproduce and make ...
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 in the ...
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 largest tree ferns found anywhere. Many of the species ...
New Zealand has a rich and unique range of plants, animals and fungi. The level of distinctive biodiversity is as high as such world-renowned ecosystems as the Galapagos Islands. So how have our ...
Butterflies are the exhibitionists of the insect world. For many invertebrates, camouflage is the best defence against predators, so how do brightly coloured butterflies protect themselves? The ...
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 ecosystem when ...
As humans, we’re curious about ourselves. Where did we come from? How did we evolve? From a number of hominins to one Tom Higham talks about what we know about the journey from a number of ...
This animated video shows the movement of the tectonic plates that make up the Earth’s crust. Starting 600 million years ago, watch continents form and break apart as the plates move. Pangaea the ...
Dr Mark Goodwin of Plant & Food Research explains how flowering plants use self-pollination or cross-pollination in their reproduction. He uses kiwifruit and avocado as examples to show how ...
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, a peach or a plum, you probably cut out the seeds and put them in the compost bin ...
“How old is it?” is one of the first questions you’ll probably ask when you see an interesting rock or fossil. It’s certainly one of the first things that a geologist wants to know. As you’ll ...
A look at some of the historical changes in New Zealand’s unique ecosystems and steps being undertaken to protect it. 250 million years ago – One landmass and one huge ocean All landmass on Earth ...
This timeline provides a look at some of the historical aspects in finding out the age of the Earth. Find about more the developments in how geologists find out the ages of rocks and fossils ...
Explore this interactive to learn more about New Zealand’s unique reptiles and amphibians. Move your mouse or finger over any of the labelled boxes and click to obtain more information. Select ...
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 ...
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 – until being rediscovered in 1948. There ...
