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This feed currently contains the following newsitems (total count 1648):

    • Tai Tamariki: Observational drawing
      • Tai Tamariki: An Introduction Many people may not realise that here at Te Papa Tongarewa, we are home to Tai Tamariki, a unique early childhood centre. Tai Tamariki has been based at Te Papa on our ground floor since 2010, and is much more than a ‘tenant’. The children and

    • Painting like the nineteenth-century ‘globe-trotteress’ Constance Gordon-Cumming
      • In 2025, Te Papa acquired four watercolours by the nineteenth-century British artist Constance Frederica Gordon-Cumming (1837–1924). Over summer, art history lecturer Dr Victoria Munn, and student and artist, Catherine Shone, brought new light to bear on Gordon-Cumming’s artistic practice and process. Who was Constance Gordon-Cumming? Constance Gordon-Cumming (1837–1924) was a

    • A new bird for New Zealand – Jouanin’s petrel
      • Pat Miller has been walking Northland’s beaches, looking for treasure, for more than half a century. In September last year he made his most notable discovery yet – a new bird record for New Zealand. Most New Zealand bird enthusiasts have never heard of Jouanin’s petrel. Those who knew of

    • Highlights from the 2026 City Nature Challenge in Greater Wellington
      • The iNaturalist City Nature Challenge is an annual citizen science event where cities worldwide compete to record the most observations and species, and to have the greatest number of participants over a four-day period. Science Researcher Lara Shepherd highlights some of the interesting discoveries made during the challenge, in what

    • Te Papa’s NZSL Journey: Building a more accessible public programme
      • Public programmes are often a gateway into a museum’s collections, sparking curiosity, deepening understanding, and helping people connect with exhibitions, research, and stories in meaningful ways. For many, a museum programme can be the beginning of a lifelong love of cultural institutions. But what happens when those programmes are not

    • More amazing forget-me-not pollen!
      • Te Papa Botany Curator Heidi Meudt has published a new comprehensive study on the pollen of southern hemisphere forget-me-nots (Myosotis, Boraginaceae). The new study is the third and final publication detailing the morphology of forget-me-not pollen using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The first two studies, published in 2016 and 2020,

    • Fund for Good – Macpac gear for biodiversity research
      • Te Papa’s scientists recently received raingear and tents for their research trips through Macpac’s Fund for Good. As Curator Fishes Thom Linley says, “Working in remote locations near, and often on, the water means we are always at the mercy of the elements. Weather conditions can change rapidly, and becoming

    • The Kaitiaki Creator Programme: Bringing deeper learning to life
      • Throughout 2025, a learning programme was created in collaboration with PB Tech. Learning Innovation Specialist Jessie Robieson has been guiding ākonga through the new Kaitiaki Creator programme and shares insights into how it started and some of her favourite outcomes here. Te Papa’s new Kaitiaki Creator programme is something special. Previous research and direct conversations

    • The April Fool’s Day Files: Fashion in the field edition
      • April Fool’s Day isn’t just for prank‑loving humans – nature has its own little jokesters. But unlike our April Fool’s pranks, their tricks aren’t just for laughs, it’s a matter of survival. Lara Shepherd and Phil Sirvid introduce some amazing critters that use clever costumes, ranging from clear contenders for

    • ‘‘Āiga’ by Salome Tanuvasa and students of Tava‘e
      • Learning Specialist Martin Langdon shares insights into an artist and school project resulting in a new artwork now displayed in PlaNet Pasifika in Tangata o Le Moana on Level 4. He talks about ‘Āiga and the mahi involved from teachers, artists, tauira, and many Te Papa teams. The fabric of

    • Te Papa welcomes Maraenui Banner whānau from Hīkoi mō te Tiriti
      • Te Papa welcomed a Maraenui community group from Napier, Te Matau-a-Māui Hawke’s Bay, in a to formally hand over four banners carried in the Hīkoi mō te Tiriti on 19 November 2024 in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, and collected by Te Papa. Curator History Stephanie Gibson describes the journeys the banners

    • Save a Spider Day 2026: The tunnelweb
      • March 14 was International Save a Spider Day, and this year, we’ve taken a closer look at an iconic group of New Zealand spiders – the tunnelwebs. Not only were these spiders the inspiration for the design of Shelob in Peter Jackson’s Return of the King, but their family is

    • Gifts to the nation: The National Art Collection at Te Papa
      • Many of the treasures in the National Art Collection have come into the museum as generous gifts – from collectors, artists, their families, and the public. To mark the Te Papa Foundation’s Annual Appeal, Curator Modern Art Lizzie Bisley looks here at some of the wonderful artworks and collections that

    • An eye for detail: The collected archives of Bruce Irwin
      • Humanities technician Cassandra Bahr has been working in the Collected Archives at Te Papa, cataloguing and rehousing papers from people connected to Te Papa’s collecting areas. Here, she highlights the archives of scientific illustrator and orchid specialist Bruce Irwin (1921–2012). James Bruce Irwin was born in Whanganui in 1921. As

    • Can AI appraise Te Papa’s public records?
      • Could Artificial Intelligence really appraise Te Papa’s public records? Collections Data Manager Gareth Watkins and Archivist Jennifer Twist tested it on thousands of records and got results that were faster, less resource-intensive, and more consistent than expected – until they weren’t. This post unpacks the experiment, the limits we encountered,

    • Breakthrough for conservation as threatened native orchid blooms in cultivation
      • Te Papa’s orchid specialist Carlos Lehnebach and research technician Jennifer Alderton-Moss from the Lions Ōtari Plant Conservation Lab are celebrating a major breakthrough after the threatened swamp greenhood orchid blooms for the first time in cultivation, marking a significant milestone for conservation and recovery efforts. The swamp greenhood orchid (Pterostylis

    • Kaumātua? More like pou matua
      • Last year, the Public Programming team embarked on a new area of programming for kaumātua, for people over 65. This was developed in collaboration with Age Concern staff and participants from a range of their groups to create tailored experiences that provide spaces for connection, knowledge sharing, and learning. Public Programming specialist Catherine Ayres, and Public Programming specialist – Kaupapa Māori Lucy Schrader-Manuera share their reflections on the programme.

    • Palaeo introductions #3 – Caring for the palaeontology collection
      • In the public sphere, the more ‘flashy’ parts of palaeontology tend to get all the press – excavating fossils in exotic locations and publishing new scientific discoveries. But equally important is how the fossils are cared for, so they are available for research and display, both now and long into the future.

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