Climate change lessons from the past...
In recent decades an estimated 20 per cent of the world’s freshwater- fish species have become threatened, endangered or extinct. Extinction rates in fresh water seem higher than in terrestrial and marine environments. But New Zealand’s only extinct freshwater fish—the grayling or upokororo— was probably long gone before the current mass obliteration of species....
September 5, 2005 is the 10th anniversary of the untimely death of innovative design engineer John Britten, creator of the world-beating Britten V1000 motorcycle and many other visionary items. What is it about John Britten that continues to inspire us today? Why do Kiwis and visitors from around the world continue to flock to and […]...
No leaf or twig greens the harsh surface of the islets that these birds call home. The only abundance here is rock, seabird, ocean and sky. Fur seals once numbered in the tens of thousands, but were almost exterminated by sealers nearly 200 years ago, and have not yet fully recovered. Now DOC extends high […]...
The difference in vegetation between Wellington and Wairarapa is so great that, on crossing the Rimutuka Range, it feels as if you are crossing the border into another country and a customs post with guards would not be entirely inappropriate. The same could be said of Arthurs Pass between Westland and Canterbury. The reason for […]...
I still vividly remember the first kiwi chick I watched struggle out of its shell. I was huddled in a sleeping bag in the middle of the night in a little old building, staring through the small window on the top of an incubator at a large white egg. I was supposed to be recording […]...
Growing up in the eastern Hutt Valley, before PlayStation, TV and stranger danger, my brother John and I would be given a jam sandwich after school and sent out to play. Often we were never heard of again until sundown. Most of the time we were “just going up the hill, Mum”, into the gorse, […]...
In 1901 a little-known German neurologist began attending to a female patient known as Auguste D. At a mere 51 years of age, the woman was unable to remember her name, her husband’s name or how long she had been in hospital....
Wenderholm from the Swedish for “winter home”. Sandwiched between the Puhoi and Waiwera Rivers, 48 km north of downtown Auckland, the park that bears the name ought to be a mite warmer than Stockholm in January. Even so, the London plane trees (Platanus x acerifolia) at the entranceway were telling me loudly that it was […]...
The seventy-fifth new zealand geographic is upon us, and it seems that we have raced from issue 50 to issue 75 in no time at all. In reality it has been more than four years, and in total New Zealand Geographic has been around for 17 years—quite a time by New Zealand magazine standards....
