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classification

Insect taxonomy

Article

Insect taxonomy

One of New Zealand’s most well known insects is the wētā, of the Orthoptera order, but there are thousands of ...

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Classification system

Article

Classification system

In the 18th century, Carl Linnaeus published a system for classifying living things, which has been developed into the modern ...

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He pūnaha whakarōpū ❘ Classifying and identifying plants

Article

He pūnaha whakarōpū ❘ Classifying and identifying plants

Me pēwhea tātou e whakarōpū i ngā rauropi koiora?

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Taxonomy – the science of species discovery

Article

Taxonomy – the science of species discovery

Our planet has life on it, and for that reason, it may be unique in the universe. Ironically enough, we ...

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Soil names

Article

Soil names

Most people are familiar with the Linnean classification system used to identify living things. We use scientific names to describe ...

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Takarangi/interlocking spiral Maori traditional carving pattern

Article

Māori knowledge of animals

Māori knowledge of animals is vast. This article is an introduction to Māori knowledge of a selected sample of animal species indigenous to Aotearoa. Mātauranga Māori ...

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Helping the butterflies of Aotearoa New Zealand

Article

Helping the butterflies of Aotearoa New Zealand

Discover more about the red admiral butterfly, winner of the 2024 Kia Pākiki – Bug of the Year and science communication, and how we can help ...

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Meet te mokomoko a Tohu: a new species of New Zealand gecko hidden in plain sight

Article

Meet te mokomoko a Tohu: a new species of New Zealand gecko hidden in plain sight

Exciting news for all fans of lizards (mokomoko) a new species has just been rediscovered. Te mokomoko a Tohu is Aotearoa New Zealand’s newest species of ...

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Growing spirulina

Article

Growing spirulina

New Zealand Algae Innovations Ltd operated the only spirulina farm in New Zealand. Under the brand name Tahi Spirulina, it sold a range of spirulina food ...

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Ngā rau o te rākau ❘ Tree leaves

Article

Ngā rau o te rākau ❘ Tree leaves

He aha te take o ngā rau o te rākau? Ko te take matua o ngā rau ko te ahotakakame. Mā te ahotakakame te tupu e ...

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Ngā kākano ❘ Seeds

Article

Ngā kākano ❘ Seeds

Kua ruia atu te kākano – kātahi ka aha? Mēnā ka tau te kākano ki tētahi wāhi arotau, ka tinaku, ā, ka pihi he tipu hou. ...

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Te haenga me te ruinga o te kākano ❘ Pollination and seed dispersal

Article

Te haenga me te ruinga o te kākano ❘ Pollination and seed dispersal

He aha te take o ngā pua? Mā te whakaputa uri tōrua e whai uri ai te nuinga o ngā momo rākau. Nā reira, me whakaputa ...

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Ngā rākau ❘ Trees

Article

Ngā rākau ❘ Trees

Nā te manaakitanga a Matua Mokoro Gillett, a te tumuaki o Te Wharekura o Te Rau Aroha, tēnei mahi i tutuki. The purpose of this learning ...

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He aha hoki tērā rākau? ❘ What kind of tree is that?

Article

He aha hoki tērā rākau? ❘ What kind of tree is that?

This article provides an introduction to the topic as delivered to students at Te Wharekura o Te Rau Aroha and provides an example unit plan. He ...

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Extremophilic microorganisms

Article

Extremophilic microorganisms

What are extremophilic microorganisms? Let’s start by looking closer at microorganisms. All the organisms we know about on Earth are either cellular (by far the majority) ...

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Te tapa ingoa

Article

Te tapa ingoa

This Connected article by Priscilla Wehi and Hemi Whaanga explores how early Māori named and grouped the plants and animals they found around them. Discover what ...

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New Zealand’s endemic dolphins

Article

New Zealand’s endemic dolphins

Dolphins are often seen around the coast of Aotearoa New Zealand, but only two species – Hector’s and Māui – are endemic. Hector’s dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori) ...

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Under the sea

Article

Under the sea

This Connected article by Sophie Fern, reports on a survey of a 100-metre long rocky reef located 11 kilometres off the Taranaki coast. Students from local ...

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Aquatic insect life

Article

Aquatic insect life

We usually think of insects as being animals of the land, but did you know that many insects spend part of their lives in water? Some ...

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What’s so special about insects?

Article

What’s so special about insects?

What is an insect and should we really care about these creepy crawlies? In a word – yes. As American biologist Edward O Wilson puts it, ...

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The buzz of bees

Article

The buzz of bees

The ‘Buzz of bees’ is a Connected journal devoted entirely to bees. Each article has diagrams and illustrations that offer opportunities for students to develop the ...

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What Alice saw

Article

What Alice saw

In 1880, Alice McKenzie saw a large blue bird in a remote part of Fiordland. Alice and her family made careful observations of the bird and ...

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The takahē’s evolutionary history

Article

The takahē’s evolutionary history

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 – ...

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Ahi Pepe and tikanga

Article

Ahi Pepe and tikanga

Ahi Pepe MothNet is a citizen science project that explores New Zealand’s native moths, their distributions and whether vegetation restoration impacts moth diversity. One aspect of ...

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Ahi Pepe MothNet – an introduction

Article

Ahi Pepe MothNet – an introduction

Moths are members of the order Lepidoptera, but these mostly nocturnal creatures are often in the shadow of the brighter, day-flying butterflies. New Zealand has fewer ...

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Scientists and tamariki working together

Article

Scientists and tamariki working together

The New Zealand Government’s Participatory Science Platform (PSP) was a world-first initiative that aimed to engage communities in research projects that were locally relevant and have ...

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