Life in Aotearoa New Zealand

This Connected article, written by Matt Boucher, looks at why our wildlife is so distinct and how the species developed and adapted to their current state.

Aotearoa has one of the highest numbers of endemic species of any country in the world. This article gives a short history of how New Zealand separated from Gondwana. The geographical isolation and a lack of ground-dwelling predators led to our flora and fauna evolving unique characteristics, but sudden changes in conditions can severely impact on such highly adapted species. The article introduces and explains the concepts of evolution and adaptation and links to the Nature of Science strand, ‘Understanding about science’. It also highlights how scientists use evidence from fossils and geographic records to make inferences about life in the past.

Check your school library for the article from the 2020 level 3 Connected journal ‘Kaitiakitanga’, download it as a Google slide presentation or order it from the Ministry of Education.

The teacher support material (TSM) can be downloaded from TKI (Word and PDF files available, click on 'Look inside this issue').

It has two learning activities, both include extension ideas, that support the exploring science aspects of the New Zealand Curriculum.

• Evolution: it takes time – students create their own interactive timeline about the formation of New Zealand and the evolution of the species that live here. Students conduct a ‘what if?’ scenario activity as an extension.
• Finding a niche – focuses on adaptation and uses the Classifying bird adaptations worksheet and the article on the takahē’s ecological niche. The extension activity idea suggests using the New Zealand Garden Bird Survey.