Wellington - 13 October 2021: The titipounamu/rifleman pair living on Te Ahumairangi Hill in Wellington have become proud parents. 

With their chicks, currently the size of a bumblebees, the pair of New Zealand’s tiniest birds are making history. 

When the pair were first spotted in August, 3km away from Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne, it was thought to be the first sighting of their species in that area in more than 100 years.  

New Zealand’s smallest bird has been sighted on Te Ahūmairangi Hill in Wellington City. 

New Zealand’s only fully parasitic plant has been successfully germinated at the Lions Ōtari Native Plant Conservation Laboratory in Wellington. The milestone germination was of rare seeds gifted from Ngāti Rereahu in the first translocation to involve all six Greater Wellington iwi.

Taranaki Whānui iwi has officially declared Opau Urupā in Makara, Wellington as plastic- free, the first urupā (Māori cemetery) nationally to do so. 

They’re encouraging the community to use sustainable, plastic-free ways to commemorate loved ones instead of using plastic flowers.

ZEALANDIA is proud to work with the Department of Conservation Takahē Recovery Programme which aims to boost takahē numbers living in their natural habitats, and for the species to be treasured as a national icon.

ZEALANDIA’s world-first predator exclusion fence is now twenty years old. The patent on the fence has now reached its end, and this provides us with the opportunity to share our expertise and accumulated knowledge with others, confident that this approach works. 

CentrePort has joined forces with ZEALANDIA Te Māra a Tāne and the wider community surrounding the Kaiwharawhara Stream to help protect one of Wellington’s most precious waterways.

Wellington City Council, ZEALANDIA and local iwi are proud to be part of a mission to bring a very rare parasitic plant back to the capital.

What plant has no leaves or stems? Pua o te Rēinga/Dactylanthus taylorii!

Pua o te Rēinga is New Zealand’s only endemic (unique to NZ) plant that is fully parasitic. Unlike most plants that use photosynthesis for energy, it gets its energy by attaching to the root of a host tree and taking nutrients from it. The host root then develops a flared surface that the pua o te Rēinga can grow around. The tree is not harmed in this process, and both species are able to coexist together.

How do we monitor wildlife that we can’t always see, particularly in water? The answer is environmental DNA (eDNA).  This process works by collecting water samples that get tested for trace elements of DNA left by the species living in the habitat. By gaining a better picture of what lives where, we can start to understand how we might create a healthier environment.