New Zealand

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South Pacific Geography | Tsunamis

The reports of a tsunami impacting Lord Howe Island last night … A tsunami warning for New Zealand and Australia’s Lord Howe Island ( 700 km off New South Wales ) , sparked by a 7.7 magnitude undersea earthquake near New Caledonia, causing small tsunami waves to hit Norfolk Island and prompting prompted marine warnings for Lord Howe Island, 700km off the coast of New South Wales – beg the question… What is a tsunami?  Earthquakes Information has been posted showing...

Flying animals – foxes, bats flying into trouble!

Today is ‘kite flying day’ … so , as a twist, here is something about ‘flying ‘ creatures –  flying foxes / bats. Australia Flying foxes are….. “intelligent and remarkable. These unique animals help regenerate our forests and keep ecosystems healthy through pollination and seed dispersal. They are a migratory and nomadic ‘keystone’ species; meaning a species that many other species of plants and animals rely upon for their survival and wellbeing. Flying foxes, like bees, help drive biodiversity, and...

Water, Wetlands, life!

“Wetlands are the star of the ( habitats ) show“ …. Some of the benefits of wetlands include: * providing food and habitat for fish and wildlife, including threatened and endangered species * providing water quality improvement * key mechanism in flood storage * shoreline erosion control * economically beneficial natural products for human use * many opportunities for recreation, education, and research       Less than 1% of water on Earth is usable freshwater and it is mostly stored...

Nature and people | Swimmers and sharks get closer

  Sharks – an ‘apex’ predator are found ‘in just about every kind of ocean habitat, including the deep sea, open ocean, coral reefs, and under the Arctic ice ( according to Smithsonian ). With summer in full swing, with more families enjoying the beach and sea, unsurprisingly more likely contact between people and sharks…. Only yesterday, the Department of Conservation in New Zealand issued this warning – “Please be extra vigilant. There are always sharks around our coastline and...

Stressed by lockdown? Turn to Nature

How do we remain healthy and well during particularly challenging times – such as pandemics? A number of studies show that being in or even near natural environments, can help a great deal regarding both our physical health and vital associated mental well-being. Science Daily…   A study published in Ecological Applications suggests that nature around one’s home may help mitigate some of the negative mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. An online questionnaire survey completed by 3,000 adults...

Celebrating penguins – hello New Zealand’s yellow-eyed!

It’s Penguin Awareness Day, so here we focus on the slightly unusual Yellow Eyed Penguin (YEP) and the important conservation and outreach  work of the YEP Trust… About the yellow-eyed penguin / hoiho Yellow-eyed penguins / hoiho are one of the rarest penguins in the world and are only found in New Zealand (endemic). The scientific name of the yellow-eyed penguin is Megadyptes antipodes which means big diver from the southern lands (mega = big, dyptes = diver, antipodes = southern...

Volcanoes in Australia : lava tubes

Volcanoes in Australia Active volcanoes generally occur close to the major tectonic plate boundaries. They are rare in Australia because there are no plate boundaries on this continent. However, there are two active volcanoes located 4000 kilometres south west of Perth in the Australian Antarctic Territory: Heard Island and the nearby McDonald Islands. The other active volcanoes nearest Australia are in Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Gas-rich sticky magmas dominate the Asia Pacific, making composite volcanoes...

Parrot without night vision?

New Zealand Geographic reports that AUSTRALIA’S CRITICALLY ENDANGERED night parrot may not be very good at seeing in the dark, according to new research from Flinders University. An international group of researchers CT-scanned a night parrot skull, as well as skulls of related bird species, and found that the night parrot had smaller optic nerves and lobes than the others, suggesting it had limited visual processing ability. The parrot’s vision appears to be sensitive but low-resolution, meaning that it struggles to...

Culling one creature to save another?

There’s a very fine balancing act to be had…. culling – killing using humane methods – one species, to ensure the survival of another Large mice are devastating rare birds on a tiny island, now moves are afoot to exterminate the rodents. But should conservation ever be about killing? Patrick Barkham explains Gough Island is about as remote a fragment of land as it is possible to find on a map. Its 91 square kilometres of uninhabited volcanic rock rise...

NZ earthquake zone

Almost to prove that New Zealand can endure … An earthquake measuring 5.8 on the ‘richter scale’ was felt in the capital of Wellington on Monday May 25th (early today). ’Quite a decent shake here’ quipped a very cool Prime Minister Ms Jacinda Ardern. WHY? Earthquakes in New Zealand occur because we are located on the boundary of two of the world’s major tectonic plates – the Pacific Plate and the Australian Plate. These plates are colliding with huge force, causing one to...

Dawn Chorus Day

For those who are particularly into birdwatching or intend to be UP for this – Monday May 4th – here are some good resources United Kingdom – RSPB https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/birdwatching/ Australia – Birdlife https://www.birdlife.org.au/all-about-birds/birdwatching New Zealand – Forest & Bird https://www.forestandbird.org.nz/ as well as their kids club https://kcc.org.nz/ Here’s a video https://youtu.be/xudHav8digY The Guardian ‘take’ on dawn chorus https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/may/02/beautiful-birdsong-how-the-dawn-chorus-reconnects-me-to-life-and-hope?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other...