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Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Natural Environment 

The Natural Environment team cares for and develops Te Papa’s natural history collections which represent the animals and plants of New Zealand and its adjacent seas, and related material from further afield. The collections are used for research, teaching, museum exhibitions and public education programmes.

Note: This section is getting a major upgrade at the moment and will disappear soon.

Access our new Natural Environment collections and research pages

  • Birds
    Birds

    Te Papa has extensive collections of birds from the New Zealand region, including many specimens of extinct birds and a large collection of oceanic birds.

  • Fishes
    Fishes

    Te Papa’s Fish Team is responsible for collection, identification, registration, management, curation and researching the National Fish Collection for the nation.

  • Insects, spiders and similar
    Insects, spiders and similar

    This collection of insects, spiders, centipedes, millipedes and tardigrades focuses mainly on New Zealand.

  • Molluscs
    Molluscs

    Te Papa's collection includes creatures as small as snails and slugs, and as large as octopuses and giant squids.

Auckland Islands Wandering Albatross, Diomedea antipodensis gibsoni, collected 17 Jun 1993, off East Cape, New Zealand. Gift of Ministry of Fisheries, date unknown. Te Papa
Auckland Islands Wandering Albatross, Diomedea antipodensis gibsoni, collected 17 Jun 1993, off East Cape, New Zealand. Gift of Ministry of Fisheries, date unknown. Te Papa

Nature on NZ On Screen

NZ On Screen's Nature collection

To celebrate NZ's unique natural taonga, Peter Hayden has curated a highlights collection from three decades of NHNZ productions.
View NZ On Screen's Nature collection



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