Fossils and dinosaurs

Palaeo introductions #1 – Palaeontology at Te Papa

Find out about places, people, methods, and species that are important to palaeontological research at Te Papa and beyond.

Plant fossils in our collection

The herbarium at Te Papa has a collection of around 850 plant fossils from New Zealand and overseas collected by WRB Oliver, Mr HR Thompson, Mr Horace Fyfe, Mr H Hill, Mr M Ongley, and Jean-Claude Stahl among others. Many of these fossils can be seen on Collections Online.

The first giant petrel fossils

In 2017, Taranaki collector Alastair Johnson found the fossil of a giant petrel. Not only was it a complete skull but it was the first fossil ever found of an intriguing kind of seabird. Two years later, Alastair found part of a wing bone of a giant petrel too. Both fossils are 3 million years old.

Big fossil duck discovered in Central Otago

Thu 10 Mar 2022

One of the richest fossil sites in New Zealand has revealed a new species of large, extinct, duck.

Find out about St Bathans' newest fossil duck on Sciblogs

St Bathans is a Miocene wonderland full of fossils from a different world, including a bone that hadn’t seen the light of day for millions of years. Over on Sciblogs, Nic Rawlence describes finding Catriona’s shelduck.

Ancient colossal penguin bones discovered in Otago

What do you do when you discover what is possibly the largest penguin ever? You name it after your mum. This is what Curator Vertebrates Alan Tennyson did.

Fossil vertebrate collection

Te Papa's fossil vertebrate collection contains some 50 000 'lots' of fossil bones and is the biggest such collection in the country.

Martinborough’s cave of bones: How thousands of flightless birds met their end

Fossilised bird grave sites are common in New Zealand, but one particular cave in Martinborough has revealed thousands of bones of flightless birds who plunged to their deaths.

Iguanodon tooth – Tales from Te Papa episode 12

This fossil iguanodontid tooth is one of the first fossils ever to be recognised as a dinosaur and its discovery contributed to the beginning of dinosaur studies. The latest research suggests that the tooth probably isn’t Iguanodon, but in that related group, an iguanodontid and is 132 to 137 million years old.

Diversity and evolution of New Zealand’s marine mammals

Studying fossils and living marine mammals to elucidate their diversity and evolution through deep time.

The largest shark that ever lived – Megalodon (The Meg) in New Zealand

Curator of Vetebrates Alan Tennyson looks at what we know about the monster that grew to 18 metres and lived in New Zealand's waters - the megalodon 'big tooth' shark (Carcharocles megalodon).

Is that a dinosaur in my cereal?

This set of plastic dinosaur figurines is part of a larger collection of toys played with by Christine Kiddey in New Zealand in the 1950s and 60s. The figures, from packets of cereal, probably Weetbix or Rice Bubbles, were collected and played with by many New Zealand children.

Another extinct bird: New Zealand’s prehistoric swan

Curator of vertebrates, Alan Tennyson, talks about how New Zealand and the Chatham Islands had their own unique prehistoric swan.

New fossil seal species rewrites history

A fossil discovery in New Zealand has revealed a new species of seal that once called Australasia home. Its presence in our region turns the evolution of southern seals on its head.

Dino DNA? Ancient DNA and Jurassic Park

Can we really get DNA from mosquitos and other creatures preserved in amber?