
Discovery Centres
It’s play time! Families get hands-on with educational exhibits, games, and books.
Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
Open every day 10am-6pm
(except Christmas Day)
Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
Journey through New Zealand's diverse environments, from windy alpine peaks to gloomy seabeds. Discover captivating creatures and precious plants, all adapted to their habitat, and often unique to Aotearoa.
14 Feb 1998 – 2 Apr 2018
Level 2
Free entry
All ages
30 minutes
Over 2,500 native plants and animals make up the displays. How many molluscs can you count? Can you find the ship rat eating a wētā? Climb to the bush canopy to get a kererū’s perspective.
Mountains to Sea leads you through six major kinds of ecosystem:
alpine
bush
freshwater
coastal
open ocean
deep sea.
The Colossal Squid can be found here too.
It’s play time! Families get hands-on with educational exhibits, games, and books.
Meet the only colossal squid on display in the world.
On now
Permanent exhibition
Exhibition Ngā whakaaturanga
There are some bizarre looking fish that live in the depths of New Zealand's waters. Take the quiz and expand your ugly fish knowledge.
Do you know the difference between a hihi and a huia? Or how many species of kiwi there are in NZ? Put your native bird knowledge to the test.
Bird expert, Colin Miskelly, comments on recently rediscovered 1940s footage of a kiwi, and explains how far wildlife documentaries have come in the last 70 years.
Read the story about how a sunfish washing up on our beaches and lying in our store rooms, has become the first new species of sunfish to be described in 100 years.
Bird expert Colin Miskelly highlights some of the treasures in our egg collection, including those thought to be held only by Te Papa – as well as giant moa eggs, tiny rifleman eggs, and eggs that were acquired during dramatic events in New Zealand’s conservation history.