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
Explore online stories about te taiao – the unique natural world of Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific, highlighting native plant and animal species, conservation science, and how the collections contribute to knowledge, including both environmental science and collection care.
If you are looking for what is on in the museum, check out the Exhibitions page.
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Nancy Adams (1926–2007) was one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most notable botanists and a talented artist. One of Te Papa’s most prolific botany collectors of all time, she also painted and drew an incredible number of botanical illustrations. She used her artwork to produce important books about Aotearoa New Zealand’s flora, including seaweeds, flowers, trees, and alpine plants.
Restless whenua, strong people. Rūaumoko, god of earthquakes and volcanoes, lays his challenge – his restless rumblings present us with taonga as well as hazards. A country where colliding and subducting plates cause quakes, volcanoes, tsunami, and landslides.
What is that spider? From charismatic megafauna to the tiniest insect, identifying bird feathers or different cicada sounds, find out about who you share the whenua with.
Insects, arachnids, myriapods, bugs, creepy-crawlies, moths, butterflies and their allies.
Birds are an important part of New Zealand's nationhood. We are the only nation where the people are often colloquially known by a bird name – ‘Kiwi’.
Along with being a symbol and nickname for people from Aotearoa New Zealand, the kiwi is also one of the strangest birds in the world – with noses at the end of their beaks, and giant eggs that take up much of their body.
Kiwi feathers are used for kahu kiwi (woven cloaks) and are highly prized taonga (treasures) as they carry the wairua (spirit) of the kiwi whose feathers make up the cloak.
The tuatara hasn’t changed much for at least 19 million years.
Te Papa’s collections and research on dinosaur bones, animals, and plant fossils from past geological ages, and the people involved in the discovery of their remains.
Aotearoa New Zealand has 34 species of cicadas. Five of these species are then further divided into several subspecies, to give 42 unique species and subspecies of New Zealand cicada.
We need your help tracking New Zealand’s native and introduced mosquito species so we can get a better understanding of which species live where and how they’re spreading. Simply catch it, freeze it, and send it!
Do you know your ferns from your forget-me-nots? Do you collect plants from the side of the road to identify them? Te Papa’s botanical collections can help, along with research encompassing seaweeds, lichens, mosses, liverworts, lycophytes, ferns, and seed plants.
Ferns are so prominent in Aotearoa New Zealand, we even wear them on our sporting uniforms. From botany research to citizen science, pressed-fern books of the 1800s to collecting All Blacks and tourism memorabilia, our collectors and curators spend a lot of time with ferns.
The forget-me-nots (Myosotis, Boraginaceae) are often small rosette herbs. There are over 45 native species of Myosotis in Aotearoa New Zealand – find out more about these species and their habitats, botanical art, and Te Papa’s research in this area.
There are over 100 species of orchids in Aotearoa New Zealand and come in a variety of shapes, colours, and dimensions. They thrive in diverse habitats across the country. Take a look at Te Papa's research and work with orchids as well as highlights from our collections.
Nancy Adams (1926–2007) was one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most notable botanists and a talented artist. One of Te Papa’s most prolific botany collectors of all time, she also painted and drew an incredible number of botanical illustrations. She used her artwork to produce important books about Aotearoa New Zealand’s flora, including seaweeds, flowers, trees, and alpine plants.
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 magnificent plant world of Aotearoa New Zealand in art and object.
Just how big is the colossal squid really? What lives in the ocean and fresh waterways around Aotearoa New Zealand?
All you’d want to know about the colossal squid – from its anatomy, to how it was found.
Colossal squids, fishes, and creatures of the deep. Te Papa holds the largest and most comprehensive collection in the country, and the largest collection of New Zealand fishes anywhere in the world.
Crustacea includes lobsters, crabs, shrimps, prawns, hoppers, wood lice, water fleas, and several other groups. Most crustaceans live in the sea but some are found in freshwater or on land. The one thing they all need to survive is water, or at least a moist habitat.
Researching, caring for, photographing, and displaying the whales, dolphins, and sharks of Aotearoa New Zealand and the South Pacific.
Get up close and personal with, and learn about cultural attitudes towards, the whale.
Aotearoa is a country of quakes, volcanoes, tsunami, and landslides. We live here and through mātauranga Māori, Western science, ingenuity, and manaakitanga, we create resilient buildings, speedy large-scale responses, and community action.
Restless whenua, strong people. Rūaumoko, god of earthquakes and volcanoes, lays his challenge – his restless rumblings present us with taonga as well as hazards. A country where colliding and subducting plates cause quakes, volcanoes, tsunami, and landslides.
Around 20,000 shakes are measured every year in Aotearoa New Zealand – about 55 a day – our whenua (land) never stops shaking. Plates collide. Pressure builds. The land ruptures. How do we cope with living on such shaky ground?
Our biggest volcano isn’t a cone. It’s Lake Taupō, formed about 25,500 years ago in the massive Ōruanui eruption.
The maramataka is a planting and fishing monthly almanac. For most iwi, the lunar months begin with the new moon (Whiro), but for others it begins with the full moon (Rākaunui). The start of each month is aligned to the morning rising of particular stars.
Idea: Soil connects us to culture, food, nature, people, and place, so we shouldn’t treat soil like rubbish.
How do you feel about this idea?
The Active Land talk series hosted at Te Papa highlights the diverse range of cutting-edge research into natural hazards happening in Wellington. In partnership with the Natural Hazard Commission (NHC) Toka Tū Ake.
Read more about communities taking action for nature.
Natural history, mātauranga Māori, and Western scientific research is a huge part of the mahi that goes on at Te Papa. See what the researchers and curators have been working on.
Two studies that will help us understand how the relationship between Māori and cetaceans has changed since people first arrived in Aotearoa by combining mātauranga Māori (traditional Māori knowledge) with techniques used in archaeological science to tell this story.
Find out about our natural history research and its wider impact in New Zealand.
The aim of this work is to determine the origins of orphaned collection items through DNA testing – taking a step towards reconnecting these taonga (treasures) to people and place.
From deep-sea creatures to earthquake hazards, hear about the latest scientific discoveries in and around Aotearoa, straight from the experts.
An insider’s guide to the natural treasures of New Zealand’s national museum.
Hear botanists and researchers discuss the shifting politics of collecting and classifying plants, from both Māori and Pākehā perspectives.
Books about the unique and incredible natural environment and science research of Aotearoa New Zealand.
