In the last century illegal whisky production in Southland’s Hokonui Hills was a subject of police investigations. Today that shady past is a cause for celebration. The legend of Hokonui leads back to ...

Across the world, ecosystems have been transformed by the mass extinctions that followed the arrival of humans. In New Zealand, the moa, the world’s largest eagle, sea lions, elephant seals and whales ...

New Zealanders once consumed more tea per capita than any other nation in the world. A resurgence in the popularity of boutique varieties, and—for the first time­ locally grown tea, may make it time ...

A slideshow of before-and-after pictures plays against the backdrop of a black velveteen wall. A pretty girl; now she’s covered in spots. A shaggy-haired bro; half his hair has gone. A suited-up ...

What is a brightly coloured parakeet whose nearest ancestors live in the tropics, doing in the company of penguins in the subantarctic? Kakariki, New Zealand’s endemic parakeets, break all the rules.

The ocean is our playground, storehouse, transport corridor, driver of weather and coastal change. We’ve learned the hard way that it’s possible for us to exhaust its resources and overwhelm its ...

In spite of a widespread belief that their race and culture are extinct, Moriori people have survived on the Chatham Islands and are undergoing a cultural revival similar to that of their mainland ...

For eight years, Kiwi photographers have gathered the best images of our environment and society and submitted them to expert judgment and public scrutiny in the New Zealand Geographic Photographer of ...

In 1834, the Englishman William Swainson was at the height of his scientific career. Aged 45, loaded with honours from the scientific academies and institutions of Paris, Quebec, South Africa, ...

The forest canopy is home to all kinds of flora and fauna, some of which have only just been discovered. Canopy species are integral to soil health and climate regulation, but we don’t know exactly ...

Few yacht races can claim the legendary status of winning or even finishing the Sydney to Hobart event. The 630 nautical mile race takes yachts down the Australian coast and across the notorious Bass ...

Plantations of exotic timber trees, especially pines, are looked on with disdain by many as alien monocultures, an unpleasant accommodation necessary to protect precious indigenous forests from the ...