Sciences at University of Otago

09/09/2026

🦑 Our Marine Studies Centre showcases local marine life and offers education programmes for all ages – including the tamariki from Dunedin Nature School, who visited last week.

🪸 We loved reading this feedback from Dunedin Nature School co-founder Lizzie Potter:

"We had a fascinating workshop on plankton presented by marine scientist Hannah Drury, and had a good look at the seahorses, pipefish, and various other creatures.

"Once Hannah had demonstrated what the dials on the microscopes did, we were ready for some hands-on learning. We carefully placed seawater onto each grooved slide using a pipette and it was very cool to hear oohs and aahs as the little plankton creatures came into focus.

“Then Hannah took a few tamariki through to the touch tanks and they arrived back with snail egg sacs containing thousands of tiny snails that looked like tiny pin heads for everyone to look at up close.

“Hannah's passion for marine science was contagious as she kept bringing out creatures from other tanks to share with us. How lucky are we to have such an incredible resource on our doorstep with passionate educators?

"We value our Marine Centre relationship immensely. Tamariki who've attended past workshops still talk about them. which shows how hands-on, experiential learning can make a profound impact."

🐙 You can visit our website to plan your own visit to the Marine Studies Centre: https://www.otago.ac.nz/marine-studies

Marine Science Otago Nature School Dunedin

08/09/2026

“It sounds a bit cringey, but it was Steve Irwin that got me into lizards,” says Zoology PhD candidate Jon Rolfes.

🦎 Jon spent much of his childhood in Germany entranced by the 'Crocodile Hunter’, so when it came time to do a gap year after high school, going Down Under was the obvious choice.

🐊 But Australia’s crocodiles and snakes couldn’t compete with Aotearoa’s cryptic critters.

“The New Zealand lizards really impressed me because they’re so vastly different from what I’m used to. In Europe, lizards live in warm countries,” Jon says.

“Having lizards living on top of mountains, being covered in alpine snow, just seemed crazy.”

🌟 The harlequin gecko is one such lizard. Its Māori name, tukutuku rakiurae, references both the gecko’s home – Rakiura – and its unique pattern, which looks like the weaving of a tukutuku panel.

🌈 Brightly patterned in colours ranging from pink and orange to green and yellow, it’s no wonder the creature captured Jon’s imagination.

“The harlequin gecko is arguably the most beautiful gecko in the world,” he says.

You can read the full story here 👇

https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroom/smitten-and-bitten-by-the-harlequin-gecko

Zoology Department, University of Otago - new

07/09/2026

👀 Pieces of a fish fossil unearthed from Pitt Island in 1999 by the late palaeontologist Dr Richard Köhler are still captivating people today.

🐟 A full-size replica gifted to the Chatham Islands Museum provides a rare glimpse into the ancient marine life that once inhabited the warm seas that existed prior to the Chatham Islands being lifted above sea level.

This New Zealand Association of Science Educators article explores how local stories spark genuine scientific inquiry 👇

https://nzase.org.nz/category/resources/a-fossil-sparks-scientific-inquiry/

Otago Geology - University of Otago, New Zealand

06/09/2026

🦤 Radio New Zealand spoke to Colossal Biosciences about its controversial moa de-extinction plans.

🧠 RNZ also spoke to the critics of the plans, including the Prime Minister's science communicator prize winner, our very own Associate Professor Nic Rawlence.

You can read, or listen to, the full story on the RNZ website 👇

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/science-and-technology/1202188/can-we-de-extinct-the-moa-and-more-importantly-should-we

Zoology Department, University of Otago - new

03/09/2026

🙌 Tautoko Professor Jim Cotter and Dr Kate Thomas, who, along with postgrad tauira Rilee Gould and Emma Maultsaid, are studying the physiological effects and risks of cold-water swimming.

🏊 The exercise physiologists are interested to see whether people’s perceptions of how cold they are and their level of comfort line up with their actual core temperature.

Kate says, "That's important because there's a lot of evidence around how cold people get and it's very variable, very dependent on body shape and size and experience. But how their feelings align with that is less well known.

"We're hoping to get a little bit more information around the benefits and the risks of a sport that's clearly becoming more popular."

Visit the RNZ website to learn more 👇

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/science-and-technology/1145442/our-changing-world-cold-water-swimming-panacea-or-peril

School of Physical Education Sport & Exercise Sciences, University of Otago

03/09/2026

🏆 Congratulations to the Sciences winners in the 3MT™ challenge!

⭐️ PhD winner – Jim Davies, Sciences, Psychology: Of Mice and Men: Modelling Alzheimer’s
⭐️ Peoples’ choice – Jenna Gawn, Sciences (Christchurch), Psychology: Every health behaviour counts: lifestyle behaviours and youth mental well-being

🫶 Kia mau te wehi!

02/09/2026

🙋 What's small, cute, and has been secretly evolving in our southern waters?

🪸 Bryozoans are small, usually hidden, invertebrate marine creatures which have existed for more than 250 million years.

🐬 Known for their lace-like skeletons, they are important structure-formers – an organism that creates habitat for other organisms – in deep waters around Aotearoa.

🔎 Scientists believed there were only two species of hornerid bryozoans in Aotearoa New Zealand, but new mahi has identified 11 more.

🫶 Emeritus Professor Abby Smith from the Department of Marine Science says the discovery has important implications for conservation.

“You can’t conserve, manage, study or understand a species if you don’t know it’s there,” she says.

“We never thought there would be this many species and that they would turn out to be this diverse.”

https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroom/new-species-of-ancient-marine-creature-discovered

Marine Science Otago

Scientists believed there were only two species of hornerid bryozoans in Aotearoa New Zealand, but new research shows several more have been secretly evolving and thriving in the nation’s southern waters.

01/09/2026

🐠 Dr Roe Stuart didn’t find a taniwha in the unexplored depths of New Zealand’s lakes – but they may have found a new species of fish.

“We have four lakes in New Zealand that exceed 400m deep, and the deepest records we had of fish life were 90m,” says Roe, who realised while doing post-doctoral work at Lake Champlain in the USA that no one knew what lurked in Aotearoa's lakes.

“I just wondered what would be down there.”

🌄 A depth sounder found Lake Manapōuri and Lake Te Anau to be to be 467m and 430m deep respectively – about the height of Dunedin's Saddle Hill.

🍞 Searching for signs of aquatic life in the untraversed waters required 2km of rope, multiple traps set at different depths, and … a breakfast spread?

“We baited the traps with marmite,” Roe says. “I've had quite a few people ask if vegemite also works, but why risk it?”

You can read the full story here 👇
https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroom/marmite-lures-discovery-from-lake-depths

Zoology Department, University of Otago - new

31/08/2026

💐 Tautoko tauira and dancer Inese Velde, who recently completed her BSc in Environmental Management, and has made a video she hopes will help people reconnect with nature.

🩰 With the help of fellow dancer and Pharmacy tauira Madison Gay, Inese choreographed a dance that was filmed in four of the most beautiful parts of Ōtepoti – Doctors Point, Woodhaugh Gardens, Blackhead Quarry and Sutton Salt Lake Scenic Reserve.

“I really wanted to do a dance film, and then I was just thinking about what story would I like to tell? And I knew I wanted to combine my passion for dance and my passion for the environment," Inese says.

🍃 Inese grounded the performance, titled ‘Our Home’, in the Tauki ‘Ko au te taiao, ko te taiao ko au’, which translates to ‘I am nature and nature is me’.

You can watch the video here 👇

https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroom/celebrating-our-home-in-dance-video

30/08/2026

📻 RNZ has reported on the recent core workshop at the Otago Repository for Core Analysis (ORCA).

🌊 The project group’s drill site was at a place called Crary Ice Rise where a finger of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet juts out, still sitting on the bedrock of the Antarctic continent.

🧊 The 218 metres of sediment recovered (a record-breaking length) was drilled after they'd used hot water to melt a hole through 523 metres of ice, all at a distance of about 700km away from the nearest base.

📡 If you’re interested in Antarctica, Geology, our history or our future, you can read the story or listen to the 30-minute podcast here 👇

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/science-and-technology/1042217/our-changing-world-a-precious-piece-of-sediment-and-what-it-says-about-our-future