This story comes from Conservation Hero Judah (aged 6)… My brother Malachi (aged 9) and I had just come in from surfing at Pauanui and our dad was out surfing in the big waves.  The big waves were coming onto the beach and some went right up to where a dotterel was nesting. She was sitting on […]

By Arlo (age 11) from KCC North Taranaki It was the sixth of October, and we where going to Lake Rotokare on a hunt for the wonderful and mischievous animals of Aotearoa. We started of by learning all the native birds that lived here at the sanctuary – there were tons! After that, Ash, our […]

By Eden (age 6) My name is Eden and I love native birds. During the lockdowns, my family learnt all about different New Zealand animals. For our kiwi week, we did lots of activities and made things all about kiwis. We visited the Native Bird Recovery Centre in Whangarei. We saw a talking tui and […]

By Memory (age 13) from Howick Intermediate Archey’s frogs are the smallest most endangered amphibians in New Zealand. They  were once very common in many areas in New Zealand, but due to a disease called chytridiomycosis that’s not the case anymore. Chytridiomycosis is a disease that mainly affects amphibians. It’s a type of infectious fungus […]

By Milan (age 12) from Howick Intermediate Kiwi are the most well known native bird of Aotearoa, but, kiwi are also slowly dying because of the threats they need to handle. There is a high possibility that kiwis will go extinct if things don’t change. Kiwi are facing three main problems: predators, loss of habitat, […]

By Chris (age 11) from Howick Intermediate “Pūkeko” is the Māori name for the purple swamp hen, and I think they’re pretty cool. My grandparents live right next to a river. When I go for sleepovers, I see the pūkeko come up and peck at the lawn. I see a lot of pūkeko when I […]

By Aila (age 9) Plastic pollution causes harm to humans, animals and plants through toxic pollutants.  It can take hundreds or even thousands of years for plastic to break down so the environmental damage is long lasting. It affects everything in the food chain from plankton to whales. In 1992, a shipping container filled with […]

By Lucia (age 11) from Howick Intermediate Yes, I’m talking about that again… You guessed it! Endangered species. But before you leave this site and think about what a waste of time that was, have you actually put much thought into this? Extinction means they are never EVER going to come back, and you are […]

By Mihir (age 13) from Howick Intermediate “Sam, wait up.” “No way,” Sam said, as he swam as fast as he could. Sam was having another race with his friend Rory. Every day, they would see who could get from one bunch of seagrass to another bunch of coral the fastest. Every time, Sam would […]

By John (age 13) There are these big green birds called kākāpō.  They can’t fly, but they have really strong legs. They sleep in the day and they’re active in the night.  They are one of the world’s heaviest birds.  The male kākāpō can be as heavy as 4kgs.  Kākāpō can live up to 95 years […]