Nicola Toki

This week's critter is the mata or seashore earwig. It lives on coastlines all around Aotearoa and hides under rocks, driftwood and kelp during the day. Audio

This week's critter is the rare and elusive banded Bounty Island spider, Pacificana cockayni. This spider only lives on the Bounty Islands - a remote and rugged collection of rocks far off the east… Audio

This week we're talking about the koekoea or long-tailed cuckoo (Urodynamis taitensis) - an enigmatic native bird with an elegant long tail, a screeching call and some pretty strange breeding habits.

May 2 was World Tuna Day so this week we're talking about the endangered southern bluefin tuna, Thunnus maccoyii. Tuna have been dubbed the Ferraris of the ocean because they're sleek, powerful and… Audio

This week's critter is a species of slime mould that looks like ghostly forest coral. The coral slime mould (Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa) is one of our most distinctive and abundant slime moulds. Audio

The Environment Court has rejected plans for a new West Coast coal mine, at Te Kuha.

The proposed 150-hectare mine near Westport is home to numerous plants and animals at risk or threatened with… Audio

This week's critter was dubbed 'the dentures of the sea' by the NIWA scientists who discovered it lurking on the ocean floor off the Bay of Islands back in 2009. It might look like your grandma's… Audio

This week's critter is the southern ant (Chelaner antarcticus), the most common and widespread native ant species in Aotearoa. These ants have been known to farm other bugs which they milk for… Audio

More than 75 percent of indigenous reptile, bird, bat, and freshwater fish species groups are threatened with extinction or are at risk of becoming threatened, according to figures released today by… Audio

This week's critter is the insect world's answer to punk - the black spined weevil, Scolopterus penicillatus, has a natural shiny leather jacket and four impressive spikes on its back. Audio

This week's critter is a species of stinkhorn fungi that looks (and smells) like the beginning of a zombie apocalypse. The Devil's fingers fungus (Clathrus archeri) sprouts red tentacles out of the… Audio

This week's critter is a crabby geezer who loves a geyser. The NZ vent crab or grumpy Gandalf crab, Gandalfus puia, is an eyeless crustacean that thrives in the toxic, high temperature environment of… Audio

This week's critter is te mokomoko a Tohu - an elusive gecko only named by science in January this year. Te mokomoko a Tohu is a large gecko native to Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka-a-Maui, the Marlborough… Audio

This week's critter is the sleek and powerful ngaro wiwi or large black hunting wasp (Priocnemis monachus) that specialises in hunting some of our largest spiders. Audio

This week's critter is the ngaro tara or three-lined hoverfly, a noisy native species with an important role as a pollinator.  Audio

The last critter of 2022 is a shy and retiring orchid that's threatened by habitat loss and climate change. The copper beard orchid (Calochilus herbaceous) is a stout orchid with a generous ruby beard… Audio

This week's critter is the glow-worm hunter harvestman, Forsteropsalis photophaga. These gangly, crab-clawed arachnids live in the Waitomo Caves and subsist exclusively on a diet of glow-worms. Male… Audio