New Zealand's cute pukeko, known for its colour both in plumage and personality, has been shown to have a power-hungry, aggressive streak - quite literally.

Lloyd Esler describes himself as a "cold hard sceptic", but even he is starting to believe otters may have made themselves at home in Southland.

Dogs may be man's best friend but, on many New Zealand farms, they are also often their best employees.

For years, scientists have been dogged by this evolution question: Just where did man's best friend first appear?

They call him Blinky - a tiny freshwater crab fished out of the Hoteo River on the Kaipara Coast that's made a splash around the world this week, thanks to its three eyes.

Shark finning will be banned in New Zealand waters under a government proposal announced today.

Scientists studying North Island robins, bowel bacteria and condensed matter physics are among the winners of prestigious research fellowships announced this morning.

Forget all that creaking and groaning of stressed metal as the pressure of millions of tonnes of water comes to bear. That's pure Hollywood. It's actually dead quiet.

A bid to bring back kiwis to a Northland forest has delivered something to celebrate just in time for a national fundraising campaign.

Persistent prompting by an Auckland scientist has persuaded the shipping industry to rearrange its schedules, for a whale.

Shipping companies have agreed to slow down and alter course in the Hauraki Gulf in an effort to save an endangered resident whale.

In an emotion-charged ceremony, Rochelle Constantine was one of three inaugural recipients of the Holdaway Awards at the Hauraki Gulf Forum's annual seminar this month.

'Next generation' DNA extraction techniques found no viable material even in samples less than a century old.

Scientists are preparing to test a potential therapy for Huntington's disease in sheep that have been genetically modified to carry the mutation that causes the disease.

Trying to swat a fly is like trying to shoot Keanu Reeves in The Matrix because time appears to move more slowly in the minds of smaller animals.

One of the rarest dinosaur fossils could be lost to science when it is auctioned for private sale in November, scientists warned yesterday.

They're little, they're fluffy and, for the first time, they're all ours.

A deep-sea search for giant squid has captured the world's first video footage of the mysterious creature in its habitat.

Two major New Zealand retailers have moved to stop stocking a controversial group of insecticides over claims they harm bees.

There's mounting evidence that the pesticide bombardment of our crops and farms is having a devastating effect on wildlife, writes Sue Kedgley.

The one-humped dromedary camel of Arabia may be the source of a mysterious respiratory virus that emerged without warning last year causing kidney failure and severe pneumonia and leading to the death of about half the people known to be infected.

Researchers in Utah say they have discovered a new type of big-nosed, horned-faced dinosaur that lived about 76 million years ago.

While sharks are usually feared more for their fangs, researchers have captured video footage of thresher sharks which use their tails as a weapon to stun or kill prey.

Penguins can move underwater with the speed of a swallow or swift, but cannot fly even as far as a chicken. How did a bird that in some cases shuffles 65km to its breeding grounds on unsuitable flippers lose its ability to fly there quickly?