A tramper who tackled the Tongariro Crossing in shorts and running shoes remains in a stable condition in Rotorua Hospital.

Cool fun activities are doing more for conservation at Auckland’s regional parks than many a lecture could.

Police want to know who took a kayak and a range of survival equipment to Rangitoto Island - and left it there.

They may be hated pests that love eating our cherished native birds, but pesky introduced stoats have just become a little more interesting to scientists overseas.

After 20 years, but family members of the 14 young people who died in the Cave Creek disaster marked the anniversary today by acknowledging that they were ready to move on.

Footage has emerged of the terrifying moment a 6m great white shark lunged at a dinghy carrying an international film crew off Stewart Island.

An enormous effort to save native birds from a tide of pests has delivered some promising results in the South Island, following 1080 drops across vast swathes of beech forest.

The dead oarfish washed up at Aramoana last week has disappeared and marine experts are warning against eating its 3m-long fillets.

Solutions are critical in their own way for the challenge that is turning the tide on the loss of nature in New Zealand, writes Marie Brown.

In the first of a two-part series on New Zealand’s ‘vanishing nature’, author Marie Brown explains the country’s biodiversity crisis - and why things are getting worse.

A rare kiwi chick that has been recovering at Wellington Zoo for the past six weeks is heading back to the wild.

I spent last week in the Auckland Islands, where only a few people get to go. DoC, the Navy and universities send people down a few times a year.

A real estate agent has been fined after a buyer wasn't told that 112sq m of public land was included within the property boundary fence.

Nearly 10 per cent of our coastal marine area is now safeguarded by reserves. But are we really doing enough? Science reporter Jamie Morton poses five key questions.

Check Ditch Keeling's voicemail announcement. "I'm in the middle of killing something right now," it says. "Leave a message and I'll get back to you just as soon as it's dead.

A man whose dog attacked and killed a protected New Zealand fur seal pup on a West Auckland beach has been fined $1000 and will have his dog put down.

Sixty whales from a stranded pod of almost 200 have been successfully refloated near Nelson.

Around 100 volunteers are working frantically to save what is left of a pod of stranded pilot whales near Nelson this morning.

More stranded pilot whales are expected to die as weather conditions and nightfall hamper efforts to save 174 pilot whales that ran into trouble today.

A desperate plea by 15 bystanders for passing jetboats to rescue a 30-year-old struggling in the chilly waters of the Hokitika Gorge were ignored by the boaties.

She's shown the slick skills of famed prison escaper George Wilder in repeatedly busting out of her sanctuary - so now it's off to Alcatraz for Peti the trouble-making takahe.

A woman was winched off Mt Sebastopol yesterday after becoming stuck on the mountain during a day hike.

Claims that the high-profile pest control campaign "Battle For Our Birds" wiped out a group of nationally endangered birds are unfounded, the Department of Conservation says.