It's not just gym junkies getting in shape for summer - our beloved four-legged mates are also embracing the never-ending fitness craze.

It’s not just gym jumkies getting in shape for summer – our beloved four-legged mates are also embracing the never-ending fitness craze. Photographer Michael Craig spent a morning at Muriwai Beach capturing the antics of some very active pooches.

One of the world's rarest species of monkey has a new, bright orange addition.

The two-year-old - just under four metres high - left Timaru on a flat-topped truck just before 5.30pm

A man is offering a hefty reward for the return of his furry friend.

Residents of Timaru are turning out for a glimpse of young giraffe Shira, who arrived by ship at its port at about 2pm en route from Auckland Zoo to her new home in Christchurch.

A tiny New Zealand snail is threatening a multi-billion dollar sport fishing economy after it was found in the Great Lakes of North America.

Sometimes looking at videos of kittens on YouTube on your boss's time is just not enough to get you through the day. So the SPCA and Uber have banded together to deliver kittens across Auckland and Wellington. Today, they are visiting The Hits radio station offices.

A University of Otago student came to the rescue of a Jack Russell left in a hot car.

Shira, who was born at the zoo in 2013, is being transferred to Christchurch's Orana Wildlife Park

Supplied/Uber

Cats abandoned in cardboard box were moments from being put in waste crusher.

About 70 people are protesting outside the Environment Court in Auckland this morning against a new chicken farm proposed for Patumahoe, near Pukekohe.

Timaru has a tall order coming its way - as Auckland Zoo's two-year-old giraffe Shira begins a three-day sea voyage south this morning.

Cat pictures are funny and harmless - but there's a sinister undercurrent and a serious point to be made.

A request by authorities has sparked a humorous response from Belgian citizens.

A child at Wellington zoo managed to put their hand through fencing mesh and pat one of the cheetahs. The child was unhurt.

Grant Bradley goes on a late summer training ride with huskies high above the Arctic Circle.

Michelle Olbricht assumed her cats Ash and Ellie were home bodies, with little appetite for exploring the world but boy was she wrong.

The death of police dog Diesel in the Paris raids has inspired hundreds of tributes from pets around the world - with a little help from their owners.

Jimbo's try their hand at producing a TV advertisement with 18 dogs and six cats. Watch the cute and cuddly video here.

One of New Zealand's rarest penguin has left Wellington Zoo and returned to her hometown in the West Coast after receiving treatment for an infected wound.

Trying to identify which deerstalkers fired the fatal shots and dragging them off for a show trial is hardly the point, writes Brian Rudman. DoC was entrusted with the safety of the critically endangered birds, and it was DoC who invited the shooters in.

Tui are renowned for their repertoire of songs yet we're only just beginning to find out how urban environments are influencing their singing.

There's no mistaking that the Herald has come to the right house in Blockhouse Bay to meet Madam Butterfly, Jacqui Knight.

Four Kiwi fishermen have been singled out for their efforts to stop seabirds being killed as bycatch while out on the water.

Conservationists were left to hedge their bets when it came to saving a critical population of one of New Zealand's most endangered bird species.

Forest and Bird are warning a "pest plague" is on the cards next winter and spring.

A major 1080 poison offensive succeeded in wiping out 95 per cent of rats and 85 per cent of stoats in targeted forests around the country.

A 33-year-old chimpanzee at Wellington Zoo has had surgery to prevent her from putting sticks and pieces of straw into her ear.