How Important Is the Precise Matching of Provenance in Weed Biocontrol? A Case Study With Acacia auriculiformis Herbivores doi.org/10.1111/eea....

Diet‐Faeces Trophic Discrimination Factor and Gut Passage Time of an Aotearoa New Zealand Insectivorous Bat, Chalinolobus tuberculatus, Determined via Controlled Feeding Experiment doi.org/10.1111/jpn....

Assessing how biofilms modulate stream periphyton metacommunity assemblage: A translocation experiment doi.org/10.1002/ecy....

Commonly used funnel trap causes rostral damage in Lakes skink (Oligosoma aff. chloronoton ‘West Otago’) doi.org/10.20417/nzj...

Ground‐Truthing of MaxEnt Models Reveals Poor Predictive Accuracy for Lizards in the Mackenzie Basin, New Zealand doi.org/10.1002/ece3...

We're hosting a #career panel for #WomenInOceanScience with a lovely panel of #marine-focused #women. They'll talk about their #career #journey and how they contribute to #ocean #science. @universityofotago.bsky.social @hollykoch20.bsky.social @zoologyotago.bsky.social @tuhura.bsky.social

Acoustic monitoring reveals widespread distribution of pekapeka across an isolated forest ecosanctuary, Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari doi.org/10.20417/nzj...

🦎 Student Non-Bird Photo | Zoology Photo/Video Comp 2025: “Sleepy Stumpy Bumpy” by Becca Barnett (3rd-yr Zoology). Meet Bumps, a shingleback/sleepy lizard from Orana Wildlife Park mid-“climb” attempt—she bailed soon after 😴. Herp joy, captured. 📸🌿

🐦 Student Bird Photo | Zoology Photo/Video Comp 2025 “Urban Aviary” by Sam Clark (2nd-yr Zoology & Microbiology, Otago). Ōtepoti’s everyday avifauna: Kererū, Pīwakawaka, Tiu, Pūtangitangi. Urban birds doing their thing. 📸🌿

🔬🪱 Video entry | Zoology Photo/Video Comp 2025: “Hey, I am alive!” by Xuhong Chai (3rd-yr PhD). At 100×, an upside-down, invitro-reared Maritrema poulini trematode stretches and expels waste on a slide. Xuhong studies the parasite’s microbiome and its freshwater isopod hosts.

If you want to study a genetic disorder of growth, in a non-mammalian model system, Xenopus 🐸 has a unique advantage. As we show with Recql4 in G3 this month, it is possible to knock out a gene with CRISPR on just one side of the animal doi.org/10.1093/g3jo... 🧪

🐣 3rd Place - Video | Zoology Photo/Video Competition 2025: “Tūturiwhatu” (NZ dotterel, Charadrius obscurus) by Ava Thomas (2nd-year Zoology & Ecology). Endangered (~2,500 left). Filmed in Coromandel: a chick tucks into its parent’s feathers to dodge the wind. 🐦🌿 www.facebook.com/share/v/16BJ...

🧠💚 Mental Health Awareness Week (6–12 Oct)! We’re celebrating the Five Ways to Wellbeing with chill, drop-in events. Grab a Self-Care Bingo sheet at the front desk & complete one for a prize. Uni-wide events too for staff/students (tinyurl.com/3xze36fd). Poster 👇

🎬 2nd Place — Video | Zoology Photo/Video Comp 2025: “Microplastic Sampling in the Central Lakes Area.” By Alice Gilbert (MSc, Freshwater). On Lake Dunstan with WAI Wānaka, Alice samples for microplastics. No animals on camera (invertebrates likely lurking!). www.facebook.com/share/v/1Chp...

🐝 3rd Place — Staff Photo | Zoology Photo/Video Comp 2025: “Bumble Bee Inspired Progress Flag” by Senior Lecturer Jenny Jandt @thewasplady.bsky.social. Bees across Ōtago—field, backyard & glasshouse—celebrate colour and pride in our Rainbow Community. 🌈

🏆 2nd place Staff Photo – Zoology Comp 2025! 🦂 Seriously cool scorpion by Jo Monks, snapped under UV during night-time escapades in Borneo at the World Congress of Herpetology. Jo is a Senior Lecturer who loves lizards & champions science for their conservation.

Another case of island gigantism: the extinct Hodgens’ Waterhen (Tribonyx hodgenorum) is a member of Porzana (Aves: Rallidae) doi.org/10.1007/s103...

Brain-Encysting Trematodes Increase the Frequency but Reduce the Repeatability of Surfacing Behaviour in Mottled Triplefin doi.org/10.1111/eth....

Population structure of three New Zealand crested penguins identifies current conservation challenges for the Fiordland penguin/tawaki, erect-crested penguin, and eastern rockhopper penguin doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Incidental distribution and activity of the flightless Campbell Island teal (Anas nesiotis) on Campbell Island/Motu Ihupuku, New Zealand www.birdsnz.org.nz/wp-content/u...

🌈✨ Throwback to Rainbow Happy Hour (15 Aug 2025)! ✨🌈 Colourful snacks, Bingo, prizes & the brightest outfits filled the Zoology Tea Room with joy 🎉 Huge thanks to everyone who joined & to our prize donors 💜

🌈☕✨ Throwback to Scones with the Zoology Rainbow Committee! ✨☕🌈 On 12th August we shared good vibes, fresh scones, and colourful company. Thanks to everyone who joined us — your smiles made the morning even sweeter! 💜🌸

Congratulations to Katie Buschang, PhD student from Zoology, who finished runner-up at the University 3 minute-thesis competition grand finale. www.facebook.com/share/p/14Gh...

Congratulations to Elliot Weir who submitted their MSc thesis recently!!!!

🎥✨ Taking the top spot in the Video Category! ✨🎥 Zoology Photo/Video Comp 2025 🎬 My Beetle Breakdown by Joshua Castro “Testing beetle pheromone behaviour (though honestly, I think the only thing being tested was my patience).” 😅 Joshua is a third-year Zoology student www.facebook.com/share/v/1ZxC...

🌟 1st Place – Staff Category! 🌟 Zoology Photo/Video Comp 2025 📸 Crawlin’ in the Deep by Allison Miller A curious Milford Sound wheke strolling the marine block 🐙💙 Allison is a postdoc researching evolutionary ecology, phylogenetics & zoonoses.

🌟 3rd place in the Student Non-Bird Photo category of the Zoology Photo/Video Comp 2025! 📸 Sea Lion Pups — playful pups in the chaos of Enderby Island’s sea lion beach. 👤 Photographer: Oskar Ehrhardt, wildlife management student aiming for a seabird master’s!

🏆 3rd place Student Bird Photo – Zoology Comp 2025! 🐧 Faces of the Subantarctic by Bianca Keys shows rare moments of erect-crested & eastern rockhopper penguins. Bianca, a penguin-obsessed PhD student, studies their ecology & trends in remote subantarctic colonies.

📸 2nd Place – Student Non-Bird Photo, Zoology Photo/Video Competition 2025 Morena by Pearl Barry 🦎 A young Otago green skink basks with its siblings at Orokonui Ecosanctuary 🌿 Pearl Barry is an ecology grad researching keystone behaviour and species translocations.

🌈✨ Zoology Rainbow Extravaganza – Aug 12 ✨🌈 🫖 Morning Tea (~11am) – Scones by the Zoology Rainbow Committee! 🎲 Zoology Board Game Night – Rainbow Week Takeover! (~4pm) – Gnome Hollow, Hues & Cues + snacks! 🍿 📍Zoology Dept, Uni of Otago (tea room) All welcome! 🏳️‍🌈 @zoologyotago.bsky.social

🐧 2nd Place – Student Bird Photo Category 📸 Hoiho and Megaherbs on Enderby A stunning shot of a Hoiho soaking in the view from Enderby’s cliffs! Congrats to Oskar Ehrhardt, wildlife management student and future seabird scientist 🐦🌿

Thrilled to join the first-ever RARITY Internship! Looking forward to exploring how research turns into action — from policy to patient impact. Let’s go beyond the bench! @zoologyotago.bsky.social #raredisease #STEM #EarlyCareerResearchers #WomenInSTEM

Ancient DNA and morphometrics reveal a new species of extinct insular shelduck from Rēkohu Chatham Islands doi.org/10.1093/zool...

Congratulations to Alex Brown who submitted his MSc thesis yesterday!

Just used and cited this scientific publication in the #Wikipedia article for Leiproctus fulvenscens. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leiopro...

German wasp vs male sweat bee. When males hunt for mates, the ground nesting bee community becomes more obvious to predators. The males won't contribute to the nest, and the females don't waste time hovering. This community will be fine. @zoologyotago.bsky.social youtu.be/ymdlevx43nY?...

Congrats to my Masters student @palaeocharlie.bsky.social on winning the Division of Science heats for the Three Minute Masters Thesis Competition. Well done Charlie @universityofotago.bsky.social @zoologyotago.bsky.social

Effects of competition and predation risk from a life history intraguild predator on individual specialisation doi.org/10.1111/1365...

Pollen specialisation of native bees in Dunedin doi.org/10.1080/0077...

A Jack of All Trades—Tawaki/Fiordland penguins are able to utilise diverse marine habitats during winter migration doi.org/10.7717/peer...

Inter-colony and inter-annual behavioural plasticity in the foraging strategies of a fjord-dwelling penguin—good news in the face of environmental change? doi.org/10.7717/peer...

Differences in Establishment of Host and Parasite After One Decade Among Four Simultaneous Translocations of a Long-Lived Reptile doi.org/10.1111/aec....

🦎 1st Place Student Non-Bird Photo – 2025 Zoology Photo/Video Comp! 📸 “Peek-a-boo I see you” by Becca Barnett – a juvenile green gecko at Mt Bruce Ecosanctuary, mid-glass climb. Becca is a 3rd-year Zoology major obsessed with all things herpetology!

For a city usually dressed in black, there sure is a lot of colour - as noted by international travel publication, Wanderlust Travel Magazine, naming Dunedin NZ as one of their top up-and-coming LGBTQ+ travel destinations. tinyurl.com/48sw6jmn

🐦 1st Place Student Bird Photo – 2025 Zoology Photo/Video Comp! 📸 “Toroa” by Ava Thomas. A stunning shot of the Buller’s mollymawk, a near-threatened seabird seen off Otago. Ava is a 2nd year Zoology & Ecology major who loves Aotearoa’s birds. (www.instagram.com/ava_thomas_p...)

Join me at Ombrellos Kitchen and Bar on Tues 29th July at 5.30pm for this month's Thirst for Knowledge, where I'll be MythBusting de-extinction to sort fact from fiction - with @universityofotago.bsky.social @zoologyotago.bsky.social

🐝 International Science Festival Expo 🐝 Huge thanks to Greer, Charlie, Connal, Bart & Jenny for inspiring 2,000+ budding scientists at our Zoology booth! From fossils and parasites to live ants and cephalopod vision, it was a hit. Shout out to Janelle, Shelly & Nicky for organising everything!

Intraspecific body size determines isotopic trophic structure of a large river fish community doi.org/10.1111/1365...

Unravelling hidden battles: Genetic insights into parasite diversity and competition in mottled triplefin (Forsterygion capito) doi.org/10.1007/s004...

Islands Promote Diversification of the Silvereye Species Complex: A Phylogenomic Analysis of a Great Speciator doi.org/10.1111/mec....