Zoology Department, University of Otago
@zoologyotago.bsky.social
A page for past and present students to keep informed about what is currently happening in Zoology at Otago.
https://www.otago.ac.nz/zoology
https://www.otago.ac.nz/zoology
🐾🔬 Hands-on University of Otago Zoology Project 2026 — what a week!
So great meeting everyone 🙌 From Orokonui Ecosanctuary visits 🌿 to dissection day, pest control chats, Tūhura Otago Museum, and getting up close with our skull collection 💀
Such an awesome experience!
So great meeting everyone 🙌 From Orokonui Ecosanctuary visits 🌿 to dissection day, pest control chats, Tūhura Otago Museum, and getting up close with our skull collection 💀
Such an awesome experience!
February 3, 2026 at 12:05 AM
🐾🔬 Hands-on University of Otago Zoology Project 2026 — what a week!
So great meeting everyone 🙌 From Orokonui Ecosanctuary visits 🌿 to dissection day, pest control chats, Tūhura Otago Museum, and getting up close with our skull collection 💀
Such an awesome experience!
So great meeting everyone 🙌 From Orokonui Ecosanctuary visits 🌿 to dissection day, pest control chats, Tūhura Otago Museum, and getting up close with our skull collection 💀
Such an awesome experience!
Reposted by Zoology Department, University of Otago
@zoologyotago.bsky.social will have some new captive reared juvenile Southern Bell Frogs on display soon. Today they had a physical, and this one was especially grumpy about it. 🧪🐸
February 1, 2026 at 11:27 PM
@zoologyotago.bsky.social will have some new captive reared juvenile Southern Bell Frogs on display soon. Today they had a physical, and this one was especially grumpy about it. 🧪🐸
Huge congratulations to Cassie Mealey who submitted her MSc thesis entitled ‘Scaling Up Detection: eDNA for Elusive Lizards’ yesterday. Ka rawe Cassie!! :) 🎉
January 26, 2026 at 9:18 PM
Huge congratulations to Cassie Mealey who submitted her MSc thesis entitled ‘Scaling Up Detection: eDNA for Elusive Lizards’ yesterday. Ka rawe Cassie!! :) 🎉
Editorial: Biodiversity of Antarctic and Subantarctic ecosystems
doi.org/10.3389/fevo...
doi.org/10.3389/fevo...
Frontiers | Editorial: Biodiversity of Antarctic and Subantarctic ecosystems
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) adopted a work program (2019-2030) that included, under its firs...
doi.org
January 26, 2026 at 9:12 PM
Editorial: Biodiversity of Antarctic and Subantarctic ecosystems
doi.org/10.3389/fevo...
doi.org/10.3389/fevo...
Reconstructing ecological niche and feeding ecology of pre-contact New Zealand avifauna from Harwood, Otago Peninsula
doi.org/10.20417/nzj...
doi.org/10.20417/nzj...
January 26, 2026 at 9:11 PM
Reconstructing ecological niche and feeding ecology of pre-contact New Zealand avifauna from Harwood, Otago Peninsula
doi.org/10.20417/nzj...
doi.org/10.20417/nzj...
Fear responses in a nationally threatened seabird: habitat and landscape contexts influence flight initiation distance in red-billed gulls
doi.org/10.1007/s002...
doi.org/10.1007/s002...
Fear responses in a nationally threatened seabird: habitat and landscape contexts influence flight initiation distance in red-billed gulls - Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Urbanisation is a major land-use change that introduces novel disturbances and risks into ecosystems, requiring species to adjust their fear responses to avoid fitness costs associated with mismatched...
doi.org
January 26, 2026 at 9:10 PM
Fear responses in a nationally threatened seabird: habitat and landscape contexts influence flight initiation distance in red-billed gulls
doi.org/10.1007/s002...
doi.org/10.1007/s002...
Plastic pollution and parasitism: Impact of nanoplastics on the transmission of a marine trematode parasite
doi.org/10.1016/j.sc...
doi.org/10.1016/j.sc...
January 26, 2026 at 9:08 PM
Plastic pollution and parasitism: Impact of nanoplastics on the transmission of a marine trematode parasite
doi.org/10.1016/j.sc...
doi.org/10.1016/j.sc...
Mixing in Moderation: Slow Transmission of Non-Local Macroparasites Following a Population Augmentation of an Endangered Australian Skink
doi.org/10.1111/mec....
doi.org/10.1111/mec....
January 26, 2026 at 9:05 PM
Mixing in Moderation: Slow Transmission of Non-Local Macroparasites Following a Population Augmentation of an Endangered Australian Skink
doi.org/10.1111/mec....
doi.org/10.1111/mec....
📸🐚 Zoology Photo/Video Competition 2025 – Staff Entry!
Limpet collection
Photo by Chenhua Li 📷
Out in the field collecting limpets for parasite examination 🦠🔬
Chenhua Li is a postdoc in the Poulin Lab who studies parasites — the tiny organisms with big ecological impact! 🌊✨
Limpet collection
Photo by Chenhua Li 📷
Out in the field collecting limpets for parasite examination 🦠🔬
Chenhua Li is a postdoc in the Poulin Lab who studies parasites — the tiny organisms with big ecological impact! 🌊✨
January 19, 2026 at 9:40 PM
📸🐚 Zoology Photo/Video Competition 2025 – Staff Entry!
Limpet collection
Photo by Chenhua Li 📷
Out in the field collecting limpets for parasite examination 🦠🔬
Chenhua Li is a postdoc in the Poulin Lab who studies parasites — the tiny organisms with big ecological impact! 🌊✨
Limpet collection
Photo by Chenhua Li 📷
Out in the field collecting limpets for parasite examination 🦠🔬
Chenhua Li is a postdoc in the Poulin Lab who studies parasites — the tiny organisms with big ecological impact! 🌊✨
Reposted by Zoology Department, University of Otago
Alison Cree & I were interviewed for an article that just came out in New Zealand Geographic! The graphics are brilliant.
#WaspLove
@zoologyotago.bsky.social
@nzgeo.bsky.social
www.nzgeo.com/stories/ther...
#WaspLove
@zoologyotago.bsky.social
@nzgeo.bsky.social
www.nzgeo.com/stories/ther...
There’s no place like home
All around you, animals are building, burrowing or stealing dwellings for themselves and their families. For others, home is a state of mind.
www.nzgeo.com
January 11, 2026 at 10:54 PM
Alison Cree & I were interviewed for an article that just came out in New Zealand Geographic! The graphics are brilliant.
#WaspLove
@zoologyotago.bsky.social
@nzgeo.bsky.social
www.nzgeo.com/stories/ther...
#WaspLove
@zoologyotago.bsky.social
@nzgeo.bsky.social
www.nzgeo.com/stories/ther...
📸 Zoology 2025 Photo Competition - Staff Entry
Photo by Connal McLean, Teaching fellow
Big Nose, Little Bee 🐝
Digger bees (Leioproctus) usually nest in the ground or forage in flowers. This Leioproctus fulvescens went digging for sunscreen and/or boogers! 😄
Photo by Connal McLean, Teaching fellow
Big Nose, Little Bee 🐝
Digger bees (Leioproctus) usually nest in the ground or forage in flowers. This Leioproctus fulvescens went digging for sunscreen and/or boogers! 😄
January 11, 2026 at 10:05 PM
📸 Zoology 2025 Photo Competition - Staff Entry
Photo by Connal McLean, Teaching fellow
Big Nose, Little Bee 🐝
Digger bees (Leioproctus) usually nest in the ground or forage in flowers. This Leioproctus fulvescens went digging for sunscreen and/or boogers! 😄
Photo by Connal McLean, Teaching fellow
Big Nose, Little Bee 🐝
Digger bees (Leioproctus) usually nest in the ground or forage in flowers. This Leioproctus fulvescens went digging for sunscreen and/or boogers! 😄
📸 Zoology 2025 Photo/Video Competition
Photo by: Caitlyn Trotman
🦎 Unhand me!
Skink captured in pitfall traps near Tekapo
Caitlyn Trotman is a student studying a Masters of Wildlife Management 🎓
Photo by: Caitlyn Trotman
🦎 Unhand me!
Skink captured in pitfall traps near Tekapo
Caitlyn Trotman is a student studying a Masters of Wildlife Management 🎓
January 11, 2026 at 9:59 PM
📸 Zoology 2025 Photo/Video Competition
Photo by: Caitlyn Trotman
🦎 Unhand me!
Skink captured in pitfall traps near Tekapo
Caitlyn Trotman is a student studying a Masters of Wildlife Management 🎓
Photo by: Caitlyn Trotman
🦎 Unhand me!
Skink captured in pitfall traps near Tekapo
Caitlyn Trotman is a student studying a Masters of Wildlife Management 🎓
📸 Zoology 2025 Photo entries
Photos by Kate Bonné, Postgrad Botany student drawn into zoology via conservation work
Maybe don’t touch – marine polychaete worm on Rakiura 🌊
Kake – adult female sea lion at Hooper’s Inlet 🦭
Courting – cicadas on thistle 🌿
Hitching a ride – orbweaver on kahukura 🕷️🦋
Photos by Kate Bonné, Postgrad Botany student drawn into zoology via conservation work
Maybe don’t touch – marine polychaete worm on Rakiura 🌊
Kake – adult female sea lion at Hooper’s Inlet 🦭
Courting – cicadas on thistle 🌿
Hitching a ride – orbweaver on kahukura 🕷️🦋
January 11, 2026 at 9:56 PM
📸 Zoology 2025 Photo entries
Photos by Kate Bonné, Postgrad Botany student drawn into zoology via conservation work
Maybe don’t touch – marine polychaete worm on Rakiura 🌊
Kake – adult female sea lion at Hooper’s Inlet 🦭
Courting – cicadas on thistle 🌿
Hitching a ride – orbweaver on kahukura 🕷️🦋
Photos by Kate Bonné, Postgrad Botany student drawn into zoology via conservation work
Maybe don’t touch – marine polychaete worm on Rakiura 🌊
Kake – adult female sea lion at Hooper’s Inlet 🦭
Courting – cicadas on thistle 🌿
Hitching a ride – orbweaver on kahukura 🕷️🦋
📸 Zoology 2025 Photo/Video Competition
Photos by Ava Thomas 🐦
Takahē – once thought extinct, now increasing in predator-free areas incl. Orokonui 🏞️
Miromiro – common native bush bird, least concern (female) 🌿
Tītitipounamu – common native bush bird, least concern 💚
Photos by Ava Thomas 🐦
Takahē – once thought extinct, now increasing in predator-free areas incl. Orokonui 🏞️
Miromiro – common native bush bird, least concern (female) 🌿
Tītitipounamu – common native bush bird, least concern 💚
January 11, 2026 at 9:43 PM
📸 Zoology 2025 Photo/Video Competition
Photos by Ava Thomas 🐦
Takahē – once thought extinct, now increasing in predator-free areas incl. Orokonui 🏞️
Miromiro – common native bush bird, least concern (female) 🌿
Tītitipounamu – common native bush bird, least concern 💚
Photos by Ava Thomas 🐦
Takahē – once thought extinct, now increasing in predator-free areas incl. Orokonui 🏞️
Miromiro – common native bush bird, least concern (female) 🌿
Tītitipounamu – common native bush bird, least concern 💚
📸 Zoology 2025 Photo/Video Competition
Navigating Mackenzie Basin 🌿🏞️
Photo by Kristine Grayson
WLM Techniques course observing braided river habitat supporting the last remaining kakī 🐦
Visiting Academic (University of Richmond), Semester 1, 2025 🎓🌏
Navigating Mackenzie Basin 🌿🏞️
Photo by Kristine Grayson
WLM Techniques course observing braided river habitat supporting the last remaining kakī 🐦
Visiting Academic (University of Richmond), Semester 1, 2025 🎓🌏
January 11, 2026 at 9:28 PM
📸 Zoology 2025 Photo/Video Competition
Navigating Mackenzie Basin 🌿🏞️
Photo by Kristine Grayson
WLM Techniques course observing braided river habitat supporting the last remaining kakī 🐦
Visiting Academic (University of Richmond), Semester 1, 2025 🎓🌏
Navigating Mackenzie Basin 🌿🏞️
Photo by Kristine Grayson
WLM Techniques course observing braided river habitat supporting the last remaining kakī 🐦
Visiting Academic (University of Richmond), Semester 1, 2025 🎓🌏
Huge congratulations to Oscar Thomas who submitted his MSc thesis at the weekend. It’s possible that he was the first student to submit a thesis from a boat anchored off the Sub-Antarctic Islands..... (in keeping with the adventures of his research journey!). Ka rawe Oscar! 🎉
December 1, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Huge congratulations to Oscar Thomas who submitted his MSc thesis at the weekend. It’s possible that he was the first student to submit a thesis from a boat anchored off the Sub-Antarctic Islands..... (in keeping with the adventures of his research journey!). Ka rawe Oscar! 🎉
Congratulations to Cameron McDougall, who placed 2nd in the standard talk category, and to Kahu Hema and Harrison Foor, who jointly won 1st place in the speed talk category, at the recent New Zealand Molecular Ecology Conference. 🎉
December 1, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Congratulations to Cameron McDougall, who placed 2nd in the standard talk category, and to Kahu Hema and Harrison Foor, who jointly won 1st place in the speed talk category, at the recent New Zealand Molecular Ecology Conference. 🎉
Congratulations to Mia Milsom and Cassidy Storey, our 2025 recipients of the Jamieson-Bishop Research Award! 🎉The award provides small grants to assist outstanding Zoology research students with their thesis research.
November 17, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Congratulations to Mia Milsom and Cassidy Storey, our 2025 recipients of the Jamieson-Bishop Research Award! 🎉The award provides small grants to assist outstanding Zoology research students with their thesis research.
Reposted by Zoology Department, University of Otago
Otago has joined forces with Ngāti Hine Health Trust, one of the largest Māori health providers in Aotearoa, to address and improve persistent inequities in diabetes care for Māori ❤️🩹
Read more here ⬇️
Read more here ⬇️
Groundbreaking partnership to tackle diabetes inequities
The University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka has joined forces with Ngāti Hine Health Trust, one of the largest Māori health providers in Aotearoa, to improve diabetes care for Māori.
www.otago.ac.nz
November 14, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Otago has joined forces with Ngāti Hine Health Trust, one of the largest Māori health providers in Aotearoa, to address and improve persistent inequities in diabetes care for Māori ❤️🩹
Read more here ⬇️
Read more here ⬇️
Mixing in Moderation: Slow Transmission of Non-Local Macroparasites Following a Population Augmentation of an Endangered Australian Skink
doi.org/10.1111/mec....
doi.org/10.1111/mec....
November 15, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Mixing in Moderation: Slow Transmission of Non-Local Macroparasites Following a Population Augmentation of an Endangered Australian Skink
doi.org/10.1111/mec....
doi.org/10.1111/mec....
🦭📸 Student entry for the Zoology Photo/Video Comp 2025! “Kekeno” by Ava Thomas, a beautiful shot of an NZ fur seal, one of Aotearoa’s coastal regulars and classified as Least Concern.
Ava is a second-year Zoology & Ecology major with a soft spot for native birds. 🌿✨
Ava is a second-year Zoology & Ecology major with a soft spot for native birds. 🌿✨
November 13, 2025 at 10:38 PM
🦭📸 Student entry for the Zoology Photo/Video Comp 2025! “Kekeno” by Ava Thomas, a beautiful shot of an NZ fur seal, one of Aotearoa’s coastal regulars and classified as Least Concern.
Ava is a second-year Zoology & Ecology major with a soft spot for native birds. 🌿✨
Ava is a second-year Zoology & Ecology major with a soft spot for native birds. 🌿✨
🦅📸 Student entry - Zoology Photo/Video Comp 2025! “A Collection of Native Birds” by Diego Carena-Santiago featuring a feeding Tarapirohe, stretching Tōrea pango, strutting Hoiho, intense Kārearea portrait, and Pāpango in flight. Diego is a BSc student in Ecology & Zoology 🌿✨
November 13, 2025 at 10:33 PM
🦅📸 Student entry - Zoology Photo/Video Comp 2025! “A Collection of Native Birds” by Diego Carena-Santiago featuring a feeding Tarapirohe, stretching Tōrea pango, strutting Hoiho, intense Kārearea portrait, and Pāpango in flight. Diego is a BSc student in Ecology & Zoology 🌿✨
🐦📸 Juvenile tern contemplating life… and fish traps 🐟😂
Shot by Ross Thompson (Carolyn Burns Chair in Freshwater Science) for the 2025 Zoology Photo/Video Comp. 💧✨
Shot by Ross Thompson (Carolyn Burns Chair in Freshwater Science) for the 2025 Zoology Photo/Video Comp. 💧✨
November 13, 2025 at 10:26 PM
🐦📸 Juvenile tern contemplating life… and fish traps 🐟😂
Shot by Ross Thompson (Carolyn Burns Chair in Freshwater Science) for the 2025 Zoology Photo/Video Comp. 💧✨
Shot by Ross Thompson (Carolyn Burns Chair in Freshwater Science) for the 2025 Zoology Photo/Video Comp. 💧✨
Reposted by Zoology Department, University of Otago
Huge thanks to Dr. Jerusha Bennett at the University of Otago @zoologyotago.bsky.social for the opportunity for us to create the animation of this incredible trematode parasite Copiatestes!! ❤️ Check out the video and learn more about the mysterious anklets on sea bird legs!
youtu.be/EAt9cONTD88
youtu.be/EAt9cONTD88
Threads of Trouble: The Story of Copiatestes and Our Manu by Dr. Jerusha Bennett
YouTube video by Global Parasitologist Coalition
youtu.be
November 13, 2025 at 12:05 AM
Huge thanks to Dr. Jerusha Bennett at the University of Otago @zoologyotago.bsky.social for the opportunity for us to create the animation of this incredible trematode parasite Copiatestes!! ❤️ Check out the video and learn more about the mysterious anklets on sea bird legs!
youtu.be/EAt9cONTD88
youtu.be/EAt9cONTD88
How Important Is the Precise Matching of Provenance in Weed Biocontrol? A Case Study With Acacia auriculiformis Herbivores
doi.org/10.1111/eea....
doi.org/10.1111/eea....
How Important Is the Precise Matching of Provenance in Weed Biocontrol? A Case Study With Acacia auriculiformis Herbivores
We compared the fecundity and damage caused by Calomela intemerata beetles on Acacia auriculiformis plants from different provenances. Beetles from Queensland laid more eggs and caused significantly ...
doi.org
October 29, 2025 at 1:42 AM
How Important Is the Precise Matching of Provenance in Weed Biocontrol? A Case Study With Acacia auriculiformis Herbivores
doi.org/10.1111/eea....
doi.org/10.1111/eea....