Latest news with #Rakiura
RNZ News
3 days ago
- RNZ News
Unexplained discovery of dead stoat on Stewart Island sparks investigation
File photo. Photo: 123RF The Department of Conservation is investigating the unexplained discovery of a dead stoat on Stewart Island. Rakiura is known to be stoat-free with the nearest population 30 kilometres away across the Foveaux Strait. The dead stoat was found on the Rakiura Great Walk Track earlier this month with its skull crushed either from a trap or similar blunt force. The department's Southern South Island Director of Operations, Aaron Fleming, said a stoat's swimming range was two kilometres and they were not known to stowaway on boats. "This stoat has died from a head injury then mysteriously turned up on a busy walking track," Fleming said. "We need to know if we are dealing with a new significant threat to Rakiura's native species, or if this stoat has been transported from elsewhere and planted deliberately. "Both scenarios are disturbing. We are taking this seriously." Genetic testing was underway to try to work out where the stoat had come from. The department is asking anyone with information to come forward. Fleming said stoats would have devastating impacts on the native wildlife if they established a population on Rakiura, threatening the efforts to create a predator-free space for kākāpō to be returned. "In other places in New Zealand where there are stoats, kiwi chick survival can be as low as zero without sustained pest control," he said. "Imagine the damage stoats could do on Rakiura, which is known for its tokoeka or southern brown kiwi population." A predator free project is working to eradicate all of the island's existing pest species, which include rats, possums, feral cats and hedgehogs. Introducing pests including stoats is illegal and penalties include up to five years imprisonment and significant fines. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
16-07-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Protecting the Pukunui (the Southern NZ Dotterel)
Rakiura / Stuart Island is home to 105 Pukunui. It's the only place in the world they can be found Doc class them as 'Threatened - Nationally Critical'. Just one step away from extinction. And according to Zero Invasive Predators' Operations director Duncan Kay, without some serious intervention, they could be gone in a matter of years. Tags: To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
RNZ News
21-05-2025
- Science
- RNZ News
AI and the "next big thing" in astronomy
AI - Artificial Intelligence - is increasingly a part of our daily lives and the more we use it, the more conversations there are about whether we use it too much - even amongst scientists themselves. Anna Scaife is a Professor of Radio Astronomy from the University of Manchester. Here for a lecture series at the invitation of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand, Anna's talk is entitled "How Artificial Intelligence is changing the way we do Astronomy - and why that's not necessarily a bad thing." She joins Kathryn from Rakiura, Stewart Island to explain how AI could help astronomers solve one of the biggest scientific questions of all time. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
