This morning's Otago Daily Times. I'm not sure what a cyclone journey is, though 😂.

It's great to be @palaeogenomics.bsky.social in Stockholm presenting our #ancientDNA research (led by @alexverry.bsky.social) into the evolution & palaeoecology of Aotearoa #NewZealand enigmatic & sadly extinct mātuhituhi bush wren. Now to sit back and enjoy the rest of the conference #ICP2026

There was once an island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island in the ocean. Great morning (in a very nicely timed weather window) spent on Mou Waho in Lake Wānaka bird watching as part of the @birdsnewzealand.bsky.social conference.

This talk is tomorrow night. So, if you are in Wanaka or Central Otago, come and listen. #De-Extinction

If you want some posters for your primary, intermediate or secondary schools on where science can take you, I worked with the NZ Assoc Science Educators to develop these. Primary & intermediate is on the left, secondary on the right. PM me if you would like some PDF copies for your classroom.

My Mythbusting de-extinction talk is on this Friday in Wanaka, so if you're around in Central Otago, come & listen. Plenty to talk about with @itiscolossal.bsky.social announcement of an artificial egg & what it means for genetically modifying an emu to look somewhat like a moa @smcnz.bsky.social

If you are around in Central Otago next Friday night, come & check out my talk in Wanaka on Mythbusting de-extinction. @smcnz.bsky.social

Tēnā kōrua Kane Fleury (Te Āti Awa) & Rachel Wesley (Ōtākou Runaka) for gifting our labs Te Reo Māori name. Thanks also needs to go to Kane for the adzebill photo, @plubbe.bsky.social for the fantastic design skills, & everyone who provided valuable feedback on the new lab's name & logo design. 2/5

The @universityofotago.bsky.social Palaeogenetics Lab is rebranding!!! While we started in 2013 just doing ancient DNA, we are now very much a deep-time palaeoecology lab. From now on, we will be known as the Ancient Ecology Lab Mātai Hauropi Tawhito. 1/5 🧵

Check out my latest article on moa de-extinction, which is out now in the Autumn issue of @forestandbird.bsky.social Magazine.

There's always a racist dinosaur (no offence intended to actual dinosaurs) that comes out of the woodwork in the Otago Daily Times Letters to the Editor in response to an opinion piece that you wrote theconversation.com/to-help-save...

Want to do a PhD @universityofotago.bsky.social on climate impacts on #NZ vertebrates w/ Michael Knapp, @plubbe.bsky.social, @atennyson.bsky.social & me? Comes w/ fully funded scholarship & will investigate climate extinction risks using genomics & niche modelling evol.mcmaster.ca/brian/evoldi...

Thanks, Otago Daily Times for republishing our @aunz.theconversation.com piece on putting the extinction blame game behind us to work with mana whenua & Indigenous communities to save our endangered species.

I can see every ancient DNA scientist in the world currently cringing about @itiscolossal.bsky.social scientists' lack of gloves when sampling moa bones 🤦‍♂️ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Nice to see the Otago Daily Times covering our research on the St Bathans goose. You can read all about our research here in our @aunz.theconversation.com article theconversation.com/meet-the-old...

For #FossilFriday, check out the St Bathans goose (Meterchen luti) that lived in #NZ 14-19 Mya (tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....), making it ten waterfowl species that lived around the giant palaeolake Manuherikia theconversation.com/meet-the-old.... Artwork by Sasha Votyakova/Te Papa CC BY-NC-SA.

The relatively recent evolution of giant flightless Cnemiornis geese offers another striking example of rapid morphological change that can occur within short timeframes on islands. @ 1 m tall & up to 18 kg, these are the largest geese worldwide. Artwork by Paul Martinson/Te Papa CC BY-NC-SA. 11/13

The St Bathans goose is not closely related to the recently-extinct giant flightless NZ geese (Cnemiornis species) or their Australian cousin, the Cape Barren goose. Artwork by Paul Martinson/Te Papa CC BY-NC-SA. 4/13

While many waterfowl are common in fossil deposits around St Bathans, some are rare. We re-examined bones previously IDed as belonging to geese & compared them to other waterfowl from the deposits & a broad collection of comparative bird skeletons. Artwork by Simone Giovanardi. 2/13

Welcome to the world Meterchen luti, the St Bathans goose that lived in subtropical New Zealand 14-19 Mya (www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....), making it ten waterfowl species that lived around the giant palaeolake Manuherikia. Artwork by Sasha Votyakova/Te Papa CC BY-NC-SA. 1/13 🧵

The co-founder of @itiscolossal.bsky.social George Church has been shown to have deep ties with Epstein, more than he let on, and should be ostracised from the palaeontological, ancient DNA, and conservation communities edition.cnn.com/2026/02/19/p... @tetzoo.bsky.social

Check out the latest episode of the PalaeoJam podcast, where I talk about the lie of de-extinction, which was recorded at the recent CAVEPS conference in Adelaide. I don't hold back. palaeojam.podbean.com

Always love being back up in my hometown of Nelson for a few days. This time, it's doing some PD for secondary school science and biology teachers on kiwi and moa evolution, and mythbusting de-extinction. It's great to be working with teachers from my old high school Nayland College.

I wouldn't call @itiscolossal.bsky.social CEO Ben Lamm's tweet respectful or funny, & certainly not his comments calling critics, like @devoevomed.bsky.social, lying tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theorists with mental health problems who are stalkers. Seriously WTF. What planet is Colossal on? 2/2

It would be very good to know what Labour's (@chrishipkins.bsky.social) & Greens' (Chloe Swarbrick) opinions are. What safeguards are going to be put in place to protect taonga in Te Papa collns & the vital work Te Papa scientists do to minimise the impact of the current biodiversity crisis? 5/5

Te Papa & @auchmill.bsky.social need to be transparent & open with public discussion, not secretive like the last CEO. What is Minister Goldsmith's role in this? The govt is not supporting core govt services, & Te Papa is a core govt service. What is the Te Papa board role in this? 4/5

If curators end up having to manage people, there will be less time for vital research, which will help stop the current biodiversity crisis we are in, & less time to look after taonga (treasures) in the collections 3/5

Phil Edgar is a fantastic, kind, & stable manager, & a big supporter/advocate of nat hist. All 4 heads of collns will compete for the same job. Whomever gets it will be stretched too thin & have to look after lots of people, leading to more staff losses or management put onto curators 2/5

New discoveries like the St Bathans bowerbird provide lovely insights into #NewZealand’s biological heritage. Let’s celebrate these #fossils as clues to the past & not use them to undermine the conservation of our living taonga treasured biodiversity. Art by Te Papa/Sasha Votyakova CC BY 4.0 9/9

The St Bathans Miocene wonderland existed in #NewZealand before the Southern Alps rose up. Lake Manuherikia was home to fantastical animals, incl. crocs & palaeolodids. It was very different to NZ at human arrival. These ancient animals are not native in modern NZ. Art by Tom Simpson. 8/9