Vertebrates: Curios
The University of Otago Geology Museum holds fossil, mineral and rock specimens collected over the past 150 years and has gained new specimens across this entire history. Sometimes these specimens are part of a tightly focussed research project, as is the case with the fossil insect collection (see: First beetle named from amber in Aotearoa). Other specimens represent a steadily growing collection that represents a lifetime of achievements in fossil research (see: Small origins for baleen whales, the largest animals to ever live). And still others are discoveries found during student research projects that are yet to be fully analysed (see Predator lizard discovered in the Waipara Valley).
The Geology Museum also holds many other taoka that don’t neatly fit into the sections we have presented so far. In this section we introduce some of the curios from among the Geology Museum collections.
Evidence of life from a past geological age. Remains like bones, shells or wood, or an impression like a footprint, or some other evidence of life, from something that was alive more than 11,700 years ago.
Te reo Māori term originating with Kāi Tahu meaning treasured. The term taonga in te reo Māori is also used for treasured.
