Critter of the Week

Last updated
Jesse Mulligan Jesse Mulligan - 2012 Keynote (7932625232) (cropped).jpg
Jesse Mulligan

Critter of the Week is a weekly RNZ National programme about endangered and neglected native plants and animals of New Zealand.

Contents

Beginning in 2015, Critter of the Week is an approximately 15-minute discussion between Nicola Toki (originally the Department of Conservation Threatened Species Ambassador) and RNZ Afternoons host Jesse Mulligan on an "uncharismatic and lovable" New Zealand species. [1] Despite its name, the show features animals, plants, and fungi, with each species receiving an "attractiveness" score from 1 to 10. [2] The show currently airs on Friday afternoons, and has a regular listenership of 100,000. [2]

Origin and development

COTW Giant Springtail.png
COTW Leaf-veined Slug.png
Giselle Clarkson illustrations

The topic of spotlighting uncharismatic species was raised in an interview by Mulligan in April 2015, [3] and the programme originated later in 2015 in a discussion between Mulligan and Toki about threatened bird conservation, in which Toki lamented a lack of attention and corporate funding for species such as the Smeagol gravel slug. [4] The first episode of Critter of the Week aired on 2 October 2015 and featured the New Zealand bat fly. [5] Each week's broadcast is supported by a team of volunteers, referred to by Mulligan as the "wikinerds", who improve the Wikipedia article for the species in question. [2] [6]

In 2018 and in subsequent years artist Giselle Clarkson designed t-shirts and tea towels featuring a selection of species that had appeared on the programme. [7] In September–October 2018, a "Critter of the Week: Bake-off" competition invited listeners to bake a cake in the shape of their favourite "critter". [8] Listeners have also taken part in a "Knit-a-Critter" competition.

Nicola Toki became chief executive of Forest & Bird in April 2022, [9] but continued with the RNZ weekly programme.

Coverage

The Critter of the Week project was the subject of a lightning talk by Mike Dickison for the 2018 ESEAP Conference in Bali, Indonesia. [10] An updated presentation was given at the Wikimedia Australia Melbourne meetup in November 2018. [11] Critter of the Week was discussed as an example of a museum outreach at the 2018 SPNHC conference in Dunedin. [12] Critter of the Week and the role of Wikipedia editors was featured in Forest & Bird magazine in June 2023. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Zealand falcon</span> Species of bird

The New Zealand falcon is New Zealand's only falcon. Other common names for the bird are bush hawk and sparrow hawk. It is frequently mistaken for the larger and more common swamp harrier. It is the country's most threatened bird of prey, with only around 3000–5000 breeding pairs remaining.

<i>Cyanoramphus malherbi</i> Species of New Zealand bird

Malherbe's parakeet is a small parrot endemic to New Zealand, where it is known as the orange-fronted parakeet or orange-fronted kākāriki. In the rest of the world it is called Malherbe's parakeet, as when it was recognised as a species, the name "orange-fronted parakeet" was already used for Eupsittula canicularis, a Central American species. Restricted to a few valleys in the South Island and four offshore islands, its population declined to around 200 in the 1990s, and it is considered critically endangered by the IUCN.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black stilt</span> Species of bird

The black stilt or kakī (Māori) is a wading bird found in New Zealand. It is one of the world's rarest birds, with 169 adults surviving in the wild as of May 2020. Adult kakī have distinctive black plumage, long pink legs, and a long thin black bill. Black stilts largely breed in the Mackenzie Basin in the South Island, and are threatened by introduced feral cats, ferrets, and hedgehogs as well as habitat degradation from hydroelectric dams, agriculture, and invasive weeds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archey's frog</span> Species of amphibian

Archey's frog is an archaic species of frog endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of only three extant species belonging to the taxonomic family Leiopelmatidae. It is named after Sir Gilbert Archey, the former director of the Auckland Institute. The holotype is held at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. It is found only in the Coromandel Peninsula and near Te Kūiti in the North Island of New Zealand. This species, along with others in the family, have changed little over the past 200 million years, thus they represent "living fossils".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maud Island frog</span> Species of amphibian

The Maud Island frog has been recently been synonymised with Hamilton's frog

Brian Douglas Bell was a New Zealand environmental consultant and ornithologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicola Toki</span> New Zealand conservationist

Nicola Toki is a New Zealand conservationist. She has worked for the Department of Conservation as threatened species ambassador and became chief executive of Forest & Bird in April 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shore plover</span> Species of bird

The shore plover, also known as the shore dotterel, is a small plover endemic to New Zealand. Once found all around the New Zealand coast, it is now restricted to a few offshore islands. It is one of the world's rarest shorebirds: the population is roughly 200.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitaker's skink</span> Species of lizard

Whitaker's skink, also known commonly as Whitaker's New Zealand skink, is an endangered species of skink, a lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is found only in New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chatham snipe</span> Species of bird

The Chatham snipe or Chatham Island snipe is a species of wader in the family Scolopacidae. It is endemic to the Chatham Islands of New Zealand, and is only found on a few islands in the south of the Chatham Islands group.

<i>Sigaus childi</i> Species of grasshopper endemic to New Zealand and classified as critically endangered

Sigaus childi is an endangered protected species of grasshopper known only from the Alexandra district of the South Island of New Zealand. It is one of just two species of grasshopper listed for protection under the New Zealand Wildlife Act 1953. It is currently classified as "At Risk, Naturally Uncommon" by the Department of Conservation. The genus Sigaus is endemic to New Zealand.

<i>Hadramphus spinipennis</i> Species of beetle

Hadramphus spinipennis, commonly called the coxella weevil, is a large, nocturnal, flightless weevil only found on Mangere and Rangatira Islands in the Chatham Islands, New Zealand.

<i>Geodorcus ithaginis</i> Species of beetle

Geodorcus ithaginis, the Mokohinau stag beetle, is a large flightless species of stag beetle in the family Lucanidae. It was described by Thomas Broun in 1893 after being discovered in the Mokohinau Islands by Andreas Stewart Sandager, a lighthouse keeper on the islands. The species survives only on the small unnamed island "Stack H", in a patch of vegetation the size of a living room, and is in extreme danger of extinction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Zealand mole cricket</span> Species of cricket-like animal

The New Zealand mole cricket is a wingless member of the mole cricket family Gryllotalpidae. Endemic to New Zealand, it lives underground and is rarely seen. It is now restricted to parts of the southern North Island.

Ngā Uruora - Kāpiti Project is a community conservation project set up in Paekākāriki, New Zealand in 1997 by Fergus Wheeler. It is named after the book Ngā Uruora: The Groves of Life - Ecology & History in a New Zealand Landscape by ecologist Geoff Park. The main aims of Ngā Ururoa are protecting and restoring the Kāpiti Coast's unique kohekohe forest, re-establishing forests through planting programmes, and undertaking pest and weed control.

<i>Asaphodes frivola</i> Species of moth

Asaphodes frivola, also known as the remuremu looper moth or Foveaux looper moth, is a species of moth in the family Geometridae with flightless females. It is endemic to New Zealand, and critically endangered, occurring in a very narrow and specialised habitat at just two small coastal sites near Invercargill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesse Mulligan</span> New Zealand television and radio broadcaster

Jesse Robert Turi Mulligan is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently works as a co-host for The Project on Three, an afternoon presenter on RNZ National, and a writer for The New Zealand Herald's Viva Magazine.

<i>Olearia gardneri</i> Species of tree

Olearia gardneri, commonly known as Gardner's tree daisy, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is found only in New Zealand. At one point it was ranked as New Zealand's rarest tree, with only 160 wild individuals known.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Dickison</span> New Zealand Wikipedian, zoologist, and museum curator

Michael R. Dickison is a New Zealand museum curator, zoologist and Wikipedia editor. He was New Zealand's first Wikipedian at Large, in 2018–19, receiving a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siobhan Leachman</span> New Zealand citizen scientist

Siobhan Leachman is a New Zealand citizen scientist, open knowledge advocate, and Wikimedian whose work focuses on natural history.

References

  1. ↑ "Critter of the Week". Radio New Zealand . Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Dickison, Mike (Winter 2023). "Let's talk about critters and Wikinerds". Forest & Bird. 388: 28–30.
  3. ↑ Mulligan, Jesse; Dickison, Mike (8 April 2015). ""Charismatic" Conservation – Dr Mike Dickison". RNZ. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  4. ↑ Mulligan, Jesse; Toki, Nicola (17 September 2015). "Bird Funding Crisis – Nicola Toki". RNZ. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  5. ↑ Mulligan, Jesse; Toki, Nicola (2 October 2015). "Critter of the Week – Nicola Toki". RNZ. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  6. ↑ Mulligan, Jesse (26 February 2016). "Wikinerds Explained". Radio New Zealand . Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  7. ↑ "Critter of the Week T-shirts". Radio New Zealand . 6 July 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  8. ↑ "Critter of the Week: Bake-off!". Science Learning Hub Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  9. ↑ Forest & Bird (21 January 2022). "Second Nature For New Chief Executive Of Forest & Bird". www.scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  10. ↑ "Wikipedia in Science". ESEAP Conference 2018 . Wikimedia Foundation . Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  11. ↑ "Melbourne Meetup 37". Wikipedia: Melbourne Meetup . Wikipedia. 11 November 2018.
  12. ↑ Dickison, Mike (15 June 2018). ""Critter of the Week": Wikipedia as a Museum Outreach Tool". Biodiversity Information Science and Standards. 2: e25798. doi: 10.3897/biss.2.25798 .
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.