New Zealand Fossils
Reconstruction of fossil vertebrates is a painstaking, but ultimately satisfying, activity. Here the Late Oligocene age (c. 25 million years) fossil penguin Platydyptes, extracted from limestone at Earthquakes, near Duntroon in northern Otago, is being pieced together. (©Ewan Fordyce)
New Zealand has a fascinating history of fossils. They include body fossils (skeletal remains) and trace fossils (tracks and trails), may be single-celled or multi-celled, and plant or animal.
Learn more
- The New Zealand Geological Timescale
- Fossils in the New Zealand fossil record
- New Zealand’s fossil plants
- New Zealand’s fossil animals
See our photo gallery for some examples.