Trapping to help whio and searching for extreme life

The Eastern Whio Link project has been working to restore the whio or blue duck population in the rivers of the Waioeka Gorge. Sam Gibson, aka Sam the Trap Man, explains why he thinks the project has been so successful, and what he loves about these scrappy little ducks. Then, Professor Matthew Stott speaks to Claire Concannon about the complexities working on an active volcano in Antarctica, and what they hope to learn from the microbes they find there.

Guests:

• Sam Gisbon, Eastern Whio Link
• Professor Matthew Stott, University of Canterbury

Learn more:

• Read and see more photos in the accompanying articles: Searching for extreme life and Trapping to help wild whio.
• Head on to the slopes of Mount Erebus, and into an ice cave with Alison Ballance and Craig Cary in this 2011 episode. 
• Matthew Stott also works with heat-loving microbes in Rotorua, including some that appear to have broken the ‘rule of thumb’ and are only found in New Zealand.
• Sam the Trap Man has also shared some yarns about bush life with RNZ’s Saturday Morning.

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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details