Lana Young Film & Photo

05/06/2024

Antarctica and the Southern Ocean – valued, protected, understood.

That's our vision and New Zealand is a leader when it comes to important climate change science and environmental protection. That's worth celebrating this World Environment Day! 🌍

📸 Lana Young

02/02/2024

Imagine this team's luck when they had to be dropped off to the Laura Bassi research vessel via helicopter because the winds were too high for the barge!

What better way to see the sights of Terra Nova Bay! 🚁

📷 Lana Young

16/08/2023

16/03/2023

Representing all things wild in one of my favourite places with this hoiho snap from some exploring the peninsula 💙🐧

24/11/2022

Spectacular southern skies. ✨⁣
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We’re star-struck by this wonderful photo taken by our visual content producer Lana Young. 🤩⁣
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Lana used an hour-long exposure to capture the stars above the Dobson at our atmospheric research station in Lauder. 🌠⁣
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📸 Lana Young Film & Photo

20/08/2022

Smile and wave boys, smile and wave 👋

16/08/2022

Little mate turning up for his first day on the job at

Role involved bringing joy to NIWA staff members enjoying their morning coffee in the café and being extremely cute.

I think it did pretty well 🦭

15/08/2022

Who’s the King of the castle and who’s the dirty rascal? 🏰

My vote is for the smelly erect-crested penguins for mischievous rascals 🐧

Pic taken on a gloomy dawn at the Bounty Islands which are literally a hunk of sea-battered rocks in the middle of the Southern Ocean and so barren that no plants grow there.

Captain Bligh visited and named these islands in 1788 on his ship The Bounty, just months before the famous mutiny in 1789 where he and 18 of his men were forced off the ship into a launch and cast off into the Pacific Ocean.

I’d like to think the sights for him would have been pretty similar to what I saw earlier this year - laden with seabirds, seals and penguins.

09/08/2022

Baby ruru stayin’ up late 🦉

20/06/2022

Flyin’ into your feed with some albatrossy goodness to celebrate

New Zealand is an alby hotspot with the most species found in our waters.

Here is just a few of them:
- Campbell albatross
- Antipodean albatross
- Wandering albatross
- White capped albatross
- Salvin’s albatross (chick)

01/04/2022

Fantastic news - Owha is a mum!!!

**UPDATE: PLEASE SEE OUR FOLLOW UP POST RE APRIL FOOLS PRANK**

It has been very quiet on the ‘Owha’ front lately, so our team started tracking her down by visiting her favourite hang-out spots. Yesterday afternoon we finally found the reason why she has been a bit absent lately… ‘Owha’ has become a mum!!!

We had some suspicions around a possible pregnancy as she had been gaining weight lately, and on top of that had been showing some ‘nesting’ behaviour. A leopard seal’s gestation is around 273 days, which means she would have mated at the start of July 2021 which happens to coincide with a sighting hotspot month for leopard seals in NZ waters.

If people see a leopard seal in Auckland, they tend to assume it is ‘Owha’ and without photographic evidence it is hard for us to determine if it was ‘Owha’ or another individual. Since she has been present in Auckland the entire winter, she must have encountered a male in that period without us knowing. Leopard seals have never been observed mating in the wild before, and it was therefore hard for us to confirm our suspicions until yesterday afternoon.

We are absolutely over the moon, and can’t wait to share more photos with you. For ‘Owha’ and her pup’s safety we can’t disclose her location, however if you do happen to spot them out and about, please do keep a good distance to ensure they have all the space they need to feel comfortable.

Last year, on the 1st April, we found ‘Owha’ feeding on an octopus right in front of the Auckland Marine Rescue Centre, this year she has a pup with her, who knows what she will surprise us with next year!

If you do see ‘Owha’ (or any other leopard seals) around, please do let us know so our team can monitor her closely. Our research very heavily relies on sightings from the public, so please reach out to us as soon as you can on 0800 LEOPARD or [email protected]

Image by: Leopardseals.org

10/03/2022

I’m penguining in the rain ☔️

La de da da…

Yellow eyed penguins are one of the rarest penguins out there, estimated 1700 breeding pairs - that’s not a lot 🥺

Some pairs breed scattered around the South Island (Banks Peninsula to Catlins), and a provide some fantastic ecotourism in those places.

Most are further south and can be found on the more remote Rakiura, Auckland and Campbell Islands.

This little bud was photographed on Enderby Island which is part of the Auckland Islands.

Shy by nature, give these fellas a wide berth if you spy one so they can continue their penguin activities in peace yo✌️.

09/03/2022

10 minutes is all it took for the fog to white-out Wellington last night! Wellington - LIVE Community

10/02/2022

Happy flappy Friday!

Exactly one week ago I returned from an incredible trip to the Sub-Antarctic islands of New Zealand.

I’ll share some more pictures and stories from my adventures soon - so keep watching this space!

Ill kick off with this gorgeous eastern rockhopper penguin photographed on Campbell Island, a breeding location for this threatened endemic species.

Chur for the amazing trip - feeling like a very lucky jammy indeed☺️

09/12/2021

Latest vid is out! This project is a really cool initiative so it was a pleasure to learn more about it and tell the story

26/05/2021

The incredibly bright full moon tonight was pumping a lot of light down making this nightscape look as it were during the day

18/11/2020

What have I been up to lately you may ask? Sailing on boats, interviewing scientist and putting together this story about some fascinating research happening on our back door! Please take a watch! 🌊⛴

13/09/2020

Skip the scrolling and zen out for a couple of minutes, listen to the sounds of nature and enjoy some beautiful NZ scenery in this video I worked on for Māori language week. You'll need sound on for this one!

🔊🐥🌱🌊😇