Critter of the Week

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

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]

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.

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]

A long term aim is to link the authority name in the taxonbox to the author, and add the publication (s)he authored, to every taxon article in enwiki, and add [[Category:Taxa added by .....]] to every article. Useful sites for working out authority names for animal taxa are the link in the taxonbar to WoRMS and the link to AFD. Both these (usually) give the name of the taxon, the author with his initials and the paper. WoRMS often gives a BHL link. (For plants it is easier as the author abbreviation is intended to be unique, and most links the taxonbar will get you to the author via the abbreviation. APNI almost always gives the name of the paper, and initials for the author.) The name of the paper almost inevitably allows you to find the author, not just an author string. If there is no enwiki article for the author write his/her full name and create a redlink. (Usually good to turn this into blue as soon as possible.)

See for example: Asterocarpa where Beryl Brewins publication (Beryl Brewin (1946). "Ascidians in the vicinity of the Portobello Marine Biological Station, Otago Harbour". Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 76 (2): 87-131 [113]. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q127666594.) was initially added via AFD as a manual paste of the AFD text but which was then added to wikidata, thereby enhancing her publication record and allowing the publication's easy reuse.

• RNZ National Critter of the Week page
• Department of Conservation Critter of the Week page