RIDDLE OF THE MOA

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3400, 30 July 1932, Page 6

RIDDLE OF THE MOA

VAST CONTINENT ITS HOME. EXTERMINATED BY MAN. “From the evidence before us we are entitled, in opinion, to assume that the Moa once roamed over a vast southern continent, the greater part of which became submerged, leaving a remnant in New Zealand, where they had been for millions of years,” said Mr. T. Lindsay Buick in an address on “The Moa,” delivered on Wednesday evening at a meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society. After an interesting outline review of the available evidence concerning the moa, Mr. Buick, summarising his conclusions, said: Although reasons for the moa’s extinction are not always clear and articulate as between natural causes and human endeavour, there is little doubt that great numbers of moas in the central portion of the North Island were killed off by early and long-continued volcanic action, emanating from the Taupo and Rotorua regions; that when that era closed and the forests had grown up, the scope of the moa —which was not a bush bird —was considerably circumscribed and its development retarded. “In the northern portion of the island it was never numerous and it probably completely disappeared there from 250 to 300 years ago. In the southern portion it was exposed to the attacks of man when he arrived, and its practical destruction was completed 200 years ago. Individual birds of the smaller species, however, continued to live on until the latter end of the eighteenth century, their last home being the plains of Taranaki. “In the South Island the moa had greater scope to increase in numbers and develop in size. Man was later in coming, giving the birds a longer respite. When man came, however, the moas were the victims of rapid destruction, though this does imply that a remnant did not continue to live on in isolated and favoured spots, particularly in Central Otago and Southland, until the early part of the nineteenth century.”

At the conclusion of his address Mr. Buick was accorded a hearty vote of thanks, and several members commented on and discussed his views.