FOOTPRINTS OF MOAS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19197, 10 December 1925, Page 14

FOOTPRINTS OF MOAS.

DISCOVERY IN MANAWATU. MARKS PRESERVED IN PAPA. " CHICKENS " ON RIVER BANK. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN COnOESPOMJENT. ] PALM.KBSTON NOETZI. Wednesday. A discovery of what aro believed to ho Moas' footprints has been made on the banks of the river near tho Tangimoana store. The footprints, which are located in papa near the water's edge number about 50. According to Mr. V. Contour, of Palmerston, who has examined tho marks a recent flood in the Rangitikei ltiver had the effect of remoxing a heavy deposit of silt from the clay, thus exposing tho prints. A block of papa containing a footprint was brought. to Palmerston North by Mr. Contour for tho local museum. The footprint is slightly over 7in. in length, the spread of tho toes being tho same, with the impression of the middle toe slightly deeper than* tho rest, of tho foot. The secretary of tho Manawatu Philosophical Society, Mr. J. Hornblow, stated that three kinds of Mo a aro known to have onco inhabited New Zealand and that in all probability tho footprints discovered at Tangimoana were made not by the giant Moa but by a slightly smaller bird. No traces of such birds had previously been discovered, those found on the bank of the Manawatu River after, a flood in 1912 being much larger than in the present instance. The number of smaller footprints appeared to indicate that at one time a number of Moa chickens were to be seen at Rangimoana and tho find in that respect is unique.