EXISTENCE OF MOA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23350, 16 November 1937, Page 7

EXISTENCE OF MOA

FIRST DISCOVERY 100 YEARS AGO WHY BIRD BECAME EXTINCT One hundred years ago, some time in 1837. Europeans learnt for the first time that giant birds (the moa species) might have existed in New Zealand, but the suggestion was treated as fabulous, and it was not till a year later that accounts from Maoris confirmed the news which interested scientists through the world. To-day, many museums in the Dominion and overseas possess complete and partial moa

skeletons, and the novelty and significance of the discovery of a century ago have been largely lost. An explanation of the finding of moa remains, the significance of their existence in the Dominion, and the probable reasons for their extinction were given by the curator of the Canterbury Museum (Mr R. A. Falla) when interviewed by a Press reporter. About 1837 a trader, J. S, Polack, was shown bones similar to those of the flightless birds such as the ostrich, emu, and rega. His report was not regarded with any weight, but in the summer of 1838 Colenso and the Rev William Williams visited the East Cape district and obtained accounts of a large bird called the “moa” from the Maoris. In 1839 Mr Williams and the Rev. Richard Taylor found a bone fragment, and in the same year a bone found in the Poverty Bay district was sent to Sir Richard Owen, who defl-

nitely established the existence of a bird “ about equal in size to the ostrich." Investigation since, Mr Falla said, had shown the existence of several species of moa, some bigger and some smaller than the ostrich. Hundreds of composite skeltons had been prepared from bones unearthed. The comparatively few complete individual skeletons had been collected carefully and kept. It was hard to say what the significance of the moa’s existence in the two islands of the Dominion was, Mr Falla added. The most generally accepted theory was that there had been several species evolved in a land mass considerably larger than New Zealand of to-day . From what was known of the ostrich, it would seem that a land of continental proportions would be needed to support birds of their type,

and it was probable that the gradual reduction in the size of the land mass was a primary cause in the extinction of the birds. The exact date on which the last moa died had been a subject of speculation. Briefly, it could be said that the condition of certain remains in Central Otago—bones, ligaments, skin, with feathers attached—made it certain that the la&t of the birds died out about 200 to 300 years ago or less. It wat quite likely that a few birds still livec about the end of the eighteenth century, and this was supported by Maor: legend. Investigation of old Maor camp sites, too, had suggested that the moa was hunted for food. Maor legend was neither very extensive noj precise on this point, but there were indications that Maoris still living when the first Europeans arrived had in their youth assisted in the hunts.