NO MORE MOAS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 63, 9 April 1943, Page 3

NO MORE MOAS

WORLD'S LARGEST BIRD

COMPARATIVELY RECENT SURVIVAL Scientists speak in terms of ages,, which, measured bjf the unit of hup man time, run into millions of years, so there is nothing very remarkable in the assertion that moas, the huge birds surrounding which there is so much mystery, lived in New Zealand from one and a half to seven and a half million ago. In this land, of which our present New Zealand is but a remnant, nature in her OAvn inscrutable way, placed animals and birds of which the moa was only one, and while this nevironment remained undisturbed they greAV and flourished greatly. Scientists call the moa "d.inornis," a member of the family "ratitae," of which the long departed "aepornis" of Madagascar and the long lost "dromornis" of Australia Avere also members'. Torday the only surviving specimens of family ana the ostrich of Africa, the rhea of South America; the emu of Australia and the cassowary of and the kiwi of Ncav Zealand. Of the. extinct members of this amazing family the "dinornis," or moa, is without question the bird shrouded in the greatest mystery. Where did it come from? Did the moa originate in Africa? Was it related, to the "dodo-bird" of Mauritius and the "rue'' of Madagascar, the. exploits of. Avhich not only Sin,-, bad the Sailor but also Marco Polo related so graphically. Did the moa fly, or, as the late Dr. Lindsay Buick asserted, Avas it "a progressiA r e representation of bipedal reptiles originating at a very early stage in bird If this latter suppositipn is true lioav did the moa arrive in New Zealand? •Why did the moa disappear, and at Avhat stage in Ncav Zealand's geological history did it become extinct? The answer to these, questions is still shrouded in mystery. As vet. no one really knoAvs. Even scientists themselves differ greatly in their estimates. Some say that the moa became extinct before the time of the first Maori migrations to New Zealand, Avhile others contend that it Avas last seen alive immediately prior to the arriA'al of the first Avhltn man. However, r.emains of moa bones N and eggs have been found throughout Ncav Zealand, except perhaps in South Westland Avhere. this hug? bird might possibly liaA 7 c been turned back by the inpenctratahle forests and mountainous country. Moa feathers have been found in the bank of the Clutha RiA 7 er, at Roxburgh, at Alexandra, and in a cave at QueenstoAvn. Hearsay proof tends to point to the fact that moas existed in Ncav Zealand not so A 7 ery long before the beginning of the nineteenth century. There are many stories among the Maoris of moa huntsStories relate to the use bjf Maoris off the eggs ■as Avell as the flesh of the moa, as articles of food, and hoAv a trade in moa meat existed between the Maoris of the South Island, and those of the North Island Avhose stocks Avere depleted long before those of their rclatiA r es in the South. It has even been suggested that the Maoris of the South Island landed moas "on the hoof.'' at. the coast, —-ready for export to the North Is.land. At. Delay Cave, half-way doAvn the Waitaki River. Avhere it rushes through a narroAV rock-strewn gorge, pictures have, been found, presumably draAvn by Maoris, of moas Avith tlieir legs broken. The theory has been expounded that moa-hunters, instead of killi'ng the huge birds in the Mackenzie Country, broke both legs and transported them, alive, and helpless, thus ensuring that Avliat ever delays might occur on the voyage downstream, the meat Avould be fresh on arrival. However, -whether fact or fancy surrounds the latest period in-which the moa existed in Ncav Zealand, we have definite proof of its existence in comparatively recent geological time. To-day, the. only link left is a vigorous living representatiA*e in the diminutive kiAvi, zoologically among New Zealand's cherished treasures