Moa, the dramatic story of the discovery of a giant bird

Forest and Bird, Issue 310, 1 November 2003, Page 44

Moa, the dramatic story of the discovery of a giant bird

by Richard Wolfe, 250pp limpbound, Penguin Books, Auckland 2003, RRP$27.95.

Well-known for his writing about kiwi icons, Richard Wolfe here joins the international trend for books which re-present history for its human interest. From the story of mauve, to railway engines, sugar and dictionaries, such non-fiction writing reinvests the familiar with the fascination of initial discovery.

The moa is a natural for this treatment. Here is anatomist Richard Owen making the original deduction, from a single piece of bone, that New Zealand once had gigantic birds; then the gradual discovery of more skeletal remnants, the reconstruction of actual birds. The story, however, turns about the status of that early bone, the gradual discovery of more moa evidence by traders and missionaries, and explores the scientific debate it excited. The science of all this is detailed in another book, reviewed on page 8 of this magazine. Richard Wolfe, for his part, realises the romance of the story.