Conservative university-based zoologists in New Zealand argue that the Moas, the mostly giant-sized emu-like flightless birds whose reconstructed skeletons are to be seen in every city museum of North and South Island, have been totally extinct for at least the last 400 years.
I have never been able to accept this proposition, and on frequent field expeditions to this beautiful, mysterious land since 1980, together with my wife and fellow researcher Heather, have visited remote, often largely inaccessible mountainous forestlands in the hope of turning up evidence of living moas in the wild. We have also gathered a growing number of sightings claims and reports of freshly-made tracks believed made by one, perhaps two distinct species of these birds found in remote regions of South island.
There have been claims of moa encounters in North Island also, but these have been dismissed by scientists, on the grounds that the creatures have nowhere to hide, owing to the fact that so much of the former North Island forest country has been developed for settlement. This is a sweeping statement made by people who forget that there still remain large tracts of protected forest country, such as in the Coromandel Range, Mamaku Plateau, Hauhungoroa Range and Urewera National Park which alone contains four mountain ranges, to name but some.
South Island on the other hand, contains even vaster tracts of largely impenetrable wilderness, extending from the Tasman Mountains of the north-west Nelson region southward through the Buller River country to the eerie Lewis Pass-Grey River wilderness and on to the glaciers region of Mt Cook National Park, Mt Aspiring National Park, and the mighty Fiordland National Park. So surviving moas would have nowhere to hide? I dare to disagree.
But what were the moas? The moas evolved over a period of about 85 million years ago, from an ancestor that roamed the ancient southern continent of Gondwanaland, of which New Zealand was once a part.
The first birds evolved from reptiles around the close of the Jurassic period, 140 million years ago. All these ancestral birds were capable of flight, but there eventually evolved a number of species which abandoned the ability to fly in favour of a ground-dwelling existence. This example of reversed evolution developed towards the close of the Cretaceous period, 135-65 million years ago, and coincided with the world-wide extinction of the dinosaurs. Some of these flightless birds were giant voracious predators of other ground-dwelling animals, while others, developing in a predator-free environment, became primarily herbivorous. Appearing among the later at a relatively early stage was a group known as the Ratites which today consists of both living and extinct species. The living species are the Ostrich [Africa], Emu [Australia], Cassowary [Australia and New Guinea], Rhea [South America] and Kiwi [New Zealand]; the extinct species include the elephant bird [Madagascar] and the moa [New Zealand]. Mystery surrounds persistent native claims, emanating from the New Guinea interior, of a 4m or so tall giant emu-like flightless bird, which the tribespeople claim inhabits the high mountain jungles.
The common Gondwanaland ancestor of all these species became isolated as this great supercontinent gradually broke up and moved apart, as a result of the process of plate tectonics [ie continental drift] during the Jurassic, Cretaceous and Tertiary periods, covering about 100 million years; thus the flora and fauna separated on the various landmasses which became Africa, South America, Madagascar, Australia and New Zealand evolved in different directions according to their environments.
Eleven species of Moa have been identified from fossil and sub-fossil remains. The smallest of these was the Little Scrub Moa, [Euryapteryx curtus], which appears to have inhabited both coastal and inland areas of North and South Island, but was most common in the North Island. The male stood about a metre tall, the female a little taller at around 1.3m. The species weighted around 20kg.
To cover every moa species in detail is beyond the scope of this article; however, another small species of about the same height as E. curtus was Anomalopteryx didiformis, which weighed around 30kg, and which together with Dinornis novaezealandiae, which stood about 2m, weighing around 170kg, shared most of North Island and parts of north-western and southern South Island.
All pale into insignificance however before the huge, Dinornis giganteus, which at 4m tall and around 250kg in body weight was the largest moa species that ever lived. D. giganteus inhabited much of the east coastal and inland region of South Island.
The extinction of the moas has long been blamed on the arrival of Polynesian Man around 1000AD, yet the Maoris primarily settled North Island and the northern region of the South Island, and there are vast regions of the south where they hardly, if ever, ventured, and the more inaccessible habitats of some moa species should have guaranteed their survival. There is now in fact, plenty of evidence to show that New Zealand has an Old Stone-Age past involving giant stone tool-making hominids and archaic Homo erectus, who evolved into modern humans here about the same time he was doing so in Australia, ie around 350,000 years ago, having entered New Zealand from south-east Asia across a land shelf, which in ice-age [Pleistocene] times formed a continuous ‘bridge’ between New Zealand [a single landmass until around 10,000 years ago] and New Guinea-Australia, which in turn was joined by a great land shelf to mainland Asia, of which only the south-east Asian island chain now remains, following the rising of the world’s oceans at the close of the last ice-age by around10,000 years ago.
Therefore, I propose that, if all the moa species had been exterminated, it was a gradual process covering a vast period of time, involving more than one pre-Polynesian stone-age race.
There is, however, a considerable amount of circumstantial evidence [mostly sightings claims] to suggest that, at least two, perhaps three [and I’m leaving my options open!] moa species still survive, hidden from modern man in remote corners of the more inaccessible reaches of the New Zealand wilderness.
One of the earliest reports suggesting moas of one species or another still survived into later times is that of Edward Meurant, a sealer, who while on the Otago coast [South Island] late in 1823, observed Maoris at the mouth of the Clutha River, feeding upon the flesh of one of these birds. He stated later that the flesh looked like ‘bull beef’, and that a leg ‘bone’ of the bird still had flesh and sinews upon it. The ‘bone’, he said, was so tall that it reached 4 inches above his hip and was as thick as his knee. Meurant was probably describing a leg rather than a bone. He also observed the bird’s feathers were “of a black or dark colour, with a purple edge, having quills like those of the Albatross in the size, but much coarser”. He observed Maoris with these same feathers in their hair, and was informed by them that the bird “was still to be found inland”.
During the 1840’s there were claims by other sealers of apparent moas at various locations along the west coast of South Island, and during 1863 many reports flowed in to authorities of moas seen by gold prospectors while exploring the then still largely unknown backblocks of Otago and Southland. That same year one prospector, Patrick Caples, claimed to have shot an ‘emu’ that came close to his Lake TeAnau camp one night.
During 1873 on R.W.Aitkins’s Clifden station, situated on the west side of the Waiau district, western Southland, a large bird was startled from a patch of scrub by the approach of a shepherd and his dog. The man afterwards described it as “very much higher than an emu in Australia and standing very much more erect on its legs”. The bird ran from the pursuing dog until it reached the brow of a hill, before turning on the dog, which quickly retreated back to its master. The moa stood for about ten minutes “bending its long neck up and down in the same manner as the black swan does when disturbed”. The moa was described as being of a silvery grey colour with greenish streaks. As the shepherd had come from Australia he certainly knew the difference between an emu and this much taller creature.
Claims of similar moa encounters have continued on into modern times. The following are some of the many reports gathered by Heather and I in the course of our frequent field investigations in New Zealand since 1980...
Moa Creek, in the Haast Pass, was the scene in 1931, of a sighting in flood rains by a farmer, Mr Donald Peasley, of a large moa about 3m in height, seen by him as it stood observing him across the flooded Macorora River. The man was however, more concerned with extricating a cow from mud. He did observe that the bird had greyish feathers, thick powerful looking legs, and a large body, before it disappeared into forest cover.
In 1960, deer hunter Jack Mathews, was stalking deer in the Arthurs Pass, when above a gully, he spotted a large, ‘dumpy bird’ moving among trees. He informed me later that he did not attempt to shoot the creature “because they were supposed to be extinct and if there were others thereabouts [as this bird’s presence suggested], it was better to leave them alone to breed up!”
During 1990 at least several people claimed individual sightings, and also two finds of “very large tracks”, of one or more large moas in the course of camping in the Arthurs Pass area. One man Jim Straton, who said he had spent 20 years roaming the area, and never seen any trace of moa activity, said he had changed his view, following his remarkable encounter.
“I was on the Waimakariri River, across from Bealey following an old hiking track during May 1991, when at a point where the track was on a straight run through the forest, this enormous, dark-coloured bird emerged, crashing its way out of the foliage onto the track, stopped to look at me with a sideways glance, then continued on across the track to disappear, crashing its way through the trees. I reckoned it was about 3.66m tall. I was too shaken to continue my hike and turned back.”
Unless Jim is not ‘pulling our legs’ or mistaken the bird’s height, it would appear he had encountered a supposed long extinct Dinornis giganteus, which is what Mr Peasley may have seen in 1931.
In the Beech forest in the Craigieburn state Forest Park [Arthurs Pass] amid tall mountains capped in deep snow in winter, moas may still wander unseen, if sightings claims made by people during the 1980’s are any guide. The Crow River, which runs down a long valley from the Crow Glacier to the Waimakariri, a rocky river, separated by rapids, was the scene in 1989, of the sighting by a group of bushwalkers, of a pair of 2m tall, mottle-coloured moas. The forest giants had been scavenging among bushes when they were alerted by the approaching humans and quickly escaped into the bush. Either the group had sighted a pair of D. giganteus or perhaps the second tallest moa, D novaezealandiae.
Over the years Heather and I have gradually built up a collection of moa relics. During our first New Zealand visit we were given a few ‘gizzard stones’, small pebbles swallowed to help the birds digest their food; and during our 1983 investigation, a search in caverns of a limestone formation at Otonga, North Island, resulted in my discovery of a small sub-fossil moa leg bone, possibly that of an Anomalopteryx didiformis. Yet despite repeated searches in New Zealand we had so far failed to obtain any real evidence of our own to suggest that even one moa species might still survive. Our luck finally began to change. During our March 2000 expedition we spent time in the Bay of Islands [North Island] district. On Wednesday 7th March we were investigating the Puketi state Forest, which lies inland from the Bay. The time was 6.45pm [Daylight Saving Time], and Heather had returned to our vehicle while I was about to cease exploring a mudflat near the forest edge for possible tracks, when I heard three loud emu-like ‘humph’, ‘humph’, ‘humph’ sounds coming from a short distance away. I attempted to follow the sounds into the forest despite fading light, knowing that the sounds were typical of emus and other moa-related ratite species, but the fading light soon forced me to abandon the attempt.
We returned here on the Friday morning. This forest covers an area at least 20,000 hectares in size - certainly enough room for a surviving little scrub moa colony, I thought.
Leaving Heather in the car, at about 12.30pm I first made another inspection of the mud flat where I had heard the mystery sounds on the Wednesday evening. The mudflat faces east amid a gently-sloping densely-forested gully. There were no unusual bird tracks to be found, but suddenly, coming from a patch of low scrub on the south side of the gully, perhaps 15m away, I heard the same loud ‘humph’, ‘humph’, ‘humph’ sounds of Wednesday evening, only much louder than before. The time was 12.50pm. These sounds, three at a time, were now accompanied by the sounds of crashing foliage as something larger than any scavenging kiwi moved about in the forest cover.
Then I spotted something obscured among bushes, greyish-coloured, only to see it vanish in an instant. I did not see it again. Was it a little scrub moa, I wondered? Despite an inspection of the ground where the creature had just been, I found it too bracken covered for the impression of any tracks.
After a fruitless search of an area of the Waipua forest north of Dargaville we headed south to Karangahake gorge, which lies at the southern end of the Coromandel Range near Waihi. Here I made a random search for fossils on Sunday 13th March. Among the base gravels of a 7.6m tall bank on the edge of the Karangahake River [which flows through the gorge] I picked up a curiously shaped orange silica stone, to find I was holding the slightly crushed mineralised skull of a moa. The skull, measuring 18cm from beak tip to rear of braincase, by 10cm from cranium to skull base by 50cm thick, came from volcanic sediments layed down at the time volcanic eruptions formed the gorge between 2 to 4 million years ago. My find, I soon learnt, is the oldest fossil moa skull uncovered in New Zealand to date!
Friday 17th March was to be the real turning point in our search for living moas, for it was the day that we began our search of the Urewera National Park inland from Hawke Bay. Finding an old disused track we followed this up a forest-covered mountainside. Below us, down a steep forest-covered slope was a gully. The track at this point was about 2m wide with a 1.5m tall bank above, beyond which lay more dense forest covering an extensive terrace. It was here that we found the indistinct impression of large bird tracks, which appeared to emerge from the gully, cross the track and scramble up the bank into the forest beyond.
Climbing the bank I soon found further indistinct large, three-toed bird tracks in the forest floor. We sketched, measured and photographed the best examples but due to the indistinct nature of the tracks the photos and slides failed to reveal any details. One track measured 17cm in length from tip of middle toe to heel, by 10cm wide across the two outer toes.
I was confident that we had stumbled upon a regular feeding ground of a small colony of moas. However, as our time had run out we had to return to Australia shortly after this find. In September 2001 we returned, this time armed with a bucket, casting plaster and water. My hunch paid off, reaching the site we found further scratch marks crossing the bush track and up the bank. Upon climbing up into the forest I found many more moa foot impressions. While many were indistinct due to bracken and leafmould, I found three clear enough for casting.
Each of these foot impressions were of different sizes. The smallest being 12cm long from middle toe to heel, by 8.5cm wide across the two outer toes. It resembled the second largest track, which measured 14cm long by 13.5 cm wide. The largest specimen was 24cm long by 17.5cm wide and appeared to have more longer and slender toes than the other two specimens whose toes appeared broader. Even taking distortion into account, it appeared certain to us that we had found the feeding ground of a colony of the little scrub moa, whose female was taller than the male with larger feet.
Nearby the bush track I found two nesting spots, one inside a huge fallen hollow Kaurie tree trunk, the other a small area of crushed foliage within 2m of the bush track where a moa had apparently slept the night before.
As time was running out and we had to get off that mountain before dark, we had to leave, thus I was unable to attempt a climb down the thickly forested slope to the gully floor where, with luck I might have obtained photographic proof of a living scrub moa. [This I hope to attempt when we return to New Zealand in 2002].
Naturally for the little scrub moa to have survived for centuries hereabouts, there would have to be a reasonable size breeding population. Based upon the numbers of foot impressions found on our latest investigation at this site, the proposed colony inhabiting that deep gully could be as large as 30, perhaps up to 50 individuals.
Where exactly in the Ureweras this colony is located is our secret, we have no intentions of ever taking any television crews or journalists to the site. The last thing we want to see are hordes of curiosity-seekers, would-be reward-hungry moa-trappers and others descending upon the site to disrupt these rare creatures. This colony gives us a last chance to help save at least one moa species from the jaws of extinction. Better they be allowed to remain where they are, hidden free of unwanted human interference and allowed to breed unmolested.
Our 'Australian Unknown Animals Investigation Centre' [PO Box 202 Katoomba NSW 2780, Ph:02 4782 3441] receives regular sightings reports of a wide variety of ‘unknown’ or ‘extinct’ land and sea dwelling creatures from throughout Australia and our near island neighbours, but there can be nothing more exciting or rewarding, than going in search of, and turning up evidence [often after many years of hard effort] proving to one’s own satisfaction, the existence of some long-thought extinct species.
Finding the ‘extinct’ little scrub moa colony, after 21 years of endless bush-bashing in the New Zealand wilderness has indeed been both exciting and rewarding for us.
Sources Quoted
The Moas of New Zealand paper by Ray Punter, Rotorua.
Moas - Lost Giants of New Zealand by Beverley McCulloch, Harper Collins Publishers 1992
Te Moa. The life and death of New Zealand’s unique bird by Barney Brewster, Nikau Press, Nelson 1987.
Source: The Australasian Ufologist Magazine Vol. 5 No.6 Pgs 4-9 (Photos/Illustrations)