Sure, Fiordland (south west tip of the South Island) is an amazing, isolated, dense rainforest … but thousands and thousands of people invade it every year. Many of them are ‘off-the-beaten-track’ trampers, hunters and fishermen.

And yet (even) CLAIMED sightings of moa are more scarce than … well … moa teeth.

The main reasons I can’t believe moa still exist, are the ubiquitious rodent/mustelid/brush-tailed posssum populations. Introduced stoats, ferrets, weasels, rats, mice and possums have worked their way through most of our bird population in the last 150years or so. Thankfully, SOME species were abled to be saved by human intervention.

But any moa (population) that survived to the 19th century never received such intervention and, therefore, never really stood a chance.

The Moa (moae?) if I recall correctly, were wiped out not by human hunting, but by small mammals brought to the islands by hunters, eating their eggs.

That creates less hope, I’m afraid. But not none. The kiwi and the burrowing parrot managed to survive, barely in the case of the latter.

Not to recreate the old Thunderbird photograph flap, but I have a pretty vivid memory of having seen the footprint photo somewhere. Is my head just playing tricks with me, or did somebody, somewhere actually publish this pic? Perhaps Karl Shuker? I have a lot of his books, so that might explain where I saw it…just fishing for possibilities here.

Could be a really neat paperweight.

I see a lesson beginning to crystallize from some recent photo/video nonevents on Cryptomundo.

I don’t care how excited you are; I don’t care how sure you are of what you saw; I don’t care how important it is for you to share.

Maybe you shouldn’t share IF THE THING IN THE PHOTO CAN’T EVEN BE CLEARLY IDENTIFIED AS AN ANIMAL.

Thank you.

cc: Matt Moneymaker

The main mysteries surrounding this bird is when did it become extinct, or if it is infact extinct. It seems generally accepted that the large species were supposed to have been extinct by the early 1800’s, and if not already extinct by then, they had become extremely scarce. However if is plausible that some of the smaller species, neglected as a food source because of their bigger relatives may have persisted longer.

The mid to late 1800’s produced many reports of large birds witnessed in isolated areas of bush; this was an era of exploration, regions were being opened up for settlement. Many reports focused on the South Island, as gold prospectors and surveyors pushed into the isolated interior areas.One of the most curious reports of this period includes a confrontation between a sheep dog and a Moa, the Moa turned on the dog after being harassed, once the dog backed off, the Moa was witnessed to bob its head up and down in the direction of the dog in what seemed to be a possible threat posture.

1931 and 1960 saw further reports of large birds in the bush of the South Island, in 1989 a pair of birds were observed by trampers, once more in the South Island.All accounts seemed to involve the large species of Moa.In 1990 there were several sightings of large Birds, in the Arthur’s Pass district, and tracks were found on two occasions.The most recent sighting caught World Media attention.On January 20th 1993 three companions were tramping the Craigieburn Rangearea, Paddy Freaney, Sam Waby and Rochelle Rafferty. Mr. Waby paused at a secluded stream for a drink; Paddy Freaney’s attention was drawn to a large bird which was nearby watching them. Freaney drew the attention of his associates to the bird, which then panicked and fled. Freaney chased the bird, with camera in hand, and at an approximated 35 meters got the now famous photo of the bird (above); he further discovered and photographed, after loosing sight of it, wet bird footprints on a rock.These pictures were shown to a Department of Conservation Officer who expressed the opinion that the bird seemed very much like Megapteryxdidinus, a sub-alpine species of moa known to have populated the South Island.

Computer analysis was performed on the photo by Canterbury University,specialists at the University expressed the view that the photograph was of a genuine large bird and not some prop stage to look like one. Deer and other four footed animals were further ruled out. To add to the weight of evidence in support of the photograph being genuine,in the following year, 1994, a physician was tramping in exactly the same area the snapshot was taken; he came across browsing damage that was consistent with what is known of Moa feeding habits. In light of the corroborating evidence the Department of Conservation made no attempt to follow up on what certainly would have been the find of the century. Is the Moa extinct? Perhaps in some of New Zealand’s remote areas, and there are still a few,the species may still hold a tenuous grasp on existence. The sad fact is if it were to be discovered how simple it would be to conclude what was started in those Maori middens hundreds of years ago.