“Ihakara’s Big Bird” [Moa Bones]

Description

This series of images was taken for a story that ran in The Manawatu Evening Standard on 29 April, 1982. “A well-preserved set of moa bones found on a Levin farm this week will have to be identified by an expert. The bones – a foot and a leg from a large bird and bones from a smaller bird – were found during clearing of a drain 1.5 metres deep on Mr Collis Blake’s farm at Ihakara, north of Levin. Mr Lou Gurr (left), a former reader in zoology at Massey University, said the large bones definitely came from the “big moa” but the species still had to be identified. He said the bird could have been as tall as 3.5 metres. Mr Blake’s grandfather found a similar set of bones in 1916 in Wairarapa.”

Identification

Identifier

BG989

Archive

Manawatū Evening Standard Negative Collection

Relation

2017-20

Date

April 29, 1982

Digitisation id

2020N_2017-20_031825c

Format

B&W negative

Held in

Other