Major Storm in New Zealand Uncovers 1-Million-Year-Old Footprint of Giant Extinct Flightless Bird Moa
Extreme weather seldom brings good news. However, in 2022, a storm in New Zealand revealed to experts some interesting footprints, stated IFLScience. These prints provided researchers with more insights about an extinct species. Findings regarding these prints have been published in the New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. Moa's went extinct due to human arrival in New Zealand.
The footprints were spotted at Manunutahi (Mosquito Bay) in the Kaipara region of New Zealand's North Island. They came into view because of a storm that swept the beach. Examinations revealed that the prints belonged to Moa, an extinct flightless bird. All the prints were made by one being. For examination, the team had to remove the sandstone, which was a hard pursuit. The sandstone was soft, and, hence, not easy to shift, but the team ultimately managed to reach the footprints.
Moa's were largely thriving but they became a key target of Polynesian settlers who arrived in New Zealand. Moa's were easy tagets for humans as they were large, standing at nearly 12-feet tall, and very slow, reported DailyGalaxy.com. Another major factor was the inability to replenish the population as they laid very few eggs and their shells were fragile making survival almost impossible.
The team also had to battle tides as the prints were placed on a beach. On the day of excavation, there was a high tide, and the experts had to wait for some time to carve out the prints for analysis. During the process, the team decided to take out some extra sandstone. This was done to ensure they had a support structure of sorts for the prints. The tide came back again, and to avoid it, the team placed the carved-out prints on a ute trailer and went off the beach.
Further analysis dated them back to one million years, sometime between the Early to Middle Pleistocene periods. "The age of the footprints was determined by studying the grain size, grain composition, and stratigraphic relationships of the sediments they were made in to identify the ‘host sedimentary unit,’ which is Karioitahi Group sandstone. With this identification made, the host sediment could be correlated to other parts of Karioitahi Group sandstone that had previously been dated," Dr. Daniel Thomas—Honorary Academic, School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, and Research Associate, Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira shared.
The study claimed that there were four positive relief footprint casts as well as a negative relief footprint impression. Examinations indicated that the Moa that created the print was around 80 centimeters (2.6 feet) tall at the hip and measured 29 kilograms (64 pounds) in weight. The team also figured out the speed at which this bird was moving when it made the prints. As per the analysis, the bird was walking at a speed of 1.1 miles per hour. The estimate suggests that the creature was taking a stroll rather than moving with intent. Based on the ankle size, researchers think that the moa was a juvenile. They have yet to determine which species the boa belongs to.
After the removal of footprints, a karakia (a Māori cultural practice) was held to welcome them. The native humans of the region had a deep connection with these extinct birds. “In our history, there are names, places, and remembered events that feature moa,” said Malcolm Paterson, of Ngā Maunga Whakahī o Kaipara, as stated in The New Zealand Herald. “So even though these footprints come from a bird that was around before there were Homo sapiens, its descendants and our ancestors had some kind of relationship." Though the prints predate the arrival of humans in the region, there is a possibility that their descendants lived with ancient humans in Aotearoa. Currently, the prints are stored at the Ngā Maunga Whakahii o Kaipara facility.