| Brief Description |
A right tibiotarsus or shin bone, the largest bone in a moa’s body. Made up of a fused tibia and foot bones, it was partly feathered and flexed mostly at the ankle. This bone was collected during a Museum excavation in 1936–37 from a mud hole near Makirikiri, Whanganui.
Mantell’s Moa (Pachyornis geranoides) was one of the smallest moa species, just 1 m high at the shoulder and weighing 20 to 30 kg. It preferred to live around the edges of swamps and forests. Like all moa species, it was wiped out by human hunting about 500 years ago.
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