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Accession No	1938.58.20
Name/Title	Moa gizzard stones
Brief Description	A collection of 20 gizzard stones from a moa recovered by 1936-37 Museum excavations at Makirikiri by Curator George Shepherd. The stones were stored in a Laflor de la Isabella brand cigar box. Because moa ate a diet of fibrous plants but had no teeth, they needed to swallow stones which could be used to grind plant material in the their muscular gizzard. Moa skeletons are often found with up to a kilogram of smooth stones in the body cavity.

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