Description

Moa Leg Bone Replicas are museum quality polyurethane resin cast. Moa Leg Bone Replicas are hand painted. Made in the USA. The Moa or Dinornis novaezealandiae leg bone replicas measure:

A C026A Moa Tibiatarsus bone 31.3 inches.

B C206B Moa Tarsometarus 17.7 inches.

C C206C Moa Femur 12.6 inches.

Although moa or Dinornis novaezealandiae skeletons were traditionally reconstructed in an upright position to create impressive height, analysis of their vertebral articulation indicates that they probably carried their heads forward, in the manner of a kiwi.

The spine was attached to the rear of the head rather than the base, indicating the horizontal alignment. This would have allowed them to graze on low-elevation vegetation, while being able to lift their heads and browse trees when necessary.

Since the discovery of the first moa or Dinornis novaezealandiae bones in the late 1830s, thousands more have been found. They occur in a range of late Quaternary and Holocene sedimentary deposits, but are most common in three main types of site: caves, dunes, and swamps.

Moa or Dinornis novaezealandiae bones are commonly found in caves or tomo (the Maori word for doline or sinkhole, often used to refer to pitfalls or vertical cave shafts). The two main ways that the moa bones were deposited in such sites were birds that entered the cave to nest or escape bad weather, and subsequently died in the cave and birds that fell into a vertical shaft and were unable to escape.

Moa bones (and the bones of other extinct birds) have been found in caves throughout New Zealand, especially in the limestone/marble areas of northwest Nelson, Karamea, Waitomo, and Te Anau.

Moa or Dinornis novaezealandiae bones and eggshell fragments sometimes occur in active coastal sand dunes, where they may erode from paleosols and concentrate in ‘blowouts’ between dune ridges.

Many such moa or Dinornis novaezealandiae bones antedate human settlement, although some originate from Maori midden sites, which frequently occur in dunes near harbours and river mouths (for example the large moa hunter sites at Shag River, Otago, and Wairau Bar, Marlborough).

Shop More Museum Quality Skull Replicas in Bird Skull Store

Additional information

Weight 3 lbs
Moa Facts

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Infraclass: Palaeognathae
Clade: Notopalaeognathae
Order: †Dinornithiformes
Type species: †Dinornis novaezealandiae
Conservation Status: Extinct