Ngārua Caves moa skeleton reconstruction

This nearly complete moa skeleton and massive set of leg bones were found in Ngārua Caves near Motueka. The two sets of remains are from different species – the large leg bones are from the crested moa and the smaller skeleton are from the little bush moa. Both species would have lived in the forests above the cave long before humans arrived in New Zealand.  

The many different bones in this cave have collected in a sheltered chamber, away from the flow of water, over the course of the last 25,000 years. By studying them, we can get a picture of what life was like for animals in Aotearoa tens of thousands of years before human arrival.