3,300-year-old claw of wingless bird

Nearly three decades ago, a team of archaeologists discovered a giant bird claw with its flesh still intact in a cave on Mount Owen, New Zealand.

A moa's claw remains intact after 3,300 years. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Analysis revealed that the mysterious claw was a remnant of a 3,300-year-old carcass of a highland moa, a prehistoric bird that disappeared centuries ago.

The highland moa (Megalapteryx didinus) is a moa endemic to New Zealand. DNA analysis published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on February 7, 2014, shows that moas first appeared 18.5 million years ago and included at least 10 species.

Standing at over three metres tall, the moa was once the largest bird on the planet. However, the highland moa is the smallest at just 1.3 metres tall. The bird has feathers all over its body except for its beak and feet. It has no wings or tail. As its name suggests, it lives in the cool highlands of New Zealand.

The moa was first discovered in 1839 by John W. Harris, a merchant with a passion for natural history. Since then, scientists have found thousands of moa specimens, many of which have intact soft tissue, muscles, skin, and feathers. Most of the fossils were found in sand dunes, swamps, and caves where the moas nested or took shelter from bad weather. The specimens were preserved by desiccation when the moa died in a naturally dry area.

When Polynesians arrived in New Zealand in the mid-13th century, the moa were thriving. They had been the dominant herbivores in the forests, grasslands and surrounding high mountain ranges for thousands of years, with only one predator: the Haast’s eagle. However, with the arrival of humans, the moa quickly became extinct due to hunting and habitat destruction.

Because moas mature so slowly, they cannot reproduce quickly enough to sustain their species, leading to a higher risk of extinction, according to the Natural History Museum in London, England. Moas were extinct before Europeans arrived in New Zealand in 1760.

According to VnExpress