Richard Owen predicts Giant Moa from a single bone fragment (1839)

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Key facts

• On November 12, 1839, Richard Owen presented a 6-inch thigh bone fragment to the Zoological Society of London and predicted a large struthious bird in New Zealand near the size of an ostrich
• The Zoological Society published his paper only on condition that responsibility rested solely with Owen
• On January 19, 1843, a crate arrived at the Hunterian Museum containing leg bones nearly 3 feet long, enormous vertebrae, and rib bones the size of a man's forearm
• Five years later, Owen presented Dinornis, described as 'the surprising bird'
• Julius von Haast excavated cartloads of moa skeletons from Canterbury swamps on the South Island
• A preserved moa foot with intact skin and visible scales was pulled from a cave near Queenstown in 1878
• Several complete articulated skeletons were found in Pyramid Valley in 1938, lying essentially as the birds had died six centuries before

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