Moa bone fragment


First piece of moa bone, found between 1831 and 1836. The 15cm fragment comes from the species Dinornis novaezealandiae and is million years old. Moa were enormous extinct birds from New Zealand. This fragment of bone provided the first evidence that they existed. Richard Owen, the Natural History Museum's first superintendent, used his great anatomical knowledge to predict that it belonged to a giant bird that couldn't fly.


Size: 5616px × 3744px
Photo credit: © Natural History Museum, London / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: anatomy, animal, aves, bird, bone, dinornis, dinornithidae, dinornithiformes, emeidae, fragment, moa, novaezealandiae, ratite, sauropsid, sauropsida, shot, studio, studioshot, treasures