Moa family found in Whangarei cave

Kiwi North director Stewart Bowden and Kiwi North registrar Natalie Brookland with the yet-to-be revealed moa skeleton. Photo / John Stone

Skeletons of what is believed to be a family of moa have been discovered in a limestone cave on the eastern outskirts of Whangarei.

Ian Calder found an almost complete moa skeleton and the bones of three others in the cave on his 20ha lifestyle block in Abbey Caves Rd near Whareora.

He and his wife Heather think the bones - believed to be of three adults and one young bird - could be a family of moa which were trapped in the cave by a rockfall.

"We want everyone to see them so we have given them to the Kiwi North museum in Maunu," Mr Calder said yesterday.

The couple, formerly dairy farmers at Mangawhai, moved to Whangarei six years ago and Mr Calder found the cave in 2011.

But it wasn't until May this year that he and a friend moved rocks, enabling him to wriggle into the cave's two narrow chambers.

When he found a bone in the mud on the cave floor he was tempted to leave it there, thinking it might be Maori remains.

But after he got it out, washed it and checked with a computer search, he was certain it was a moa bone and went back for more.

He extracted the bones of three birds which had been damaged by falling rocks. A fourth skeleton, off to one side, appeared intact.

Kiwi North registrar Natalie Brookland was elated the couple had decided to give the bones to the museum.

"It's fantastic to have something like this brought in," she said yesterday, describing the moa find by a local person at a local address as a "two-fold jackpot".

Kiwi North director Stewart Bowden said Ms Brookland was "jumping for joy" when the Calders brought the bones in.

"Straight away we knew that it was such a marvellous find - it's superb for Whangarei."

The Calder birds are believed to be bush moa.

Ms Brookland is reassembling the intact skeleton and the museum is planning to display it in an exhibition which will open to the public on September 21 and include a film on moa.

She is also cleaning, numbering and recording the bones from the other moa skeletons. Portions of these birds still under the rock-fall will remain in the cave until they can be removed.

Ms Brookland said while a local vet had guessed that the cause of death of the complete moa skeleton was possibly a broken spine, they would never be sure.

"We would like to get the bones formally identified but due to lack of funding we can't," she said.