By ANNE BESTON
Short, stocky and with feathers all the way down to its toes, the upland moa would have been an extraordinary sight.
Barring a DNA miracle, it's one we're unlikely to see, but Otago Museum is at least promising a skeletal reproduction of the moa after the discovery of bones in the Southern Alps.
Two hunters found the unusual-looking bones in a cave in the Humboldt Mountains at the head of Lake Wakatipu in Mt Aspiring National Park.
They carefully carried the partial skeleton of a female upland moa and her egg (in fragments) out of the mountains and handed them to Otago Museum.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime find," said the museum's collections and research manager, Brian Patrick, who described the skeleton as being "fairly intact".
The museum boasts a large moa skeleton collection, but not a full skeleton of the upland moa.
"We didn't have enough of the bird to do it," he said.
The upland moa (Megalapteryx didinus) has probably been extinct for 500 years. It was shorter than its lowland cousins, standing about 1m tall, and stockier, to help it survive the alpine cold - these bones were found 1100m above sea level. But its most unusual feature was probably its all-over feathers.
"It had feathers right down to its feet, it was very distinctive and it must have been an amazing sight," said Mr Patrick.
The bones should also provide insights into the upland moa's habitat, nesting behaviour and ecology.
The first job of scientists will be to carbon-date the skeleton.
Moa experts and museum staff hope to fly back to the discovery site by helicopter in October.
Mr Patrick hopes the skeleton will be on display at the museum early next year.
Feathers to keep moa's toes warm
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