Found: moa that foraged at Taihape

Further evidence has been discovered that moa used to live in the ranges behind Taihape.
Bones were found a few years ago near Moawhango and another find was made recently on the Aorangi-Awarua block, on the edge of the Ruahine Forest Park, Aorangi-Awarua trustee Tama Wipaki said.
The scatter of bones was found by Jason Wipaki and William Daniels, who were out doing a monthly check of stoat trap lines on the land.
They walked a slightly different route and spotted the bones lying on the ground near a large rock in open tussock country on Ohutu Ridge. The ground appeared to have been scoured away from them.
"They were high up, on top of a ridge. The wind and rain would probably help to expose them," Mr Wipaki said.
No one has been back to the site since the find, because it is the stag roaring season and there are likely to be deer hunters about.
But the Conservation Department's Steven Bagley thinks bones the two young men brought down and left with the department's Palmerston North office are from a moa's leg.
When he does go back to the site, Mr Wipaki is not sure whether to remove any other bones he sees or wait for expert advice.
He said the trust was keen to know more about the land's past, and guessed there could have been more than one species of moa living there. He would love to know the age of the bones.
The 5000ha Aorangi-Awarua block is owned by the hapu of the Mokai Patea area. With some funding help, they keep it free of stoats and possums to protect whio, kiwi and other native plants and creatures.
Mr Wipaki said many exciting finds had been made there - kiwi, native land snails, a huge variety of fungi, and most recently some frogs, possibly native.
About five years ago, other moa bones were found not far away from last month's find.