A major storm might not necessarily be well newsworthiness , but for a group of researchers in New Zealand , tough weather has expose a set of 1 - million - year - oldfootprintson a beach . conceive to have been left by a moa , an ancient , nowextinct , flightless bird , the footprints have help scientist study more about their ecology , behaviour , and potentially even revealed a raw species .
The trackway was find at Manunutahi ( Mosquito Bay ) in the Kaipara part of New Zealand ’s North Island in March 2022 and contained “ four confident alleviation footprint casts and a single electronegative rest period footprint effect , ” explain the author in the study describing their findings .
Through scientific analysis of the footprint and the gait , the team determined that the bird would have been roughly 80 centimeters ( 2.6 feet ) tall at the articulatio coxae and consider around 29 kg ( 64 pounds ) . The research worker could also work out the take the air speed of the moa , find that it was only traveling at 1.7 kilometers per 60 minutes ( 1.1 miles per minute ) , slower than human adult , ostrich , andemus , indicate it was simply enjoy a leisurely stroll on the beach .
Footprint 5 was discovered 30 centimeters (11.8 inches) away from the main group.Image Credit: Thomas et al., New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 2025 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
The team further estimated that the footprint were made in the Early to Middle Pleistocene , potentially make them up to around a million years old , give or take half a million days .
" The age of the footprints was determined by studying the grain size of it , grain composition and stratigraphic relationships of the deposit they had been made in to key the ‘ innkeeper sedimentary whole ’ , which is Karioitahi Group sandstone . With this identification made , the master of ceremonies deposit could be correlated to other component part of Karioitahi Group sandstone that had antecedently been dated , " Dr Daniel Thomas – Honorary Academic , School of Biological Sciences , University of Auckland and Research Associate , Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira – explain to IFLScience .
The squad was helped by Māori noesis and polish in the outgrowth of understanding these footprint . Humans and moas would have lived alongside each other : " kōrero tuku iho ( custom ) confirms ancestral knowledge of and direct experience , to about the ending of the 17th Century , with moa – topically in south Kaipara also consult to as kura(nui ) and te manu pouturu ( the birdie on spile ) " explain the authors . Though these footprint would have predated the reaching of humans to Aotearoa , it ’s possible the wench ’s descendantslived alongside them .
To remove the trackway from the beach was no promiscuous feat ; combat tide times , the team worked heavily to remove the sandstone safely for their analytic thinking . “ We know that the betting odds were against us , as the sandstone slab was extremely indulgent and friable , but we all agreed it was deserving a shot , " said Ricky - Lee Erickson , Collection Manager , Land craniate at Auckland Museum , in a program line examine by IFLScience .
" On the day of the dig , we met at high-pitched lunar time period , and waited for the water to pull back enough to get start . The team worked to carve off excess sandstone from the block and a musical accompaniment construction was set up to take the print . As the tide rapidly approached , the sandstone stop was rate on a ute trailer and ride off the beach just as the water started to fawn towards the tyres . "
After the removal of the trackway , a karakia ( a Māori ethnic drill ) was held to receive the footprints . They have been housed at the Ngā Maunga Whakahii oxygen Kaipara facility for the last two yr . " The footprint remain in the care of Ngā Maunga Whakahii o Kaipara ( the post - settlement entity for Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara - mana whenua and kaitiaki of the area ) . Preserving this taonga within the rohe ensures the footprint are instantly accessible to mana whenua and can be used for pedagogy , research , and asseverate the connexion to whakapapa and whenua , " explains a affirmation seen by IFLScience .
Interestingly , there are nine known species ofmoathat once roamed New Zealand , but when looking closely at the footprint , the team had a difficult time assigning which of these coinage would have made the trackway . Instead , they think it is possible that the footprints were made by a dissimilar , unidentified species .
" We discovered a mismatch between the breadth of the mortise joint realm of the footprints and the width of the ankle osseous tissue ( i.e. , tarsometatarsi ) of the moa species that were known to be living in Aotearoa New Zealand when hoi polloi first arrived . The articulatio talocruralis bones we were study were either much too enceinte or much too minuscule to have been the Kaipara trackmaker , " Thomas differentiate IFLScience .
One hint is that the tracks were made by a subadult ; moa mintage like the North Island giant moa ( Dinornis novaezealandiae ) could extend to height between 2 to 3 meters ( 6.6 to 9.8 feet ) , so it ’s possible that the tracks were made by a juvenile person . " Perhaps this was a subadult of a giant species . Other possibility let in that this was a antecedently unrecognized species , or that this was one of the coinage that we do know about , but it was prove much greater variant in foot shape than previously recognised , " said Thomas .
The study is issue in theNew Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics .
