Researchers believe they have finally answered the question of how the moa crossed the Foveaux Strait after discovering moa bones on Stewart Island.
An almost-complete skeleton of a South Island giant moa has been found in Rakiura on Stewart Island.
"We're just missing the feet and the head and the neck," Dr Nic Rawlence of the University of Otago told Newshub.
The discovery was made by a Department of Conservation ranger during June restoration work at West Raggedy Beach, on Rakiura, Stewart Island.
"The bones were sitting in a granite bowl which had been exposed by wind," says Dr Matthew Schmidt, the senior heritage advisor Kaitohu Matua Taonga Tuku Iho southern South Island for Te Papa Atawhai Department of Conservation.
Dr Rawlence says the skeleton had "gizzard stones to grind up plants, it had dark organic brown matter from rotting meat and rotting plant matter telling us that it was natural".
The discovery of the skeleton could possibly settle a long-running debate.
"The iwi's traditional stories of when the island was discovered by Polynesians several hundred years ago was that there were moa here so this natural deposit confirms that moa were here when Polynesians arrived," Dr Schmidt says.
Bones have been found previously on Stewart Island but it's believed they were taken across for food.
"So what we've got here is really kind of the smoking gun," Dr Rawlence says.
To identify the moa, scientists chopped a chunk out of the tibia. They used ancient DNA and radiocarbon dating to identify it as a South Island giant moa, which died in the 1300s, about 100 years after Polynesians arrived there.
"It's been a bit of a mystery of whether moa existed on the island or not," Michael Skerrett of Ngai Tahu Kaumatua says. "We always thought it was feasible"
So how did the South Island giant moa end up on Rakiura in the first place?
Think the ice age movies," Dr Rawlence says. "The sea level dropped 120 metres so Foveaux Strait was land and Rakiura and the South Island were joined.
"So the South Island giant moa could easily walk across."
The discovery of these bones is an important piece of history that experts are urging people not to remove from the island.
"If people are taking things like moa bones and removing them and selling them then they're actually taking the story of New Zealand away from New Zealanders," Schmidt says.
The skeleton will end up back on display on Rakiura.
Watch the full story above.
