Bones from the moa – a large, flightless and extinct New Zealand bird – were collected from the early 19th century. Public servant and naturalist Walter Mantell was an important collector of moa bones. He sent large collections to Richard Owen of the British Museum, who was the first scientist to identify moa species. Here, Mantell is fancifully depicted perched on a partly skeletal moa. The document under his arm refers to his government work setting aside land reserves for Māori.
Using this item
Hocken Collections, University of Otago
Reference: Acc 11,594
by James Brown
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