Skip to main content

Story: Extinctions

Cave drawing of moa

Image
Cave drawing of moa

This copy of a cave drawing from Canterbury shows representations of moa. It is assumed that the drawing is several hundred years old, by which time the birds were probably well on their way to extinction from early human hunting.

Using this item

Canterbury Museum

Reference: E.150.319

by Theo Schoon

Permission of Canterbury Museum, Rolleston Avenue, Christchurch, New Zealand must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Richard Holdaway, Extinctions – Extinctions in the human era, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/13655/cave-drawing-of-moa (accessed 11 June 2026).

Story by Richard Holdaway, published 2 March 2009.