Moa in Aspic

When a woolly mammoth died on the Siberian tundra, it sometimes fell into a quagmire. There the permafrost, operating like a modern freezer, preserved the carcass intact for thousands of years. In temperate New Zealand there was no permafrost but in South Island's Pyramid Valley paleontologists have found a good substitute. From about 18,000 B.C. until 2,-000 years ago, the valley contained a swamp whose lush vegetation attracted moas--great, flightless birds which weighed up to a quarter of a ton.

Many a moa perished in the ooze, which eventually got to be the consistency of jelly. This year, New Zealand scientists have dug up 57 moa skeletons from the gelatinous mass. One newsman referred to "Moas in aspic."

The moas found ranged from the 12-ft.-tall Dinornis maximus down to the ostrich-sized Euryapteryx. Big & little, they apparently wandered into the swamp while feeding. Their enormous feet were fine defensive weapons (the far smaller South American rheas have been known to kick a mule to death), but were no good for bogtrotting. As they sank, the birds kicked and struggled; skeletons have been found with one leg raised as though in a last, despairing kick.

The moas were not alone in their death agony. A giant woodhen (Aptornis) and a goose (Cnemiornis), half again as big as a barnyard goose, were also bogged down. Nor was the slime their only foe. As they struggled, huge eagles (Harpagornis) swooped down and tried to pick some meat from the enveloping "aspic." Some of the eagles became mired too, and left their remains (bigger than the great monkey-eating eagle of the Philippines) in Pyramid Valley's death trap.

Last week, while the diggers assembled their findings, another expedition was hunting for moas. Dr. Geoffrey B. Orbell, who had proved that the supposedly extinct takahe, a member of the rail family, was flourishing in southwestern South Island (TIME, Dec. 20), was out for bigger game. Though the supersized moas are dead & gone, Dr. Orbell has hopes that the little (turkey-sized) Anomalopteryx moa has not yet kicked its last.

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