South Island Adzebill

The South Island Adzebill is extinct and was known only in New Zealand. This skeleton is a composite specimen reconstructed from bones collected at Pyramid Valley Moa swamp in North Canterbury. They became extinct before the arrival of European explorers.

In life, the Adzebills were massive  “crane-like” birds about 80 cm in length with a weight of 18 kg, making them about the size of small Moa, with which they were initially confused about their discovery.  The Adzebill had an enormous downward-curving and pointed bill and strong legs. They were flightless, and their coloration in life is not known.

The Adzebills were never as widespread as the Moa but subjected to the same hunting pressure as all other large birds by the settling Polynesians and the predation of eggs and hatchlings by their accompanying kiore Polynesian rat and dogs.

South Island Adzebill

• Exhibit:                   South Island Adzebill
• Date:                        1400
• Origin:                     Canterbury, New Zealand
• Museum:                 Canterbury Museum, Christchurch

A Tour of the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch

• Moa Skeleton
• South Island Adzebill
• Haast’s Eagle
• Canoe Bailer – Tiheru
• Antarctic Sledges
• Maori Pare – Lintel from a Maori Meeting House
• Maori Pātaka or Storehouse Panels

A Tour of New Zealand’s Museums

• Museums in Auckland
  • Auckland War Memorial Museum
  • New Zealand Maritime Museum
  • Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki

• Museums in Wellington
  • Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

• Museums in Christchurch
  • • Canterbury Museum, Christchurch

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“As man disappears from sight, the land remains.”
– Maori Proverb

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Photo Credit:By GM 2) By Nobu Tamura (http://spinops.blogspot.com) (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons