The Moa Sightings
New Zealand's giant moa birds died out centuries ago. In 1993, three hikers said they saw one, and photographed it.
What was reported
Moa were giant flightless birds, some taller than an adult human, that lived only in New Zealand. They were hunted to extinction soon after people arrived, by around 1400 to 1450.
In January 1993, three hikers in the Craigieburn Range said they saw a large bird, which they believed was a moa, cross a stream. One of them, Paddy Freaney, took a blurry photograph. The story made headlines around the world.
Explanations offered
Experts who studied the photograph thought it showed a red deer, a person or something else, and some suspected a hoax. Scientists consider moa extinct; the last were seen by Māori and early Polynesian settlers, and their bones are common in caves and swamps.
- When
- Reported in 1993
- Where
- Craigieburn Range, Canterbury, New Zealand
- Witnesses
- Three hikers
- Status
- Probably a hoax
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.