Swimmer taking his dogs for a dip finds million-year-old fossilised footprints of an extinct giant flightless bird
- The fossilised footprints are from a moa which is a large extinct flightless bird
- Michael Johnston found the footprints in New Zealand while walking his dogs
- The footprints measure at about 30 centimetres long and 30 centimetres wide
A man taking his dogs for a swim in a popular bathing spot has found a series of fossilised footprints that are millions of years old.
Michael Johnston was in the Kyeburn River in Maniototo, New Zealand, when he found the fossilised footprints of a moa.
The moa is an extinct large flightless bird that existed before the ice age and greatly resembled the emu.
The moa's footprints measure at about 30 centimetres long and 30 centimetres wide.
The footprints are from a moa and measure at about 30 centimetres long and 30 centimetres wide.
Mr Johnston was able to clearly see the footprints after a flood last year exposed them.
'I knocked off early and brought the dogs down because it's a pretty good spot and not too many people around here,' Mr Johnston told Stuff.
'We were looking under the water and came across the odd-looking footprints and we looked a bit more and found more.
'I thought that they would be quite a common thing that we found.'
Share this article
He took photos of the footprints and sent them to the Otago Museum and an excavations site was immediately established because the footprints may not survive a second flood.
Extraction plans have been delayed after heavy rain raised the river level but once the footprints are removed, they will be dried, made stable and put on display at the Otago Museum.
Michael Johnston was in the Kyeburn River in Maniototo, New Zealand when he found the fossilised footprints of a moa
Dr Mike Dickison, a moa expert, said the find was amazing considering the circumstances surrounding their discovery.
'I'm amazed at the luck of finding them — catching it in this very brief window between being exposed and being scoured out, and then that somebody happened to be fossicking around and went for a swim and noticed them,' Dr Dickison told news.com.au.
'If any one of those things hadn't happened, we would never have known they were there, and it makes you wonder how many other moa prints are buried or destroyed, or no one knows they're there.'
Dr Dickison believes the footprints could be of a previously unknown species of moa that was medium-sized and lived millions of years ago.
The moa is an extinct, large flightless bird that existed before the ice age and greatly resembled the emu (stock image)
Comments 0
Share what you think
No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.
