Moa foot
Date
1850
Creator
Joseph Dinkel (1805 - 1891) , Artist
Creator - Organisation
M & N Hanhart, Printer
Object type
Library reference
20747
Material
Technique
Subject
Content object
Description
Study of the upright foot of an unidentified Moa bird, a species of now-extinct flightless birds endemic to New Zealand, and three details showing the underside of the foot’s three toes.
Inscribed below: ‘JOSEPH DINKEL DEL.T ET. LITH. PRINTED BY M.&N. HANHART.
THE PERFECT SERIES OF THE BONES OF THE RIGHT FOOT OF THE MOA, OR EXTINCT COLOSSAL OSTRICH-LIKE BIRD OF NEW ZEALAND FOUND IMBEDDED IN AN ERECT POSITION, WITH THE CORRESPONDING FOOT A YARD IN ADVANCE, IN A TURRARY DEPOSIT, AT WAIKOUAITI IN THE MIDDLE ISLAND, BY WALTER MANTELL ESQRE OF WELLINGTON.
FIGURES 1a 2a 3a THE PLANTAR OR UNDER SURFACE OF THE FIRST, SECOND & THIRD TOES. THE FIGURES ARE 1/3 NATURAL SIZE LINEAR. THE ORIGINAL BIRD WAS ABOUT 10 FEET HIGH.’
Frontispiece to A pictorial atlas of fossil remains, consisting of coloured illustrations selected from Parkinson’s Organic remains of a former world and Artis’s Antediluvian phytology […], by Gideon Algernon Mantell (London, 1850).
The author writes in the associated text: ‘The specimens figured were obtained by Mr. Walter Mantell, in 1849, when visiting Waikouaiti, as Government Commissioner for the settlement of Native claims. On the recession of the tide, the upper (or proximal) ends of the metatarsals were just visible above the surface: these were carefully dug up, and all the bones of the respective toes numbered, one by one, as they were extracted from the soil. In this state they were sent to me, and have subsequently been articulated under my direction, in their natural order of arrangement.’
Gideon Algernon Mantell (1790-1852), British surgeon and geologist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1825.
Walter Baldock Durrant Mantell (1820-1895), Gideon Mantell’s son, was the founder of the New Zealand Institute and a collector of moa remains. He also served as the office of commissioner for extinguishing Māori titles in the South Island. His first task was to arrange reserves of land for the Ngāi Tahu tribe, which involved pressuring around 600 Ngāi Tahu to accept 10 acres per head from a block of about 20 million acres.
Inscribed below: ‘JOSEPH DINKEL DEL.T ET. LITH. PRINTED BY M.&N. HANHART.
THE PERFECT SERIES OF THE BONES OF THE RIGHT FOOT OF THE MOA, OR EXTINCT COLOSSAL OSTRICH-LIKE BIRD OF NEW ZEALAND FOUND IMBEDDED IN AN ERECT POSITION, WITH THE CORRESPONDING FOOT A YARD IN ADVANCE, IN A TURRARY DEPOSIT, AT WAIKOUAITI IN THE MIDDLE ISLAND, BY WALTER MANTELL ESQRE OF WELLINGTON.
FIGURES 1a 2a 3a THE PLANTAR OR UNDER SURFACE OF THE FIRST, SECOND & THIRD TOES. THE FIGURES ARE 1/3 NATURAL SIZE LINEAR. THE ORIGINAL BIRD WAS ABOUT 10 FEET HIGH.’
Frontispiece to A pictorial atlas of fossil remains, consisting of coloured illustrations selected from Parkinson’s Organic remains of a former world and Artis’s Antediluvian phytology […], by Gideon Algernon Mantell (London, 1850).
The author writes in the associated text: ‘The specimens figured were obtained by Mr. Walter Mantell, in 1849, when visiting Waikouaiti, as Government Commissioner for the settlement of Native claims. On the recession of the tide, the upper (or proximal) ends of the metatarsals were just visible above the surface: these were carefully dug up, and all the bones of the respective toes numbered, one by one, as they were extracted from the soil. In this state they were sent to me, and have subsequently been articulated under my direction, in their natural order of arrangement.’
Gideon Algernon Mantell (1790-1852), British surgeon and geologist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1825.
Walter Baldock Durrant Mantell (1820-1895), Gideon Mantell’s son, was the founder of the New Zealand Institute and a collector of moa remains. He also served as the office of commissioner for extinguishing Māori titles in the South Island. His first task was to arrange reserves of land for the Ngāi Tahu tribe, which involved pressuring around 600 Ngāi Tahu to accept 10 acres per head from a block of about 20 million acres.
Related fellows
Gideon Algernon Mantell (1790 - 1852, British) , Surgeon
Associated place