Nelson: Craig Potton Publishing, 2012. Quarto, photographs and illustrations, very good copy in dustwrapper, scarce and sought after.

2013 Winner of the Royal Society of New Zealand Science Book Prize. Perhaps the most unusual family of birds that ever lived, the Moa were a clan of feathered monsters that developed in isolation for many, many millions of years. They became extinct reasonably quickly after the arrival of the Maori, and were a distant memory by the time European explorers arrived. So the discovery and identification of their bones in the 1840s was a worldwide sensation, claimed by many to be the zoological find of the century. This book begins by recounting the story of discovery, which was characterised by an unbelievable amount of controversy and intrigue. Since then there has been an unbroken chain of new discoveries, culminating with intriguing revelations in recent years about the Moa's biology, that have come to light through DNA testing and radio-dating. This is a fascinating and important book that richly recounts the life and death of New Zealand's strangest bird.