Kiwi Moose 2008
Posted by: Loren Coleman on August 10th, 2008
For years the New Zealand media has reported claims that Canadian moose may still roam the remote rain forests in the extreme southwest tip of the country.
In 1910, ten moose were brought over from Saskatchewan in the hopes of establishing a population of game for sportsman in New Zealand, a country without indigenous land mammals of its own.
However, the last official sighting — and shooting — of a New Zealand moose was in 1952. Outside of a few alleged sightings in the 1970s and the discovery of some curious droppings, no one has actually seen the mysterious creatures, leading most Kiwis to consider the story a hoax.
That is, until some recent hair samples were sent to Trent’s Wildlife DNA Forensics Lab, where biologist Linsay Weis confirmed two strands produced a “robust” result indicating moose.
Although she can’t confirm the origins of the hair, the results prompted one of the country’s MPs to demand urgent protection for a beloved species long thought to have disappeared.
Source: “Solving New Zealand’s moose mystery” by Brittany Cadence, communications officer for Trent University.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
What is the source of the photo? Is it from New Zealand, or is it just a moose photo. And is it a real moose, or a prop? While Canadian left-overs would be news, there are many reliable reports of prop moose all across the globe. (A moose once bit my sister…)
No, really….
haha. Fossilhunter, you just made my day with that. Thank you. was just thinking of it the other day. what timing.
that must have been a long trip for those moose in 1910. would be pretty cool if there were still some cruising around new zealand.
question, though. the DNA produced a ‘robust’ result ( I assume that means fairly strong?) “indicating” moose? which i take to mean it wasn’t undeniably 100% sure of its mooseness? what else could it have been from? have other animals been transplanted to New Zealand that might have moose-y DNA?
Very exciting for us here in N.Z . If these large animals have remained hidden for 60 years, just perhaps so has the moa , at least some of the smaller species
this would not shock me, after all for a while camels raomed montana, left overs from an ill thought out military push of replascing horses with camels.
forgot to mention the yak the meanced montana for a few years raping cows and ruining fences, it was brought over by an shall we say promotor who thought it would be the ultimate rodeo animal, it didn’t work out and escaped. years later it was finally shot, never what you’ll run into these days.
Actually, New Zealand DID have some indigenous land mammals. There are three species of indigenous bats that exist or have existed there. The extinct Greater short tailed bat, three subspecies of surviving short tailed bats: The Northern, Central, and Southern short tailed bats, and finally the Long tailed bat. Interestingly, the short tailed bats native to New Zealand are the only survivors of the Mystacinidae family.
It would be very interesting if a group of ten animals has managed to create an ongoing population. Another commenter asked what other animals might provide “moosey” hair. Well, there have been many species of mammal introduced into New Zealand (most intentionally for one reason or another) and I believe there are around 30 species still living in the wild. Some of these introduced species include the wallaby, opossum, stoat, ferret, weasel, thar, chamois, rabbit, hare, hedgehog, and eight species of deer. Other domesticated animals introduced that have feral populations include the pig, goat, cattle, horse, and sheep.
Any that could be mistaken for moose? Perhaps the deer? It’s hard to say. Anyway, maybe this list is helpful to illustrate how many non indigenous mammals have been brought to New Zealand in the course of human habitation.
This is fairly old news as hair sampes were found in 2000 and definately confirmed through DNA testing to belong to Moose.
In 2001 more hunters came across hair which once gain was proven to belong to Moose.
Both samples came from Dusky Sound and it is believed the animals are there but confined mainly to this region.
Bush is so thick in the area that it makes visual searches almost impossible.
Another sample turned up in october of 2002 snagged at waist height on some bark and was once again tested and proved to be moose.
There is evidence of up to 20 animals livimg in the Dusky Sound area (Otago Daily Timess 06.10.05)
So this is not actaully news news as they have been established as being here for quite a while.
This is fairly old news as hair sampes were found in 2000 and definately confirmed through DNA testing to belong to Moose.
In 2001 more hunters came across hair which once gain was proven to belong to Moose.
Both samples came from Dusky Sound and it is believed the animals are there but confined mainly to this region.
Bush is so thick in the area that it makes visual searches almost impossible.
Another sample turned up in october of 2002 snagged at waist height on some bark and was once again tested and proved to be moose.
There is evidence of up to 20 animals livimg in the Dusky Sound area (Otago Daily Timess 06.10.05)
So this is not actaully news news as they have been established as being here for quite a while.
Just as an interesting side note – there was a native species of rodent identified from a fossiled jaw found so this could also be added to the list of indigenous animals, as well as proof of a species of python and crocodile from fossorial remains.
As for introductions I have dug a little on this and apparently the aclimatisation societies tried a number of animals in the 1800’s which never estblished, among them Zebra, Mongoose to control the rabbit populations and th most anomalous of all the Australian Marsupial Cat, yes perhaps the one that is extinct today.
As New Zeland has no snakes there was also a rumor a ships Captain released a nimber of Australian Black snakes (Pseudechis australis (Mulga) near Auckland, no more was heard of them, however, in the 1950’s a report came of a black snake like object crossing a pathway in a park in Rotorua.
Nzcryptozoologist- Thanks for your helpful input. Interesting info on the moose.
Yes, there have been several mammal species that have been introduced in New Zealand but didn’t take (although one wonders if any of those, like the moose, have actually managed to keep going). New Zealand is interesting because I see a lot of similarities to the situation in Japan (where I live) in terms of non endemic species and their effect on the ecology. Like Japan, there are a lot of animals that have been introduced to a previously isolated habitat and some of them are benign, some didn’t make it, and some are quite invasive. Since this is one of my areas of research, this situation with the moose over there is quite fascinating for me.
Side note- It’s an interesting thing about the mongoose you mentioned. Although they didn’t seem to catch on in New Zealand, they were introduced in Japan as well to control a type of poisonous snake and they have thrived. They have actually become a threat to a lot of native fauna. One of their favorite foods? A type of rare hare (well, it’s sort of like a rabbit. 🙂 ).
A lot of these animals are introduced with the best intentions and then they have unforseen consequences for the native ecosystem. It is interesting that the moose seems to have kept a relatively low profile, having a minimum if not zero effect of the native plant and animal life. I would think that with the moose, it could have gone the other way.
It’s interesting how many animals were introduced to New Zealand for the purpose of big game hunting (over and above the moose). These animals have typically caused a lot of trouble for the ecology there, through severe depletion of plant cover, causing accelerated erosion, and the depletion of understorey herbs and shrubs. These big game animals may have been desired by hunters, but they have had a mostly negative effect on forest conservation in New Zealand.
Another side note- Ferrets are one of the major nuisances in New Zealand. Originally introduced for their fur, New Zealand now has the largest wild population of ferrets IN THE WORLD. Amazing how that can happen.
-NZcryptozoologist
“Just as an interesting side note – there was a native species of rodent identified from a fossiled jaw found so this could also be added to the list of indigenous animals…”
I assume you mean the St. Bathans varmint?
It’s not a rodent. Rodents are Glires within Placentalia, within Eutheria, which is the sister group to Metatheria (Which contains Marsupialia). Both are nested within Theria, which is the sister group to the Monotremata(platypus and echidnas). Along with a couple of other clades such as the Triconodonts (The dino-eating Repenomamus was one of these) and the Multituberculates (sprawling mammals that are famously called the “Rodents of the Mesozoic” for their convergent appearance) all of these animals can be found within Mammalia based on many skeletal features.
Here is where it gets really cool, the St. Bathans animal (or animals, to disassociated skeletal remains remember) is the sister group to Mammalia proper. It’s still a Mammaliaforme and probably would have looked like a little shrew with sprawling legs similar to lizards or salamanders (only Therian mammals walk erect, all other mammals were sprawlers or semi-sprawlers.)
You can learn more here
http://www.pnas.org/content/103/51/19419.abstract