In 1839, on the basis of a single mysterious fragment of bone from the other side of the world, the great English anatomist Richard Owen came to the conclusion that it was from a gigantic flightless bird that had once inhabited New Zealand. Owen was involved in the naming of dinosaurs, but this time many of his scientific colleagues thought he had gone too afar. Despite this being the time of Darwin, many thought Owen's claims preposterous. In fact the discovery of the moa is full of great scientific intrigue and personality clashes in both New Zealand and Britain.