I looked closely at the giant bird. It's feathers were brown and covered it's large oval body. It's feet were huge and it's neck was very long. As I read the informational signs in the Canterbury Museum I discovered this gigantic flightless bird, the Moa, and its large eggs are what fed the people indigenous to Aotearoa, Māori for New Zealand. Quite suddenly, about 600 years ago, the Moa went extinct. Many scientists have wondered if humans are the reason for the Moa's extinction. In my wanderings around the area of Ōtautahi, which is also known as Christchurch, I thought a lot about the impact that humans have both on the natural world and each other. I thought about exploration and what drives us to see new things, adventure to new places, and what impact this exploration has on these places and the people who already call the place home.
Amy Osborne in front of Canterbury Museum Ōtautahi, Aotearoa (Christchurch, New Zealand)
Due to the continued delay of my flight to Antarctica I ventured off with fellow PolarTREC educator, Denise Hardoy, to explore the area. Our first stop was the Canterbury museum to learn more about the place we will be spending the next several days. Little did we know, we'd wind up learning about the polar regions! Amazingly, the museum was having an exhibit about the Arctic! How incredible that this museum at this time has an exhibit on the Arctic and on Antarctica, which is one of the museum's permanent exhibits.
A History Lesson
Before embarking on learning more about the icy areas of the globe, we learned about the first people to live in the local area and Māori culture. I found it fascinating that the Māori used to use serpentine, which is the California state rock, as an amulet before shifting over to using pounamu (greenstone) and bone. Traveling around New Zealand, which is the English name for Aotearoa meaning land of the long white cloud in Māori, signs everywhere are in both Māori and English. This is a great reminder that there are two distinct cultures living in this country. One group who arrived via waka (canoe) in the 1300s and a second group that showed up in the late 18th and early 19th centuries to colonize the area. While the United States does not have an official language due to the amazing amount of languages spoken by all who originally lived in or have moved to the U.S., New Zealand has three official languages: Māori, English, and New Zealand sign language.
Sign in both Māori and English for the Water Project Exhibit at the Canterbury Museum in Ōtautahi, Aotearoa (Christchurch, New Zealand)
As in most stories of colonization, the Europeans brought diseases and a different way of life that impacted the Māori culture in negative ways. The diseases led to a steep decline in Māori popluation. The Māori also lost their land which included access to their traditional food sources. There is a lot of information about the topic of the Māori and colonization including the controversial Treaty of Waitangi and reconciliation efforts by the New Zealand government. I won't delve into them here but I encourage you to look at the information that is out there.
I could spend most of this post talking about the people of New Zealand but Denise and I did a lot more exploring today. So, if you'd like to read more about the people of New Zealand check out the Te Ara project, the New Zealand government's website devoted to understanding New Zealand. Or to learn more history of New Zealand see A Brief History of New Zealand
Remember, polar bears do not live in Antarctica but they do live in the Arctic. Amy Osborne shows her reaction to being close to a polar bear at the Arctic exhibit at the Canterbury Museum.
After learning the history of New Zealand, the museum led us to the incredible Arctic exhibit where we learned more about the animals that call the Arctic home, perspective, and the impacts of climate change on the Arctic. I learned I definitely cannot leap as far as a snowshoe hare and the reason orcas can't swim in areas where there is sea ice is because of their large dorsal fins! As sea ice in the Arctic continues to melt at a rapid rate imagine all of the places the orcas will soon be able to go and all of the hiding places that whales like belugas will no longer have. I highly recommend you check out the various PolarTREC expeditions that focused on the Arctic. Just scroll backwards through the expeditions on this page and you'll get to those about the Arctic. I, also, highly recommend this exhibit, Arctic Voices!
Snowshoe hares also do not live in Antarctica but they DO live in the Arctic. A snowshoe hare out of its habitat at the Canterbury Museum.
From the icy north to the icy south the next hall was the Antarctica exhibit. This exhibit was filled with information about the animals Denise and I will soon get to see in real life. I even saw a photo of the sea spider! It also featured stories of the many attempts to reach the continent of Antarctica and to make it to the South Pole. British, Russian, French, Dutch, German, Swedish, Argentine, Belgian, Norwegian, and Japanese names lined the list of explorers intrigued by this land covered in ice. It included names like Cook, Scott, Amundsen, Ross, Shackleton, Weddell, and Mawson that are familiar to those who are drawn in to the history and geography of Antarctica. As I mentioned in a previous post, oral tradition tells of a Polynesian chief and navigator Hui Te Rangiora who may have been the first person to see Antarctica. He is said to have traveled from Rarotonga in the Cook Islands far enough south to find ice floes, icebergs, and the frozen ocean in the year 650!
Here is the long list of Antarctic explorers in the Canterbury Museum
After our brains were full Denise and I wandered through the flowers of the botanical gardens, went back to our hotel to charge our phones, and took a bus to Lyttelton (Ōhinehou) where we finally saw some lovely green hills and ate some very delicious fish and chips. Tomorrow we move to a new hotel and keep hoping that we will get to the ice soon!
Amy Osborne hanging out with the tulips in Te Māra Huaota o Waipapa (Christchurch Botanic Gardens)
Amy Osborne eating the best fish and chips around at Lyttelton Arms in Lyttelton, New Zealand (Ōhinehou, Aotearoa)
Question of the Day: What do you know about the first people to live in the area where you live? What is their culture like? How have their lives changed over time?
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