Aotearoa

Visited the excellent Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.  Appreciated this map inlaid on the floor as it matched my perspective:  looking from New Zealand back up toward China to the left and California to the right.

New Zealand was one of the last pristine wild places in the world until it was discovered relatively late in Polynesian expansion around 1250.  The forerunners of the Māori (which means “normal” or “ordinary”) brought dogs and rats with them.  Before that, New Zealand’s only mammals swam (seals, etc.) or flew (bats) there.   All other ecological niches filled by mammals everywhere in the world were filled by an insane panoply of birds.

Like these motherfucking nightmares.The moa are all extinct now, thank fuck.  Before humans their only predator was this other nightmare:  a giant eagle.  (Not to be confused with Tolkien’s great eagles.)

This giant mao would have stood taller than me.Considering the resemblance, it is no wonder they had this exhibit mere steps away from a velociraptor exhibit.  The museum had excellent signage (which also stood as good unsolicited advice.)
This was the only placard in the entire museum that did not have an equal-sized Maori translation next to it.  I’m sure racism is still a problem in New Zealand, but there does seem to be a genuine attempt at an institutional level to balance European & indigenous languages, perspectives, and history.

One of my absolute favorite things at the museum was this chart of the stars of the Southern Hemisphere inlaid into the floor.