As many as 2.5 million of New Zealand’s legendary, towering flightless birds—the now extinct moa—once roamed the south Pacific nation’s hundreds of islands before Polynesian hunters began arriving in 1300 CE, according to a recent assessment by wildlife ecologists. Today, (at best) only some three dozen eggs from this group of species have ever been found.

But now at least one more, extremely rare and nearly complete, moa egg has been recovered and repatriated to its ancestral homeland aided by one of the commonwealth nation’s most famous film directors: Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson. Working with the high-tech conservation startup Colossal Biosciences, Jackson has acquired an 8.75-inch (22.2-centimeter) tall, 6.75-inch (17.1-cm) diameter moa egg after it popped up during a public auction in Colorado last June.

Thanks to the filmmaker and the firm, the egg was presented to indigenous Ngāi Tahu leader and professor of history Te Maire Tau at the 11th International Meeting of the Society of Avian Palaeontology and Evolution (SAPE 2026) this Monday in Ōtautahi Christchurch. The egg, partially reassembled with many pieces left to reattach, will be entrusted to the Ngāi Tahu people through Tau, who also serves as a researcher of Māori history at the University of Canterbury on New Zealand’s South Island.

“After expert restoration, it will very likely become only the ninth known nearly intact moa egg—probably one of the five best-preserved examples,” Jackson explained in a statement.

“More importantly,” the filmmaker added, “working with Colossal, and under Ngāi Tahu’s guidance, we can return this culturally significant taonga to its rightful custodians, advance research into the Moa, and connect future generations with Aotearoa’s extraordinary cultural and natural history [Aotearoa is the Māori’s name for New Zealand].”

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