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Dinornithiformes

Also known as moa

Moa (order Dinornithiformes) are an extinct group of flightless birds formerly endemic to New Zealand. During the Late Pleistocene-Holocene, there were nine species, in six genera. The two largest species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae, reached about in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about ; the smallest, the bush moa (Anomalopteryx didiformis), was about the size of a turkey. Estimates of the moa population when Polynesians settled New Zealand circa 1300 C.E. range from 58,000 to 2.5 million.

AI overview

Dinornithiformes, commonly known as moa, were a group of large flightless birds that lived in New Zealand until they went extinct, with nine different species ranging from turkey-sized to about 12 feet tall. They matter because they represent a unique evolutionary branch of birds that dominated New Zealand's ecosystem before human arrival around 1300 CE, and studying them helps us understand how species can rapidly disappear and what ecosystems looked like before human settlement.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Wikidata facts

Image: Giant Haasts eagle attacking New Zealand moa.jpg

Show 6 more facts

taxon name: Dinornithiformes
Commons category: Dinornithiformes
Commons gallery: Moa
start time: 17000000-0
end time: 1500-00-00
extinction date: 1500-00-00

Sources (3)

via Wikidata · CC0

~32 min read

Article

23 sections

Contents

Etymology
Description
Feathers and soft tissues
Classification
Evolutionary relationships
Phylogeny
Taxonomy
Distribution and habitat
South Island
North Island
Behaviour and ecology
Diet
Reproduction
Relationship with humans
Discovery
Research history
In literature and culture
Potential revival
See also
Footnotes
Notes
References
External links

Moa are traditionally placed in the ratite group. Genetic studies have found that their closest relatives are the flighted South American tinamous, once considered a sister group to ratites. The nine species of moa were the only wingless birds, lacking even vestigial wings, which all other ratites have. They were the largest terrestrial animals and dominant herbivores in New Zealand's forest, shrubland, and subalpine ecosystems until the arrival of the Māori, and were hunted only by Haast's eagle. Moa extinction occurred within 100 years of human settlement of New Zealand, primarily because of overhunting.