Dinornithiformes
Sign in to saveMoa (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.
Article
23 sectionsContents
- 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 (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.
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.
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Animals with only two limbsBird extinctions since 1500Commons link from WikidataDinornithidaeEndemic birds of New ZealandExtinct birds of New ZealandExtinct flightless birdsHolocene extinctionsLate Quaternary prehistoric birdsMiocene first appearancesNotopalaeognathaeRatitesSpecies made extinct by human activities