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The moa was a BIG
bird!
The biggest moa was the Giant Moa.
It was taller than three metres and weighed about 250 kilograms. The giant moa was one of
the biggest birds ever known in the world. However there were smaller moa. The smallest
moa species was a bit bigger than a turkey, about half a metre tall. |
| Scientists have
gathered lots of information about the moa from fossils (bones) found all around New
Zealand. Top ten things
everyone should know about the moa...
- They’re extinct. For
several hundred years.
- Some were BIG. As big as Big
Bird from Sesame Street. But the smallest were not much bigger than turkeys.
- They were eaten to extinction -
along with other bird species, by Maori.
- There were 11 different
species. At the latest count anyway.
- They were ratites. Other
ratites include ostrich, emu, cassowary, rhea, and kiwi.
- Most lived in forest, not
grassland. They weren't feathered cows, and there was little grassland.
- They probably didn’t stand
around with their heads in the air. Unlike some museum mounts. It makes them look
impressive though.
- You can still find their bones. Mostly
in caves, swamps and sand dunes.
- They aren’t the only extinct
New Zealand bird. There are many other extinct New Zealand birds - rails, adzebill,
wrens, eagle, etc.
- Moa (singular and plural) is
pronounced more like MORE than MOWER.
The top ten list was written by
Mike Dickinson. To learn more about the moa visit his website www.vuw.ac.nz/~adzebill/moa/index.html
This site has a lot of info about the moa. The only thing is that navigation around the
site isn’t very easy – but search around, there’s heaps of interesting
stuff to be found. |
| How did the moa become
extinct? There were moa
living in New Zealand when the Maori people arrived but it is believed that the moa was
totally extinct in 1769 when Captain Cook landed in New Zealand.
Some land was cleared by the Maori,
which would have killed the moa directly or reduced its habitat. But the main reason the
moa became extinct was hunting. |
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Midden sites are where large amounts of
cooking remains are found. |
The moa was an obvious
source of food in a land without land mammals (except for the bat). Moa bones have been
found in midden sites around New Zealand. Midden sites tell archaeologists a lot about the
people who lived in lands before history was written down. From the bones found at the
midden sites scientists have learnt about the different species of moa and come to the
conclusion that over-hunting caused the moa to become extinct. |
| Scientists think that
moa were extinct by 1500 and that no white person ever saw a moa alive. However, there are
stories that would have us believe that there were a few moa left in New Zealand when
Captain Cook and his men arrived. There have even been tales told during the 1900’s
that would make people think that there was still moa roaming around in New Zealand
forests... |
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"It was in 1880, when I was seven years old, that I first saw the
large bird that I now think must have been some kind of moa. I remember it distinctly. It
was lying on the sand under the flax which grows on the edge of the bush inside the sand
hills on the sea shore." Alice McKenzie. |
On January 20, 1994, three New Zealander’s were tramping in
the Craigieburn Range and claim they saw a moa. Media from around the world reported the
sighting. The three "moa spotters" claim they did see a moa that day, but
perhaps it was really a mower!?!
(Some people think it was actually a deer.) |
No moa
No moa
In old Ao-tea-roa
Can’t get ‘em
They’ve eat ‘em
They’re gone and there ain’t no moa.
(Poem by W Chamberlain)
Note: Aotearoa is the Maori name
for New Zealand. It means 'land of the long white cloud'. |
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