Some Obscurish facts
#1121
New Zealand is host to several varieties of flightless birds including the Kiwi and Kokako. The largest flightless bird in New Zealand was the Giant Moa (scientific name Dinornis maximus and Dinornis giganteus), which stood as much as two meters (six and a half feet) at the shoulder. The average Moa was about the size of the Australian emu. Some Moa species were as small as a turkey. Altogether eleven species of Moa are known from the fossil record. Moas are classified as ratites. Living ratites include the Ostrich of Africa, the Emu of Australia, the Rhea of South America, the Cassowary of Australia and New Guinea, and the Kiwi of New Zealand. Another extinct ratite was the giant Vorompatra or 'elephant bird' Aepyornis maximus of Madagascar. All Moa species appear to have died out no later than about one thousand years ago. They were probably hunted to extinction. Occasional sightings in the nineteenth and early twentieth century suggest that a few Moas may have lingered, but it is most likely that Moas are now extinct.
New Zealand is host to several varieties of flightless birds including the Kiwi and Kokako. The largest flightless bird in New Zealand was the Giant Moa (scientific name Dinornis maximus and Dinornis giganteus), which stood as much as two meters (six and a half feet) at the shoulder. The average Moa was about the size of the Australian emu. Some Moa species were as small as a turkey. Altogether eleven species of Moa are known from the fossil record. Moas are classified as ratites. Living ratites include the Ostrich of Africa, the Emu of Australia, the Rhea of South America, the Cassowary of Australia and New Guinea, and the Kiwi of New Zealand. Another extinct ratite was the giant Vorompatra or 'elephant bird' Aepyornis maximus of Madagascar. All Moa species appear to have died out no later than about one thousand years ago. They were probably hunted to extinction. Occasional sightings in the nineteenth and early twentieth century suggest that a few Moas may have lingered, but it is most likely that Moas are now extinct.