MOA

'Moa' were giant flightless birds native to New Zealand. They were unique in having no wings, not even small wings, unlike other ratites. Fifteen species of varying sizes are known, with the largest species, the giant moa (''Dinornis robustus'' and ''Dinornis novaezelandiae''), reaching about 3.6 m (12 ft) in height and about 250 kg (550 lb) in weight. They were the dominant herbivores in the New Zealand forest ecosystem. Leaves, twigs and fruit played a big part in their diet.

Contents

History

Taxonomy

Biology

Claims by cryptozoologists

Notes

References

See also

External links

History

Moa are thought to have become extinct about 1500, although some reports speculate that a few stragglers of ''Megalapteryx didinus'' may have persisted in remote corners of New Zealand until the 18th and even 19th centuries.
Moa were hunted by Haast's Eagle, the world's largest eagle, which is also now extinct. The extinction of the moa species is generally attributed to hunting and forest clearance by Māori. Joel Polack, a trader who lived on the East Coast of the North Island from 1834 to 1837, records in 1838 that he had been shown 'several large fossil ossifications' found near Mt Hikurangi. He was certain that these were the bones of a species of emu or ostrich, noting that 'the Natives add that in times long past they received the traditions that very large birds had existed, but the scarcity of animal food, as well as the easy method of entrapping them, has caused their extermination'. Polack further noted that he had received reports from Māori that a 'species of Struthio' still existed in remote parts of the South Island (Polack 1838, cited in Hill 1913:330). Dieffenbach (1843 (II):195) also refers to a fossil from the area near Mt Hikurangi, and surmises that it belongs to 'a bird, now extinct, called Moa (or Movie) by the natives'. In 1839, John W. Harris, a Poverty Bay flax trader who was a natural history enthusiast, was given a piece of unusual bone by a Māori who had found it in a river bank. He showed the 15 cm fragment of bone to his uncle, John Rule, a Sydney surgeon, who sent it to Richard Owen who at that time was working at the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons in London. Owen became a noted biologist, anatomist and paleontologist at the British Museum.
Owen puzzled over the fragment for almost four years. He established it was part of the femur of a big animal, but it was uncharacteristically light and honeycombed. Owen announced to a skeptical scientific community and the world that it was from a giant extinct bird like an ostrich, and named it ''Dinornis''. His deduction was ridiculed in some quarters but was proved correct with the subsequent discoveries of considerable quantities of moa bones throughout the country, sufficient to reconstruct skeletons of the birds.
In July 2004, the Natural History Museum in London placed on display the moa bone fragment Owen had first examined, to celebrate 200 years since his birth, and in memory of Owen as founder of the museum.

Taxonomy

The kiwi were once regarded as the closest relatives of the moa, but comparisons of their DNA suggest they are more closely related to the Australian emu and cassowary. (Turvey ''et al''., 2005).
Although dozens of species were described in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many were based on partial skeletons and turned out to be synonyms. More recent research, based on DNA recovered from museum collections, suggest that there were only 11-15 species, including 2-4 giant moa. The giant moa seem to have had pronounced sexual dimorphism, with females being much larger than males; so much bigger that they were formerly classified as separate species (see also below). The giant moa grew as large as 13 feet and became extinct much earlier (also by Māori hunting), about 1300.
Although traditionally reconstructed in an upright position giving impressive height, it is thought more likely that moa carried their heads forward, in the manner of a kiwi in order to graze on low-level vegetation.
Most interestingly, ancient DNA analyses have determined that there were a number of cryptic evolutionary lineages in several moa species. These may eventually be classified as species or subspecies; ''Megalapteryx benhami'' (Archey) which is synonymized with ''M. didinus'' (Owen) because the bones of both share all essential characters. Size differences can be explained by a north-south cline combined with temporal variation such that specimens were larger in the north during the Otiran. Similar temporal variation is known for the North Island ''Pachyornis mappini'' (Worthy 1987). Some of the other 'Large' ranges in variation for moa species can probably be explained by similar geographic and temporal analysis (Worthy ''et al''., 1988).
Sometimes, the Dinornithidae are considered to be a full order (Dinornithiformes), in which case the subfamilies listed below would be advanced to full family status (replacing "-inae" with "-idae").
Thus, the currently recognized genera and species are:

★ Family †'Dinornithidae' - Moa

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★ Subfamily 'Megalapteryginae' - Megalapteryx Moa

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★ Genus '''Megalapteryx'''

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★ Upland Moa, ''Megalapteryx didinus'' ''(South Island, New Zealand)''

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★ Subfamily 'Anomalopteryginae' - Lesser Moa

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★ Genus '''Anomalopteryx'''

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★ Bush Moa, ''Anomalopteryx didiformis'' (South Island, New Zealand)

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★ Genus '''Euryapteryx'''

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★ North Island Broad-billed Moa, ''Euryapteryx curtus'' (North Island, New Zealand)

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★ South Island Broad-billed Moa, ''Euryapteryx geranoides'' (South Island, New Zealand)

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★ Genus '''Emeus'''

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★ Eastern Moa, ''Emeus crassus'' (South Island, New Zealand)

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★ Genus '''Pachyornis'''

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★ Crested Moa, ''Pachyornis australis'' (South Island, New Zealand)

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★ Heavy-footed Moa, ''Pachyornis elephantopus'' (South Island, New Zealand)

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★ Mappin's Moa, ''Pachyornis mappini'' (North Island, New Zealand)

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★ ''Pachyornis'' new lineage A (North Island, New Zealand)

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★ ''Pachyornis'' new lineage B (South Island, New Zealand)

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★ Subfamily 'Dinornithinae' - Giant Moa

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★ Genus '''Dinornis'''

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★ North Island Giant Moa, ''Dinornis novaezealandiae'' (North Island, New Zealand)

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★ South Island Giant Moa, ''Dinornis robustus'' (South Island, New Zealand)

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★ ''Dinornis'' new lineage A (South Island, New Zealand)

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★ ''Dinornis'' new lineage B (South Island, New Zealand)

Biology

It has been long suspected that the species of moa described as ''Euryapteryx curtus'' / ''E. exilis'', ''Emeus huttonii'' / ''E. crassus'', and ''Pachyornis septentrionalis'' / ''P. mappini'' constituted males and females, respectively. This has been confirmed by analysis for sex-specific genetic markers of DNA extracted from bone material (Huynen ''et al''., 2003). More interestingly, the former three species of ''Dinornis'': ''D. giganteus'' = ''robustus'', ''D. novaezealandiae'' and ''D. struthioides'' have turned out to be males (''struthioides'') and females of only two species, one each formerly occurring on New Zealand's North Island (''D. novaezealandiae'') and South Island (''D. robustus'') (Huynen ''et al''., 2003; Bunce ''et al''., 2003); ''robustus'' however, comprises 3 distinct genetic lineages and may eventually be classified as as many species as discussed above.
Moa females were larger than males, being up to 150% of the male's size and 280% of their weight. This phenomenon — reverse size dimorphism — is not uncommon amongst ratites, being most pronounced in moa and kiwi.

Claims by cryptozoologists

Though there is no reasonable doubt that moa are extinct, there has been occasional speculation that some may still exist in deepest south Westland, a rugged wilderness in the South Island of New Zealand. Cryptozoologists and others reputedly continue to search for them,[1] but no hard evidence or actual specimens have ever been found, and their efforts are widely considered to be pseudoscientific.

In January 1993, on the West Coast, Paddy Freaney, Sam Waby and Rochelle Rafferty claimed to have seen a large moa-like bird. Analysis of the blurry photograph they claimed was of a moa suggested that the subject could be either a large bird or a red deer. The incident is considered a hoax, especially as Freaney is a hotelier, and may have concocted the story to attract tourists.
Moa experts say the likelihood of any moa remaining alive and unnoticed is extremely unlikely, since they would be giant birds in a region often visited by hunters and hikers. Freaney cites the rediscovery of the Takahē as evidence that living birds could still exist undiscovered. However, while the hen-sized Takahē could successfully avoid humans, a large moa would have considerably more difficulty in doing so. The Takahē was rediscovered after its tracks were identified, but no reliable evidence of moa tracks has been reported.

Notes

★ The word "moa" is both plural and singular, as Māori words do not use "-s" to indicate plural.

References

★ Baker, Allan J.; Huynen, Leon J.; Haddrath, Oliver; Millar, Craig D. & Lambert, David M. (2005): Reconstructing the tempo and mode of evolution in an extinct clade of birds with ancient DNA: The giant moas of New Zealand. ''PNAS'' '102'(23): 8257-8262. DOI:10.1073/pnas.0409435102 PDF fulltext Supporting Information

★ Bunce, Michael; Worthy, Trevor H.; Ford, Tom; Hoppitt, Will; Willerslev, Eske; Drummond, Alexei & Cooper, Alan (2003): Extreme reversed sexual size dimorphism in the extinct New Zealand moa ''Dinornis''. ''Nature'' '425'(6954): 172-175. DOI:10.1038/nature01871 HTML abstract Supplementary information

★ Dieffenbach, E. (1843): ''Travels in New Zealand''. Two volumes. John Murray:London, Vol. II, p.195.

★ ''The Moa - Legendary, Historical and Geographical - Why and When the Moa disappeared'' Hill, H, 1913

★ Huynen, Leon J.; Millar, Craig D.; Scofield, R. P. & Lambert, David M. (2003): Nuclear DNA sequences detect species limits in ancient moa. ''Nature'' '425'(6954): 175-178. DOI:10.1038/nature01838 HTML abstract Supplementary information

★ Millener, P. R. (1982): And then there were twelve: the taxonomic status of ''Anomalopteryx oweni'' (Aves: Dinornithidae). ''Notornis'' '29': 165-170.

★ Polack, J. S. (1838): ''New Zealand: Being a Narrative of Travels and Adventures During a Residence in that Country Between the Years 1831 and 1837''. Two volumes. Richard Bentley:London, Vol. I, p.303, 307.

★ Turvey, Samuel T.; Green, Owen R. & Holdaway, Richard N. (2005): Cortical growth marks reveal extended juvenile development in New Zealand moa. ''Nature'' '435'(7044): 940-943. DOI:10.1038/nature03635 HTML abstract

See also

★ List of extinct New Zealand animals (birds)

★ Late Quaternary prehistoric birds

★ Island gigantism

★ Moa-nalo, an extinct gigantic goose-like duck from the Hawaiian Islands.

External links

★ TerraNature list of New Zealand's extinct birds

★ Moa Pages

★ TerraNature page on Moa

★ Tree of Life classification and references

★ Big Bird´s Last Stand