A native to New Zealand, the interesting, wingless moa bird is now extinct. Here are some fun facts to know about the moa bird.
What did the moa bird look like?
One of the first characteristics most of us will attribute to birds is their wings and amazing ability to fly. Well, the moa bird is a unique bird in many ways, but first and foremost it had no wings. Instead of flying, the moa bird traveled around by walking or running. The birds varied in size, but some were up to thirteen feet tall, while some only reached the measly size of a turkey. The large moa bird weighed the same as a large man and laid eggs ten inches long and seven inches wide. These large eggs might contribute to the female moa bird size, which is estimated to have been one and a half times bigger than the male and three times heavier.
Because the moa bird became extinct in the 1700’s, no one knows for sure the coloring of the birds, but they are thought to have been brownish gray in color. Many scientists believe their neck stretched out forwards rather than straight up, like it is usually depicted in drawings of the bird.
The road to extinction for the moa bird
Native to the island of New Zealand, the moa bird lived in the semi-tropical forests or the grasslands. The first people to discover the island were the Polynesians, who were stunned and in awe of the massive moa bird. The Polynesians who inhabited New Zealand became the Maori, who gave the moa bird its name and also developed a few legends about the massive birds. Most of the stories about the birds were of their terrific size and strength, including the legend that the birds had killed half the warriors of a powerful tribe with its huge talons and beak. Before humans arrived on New Zealand, there was only one predator large enough to attack the moa bird, the Haast’s eagle, the world’s largest eagle, which is now also extinct.
When Europeans landed on New Zealand in the late 1700’s, the moa bird was already extinct. The extinction is probably due to the Maori, who supposedly hunted the large birds. The Maori both ate the bird and used its feathers and other body parts for adornment. The official extinction year of the moa bird is 1773.
