The Moa

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...

1. They’re extinct. For several hundred years.
2. Some were BIG. As big as Big Bird from Sesame Street. But the smallest were not much bigger than turkeys.
3. They were eaten to extinction - along with other bird species, by Maori.
4. There were 11 different species. At the latest count anyway.
5. They were ratites. Other ratites include ostrich, emu, cassowary, rhea, and kiwi.
6. Most lived in forest, not grassland. They weren't feathered cows, and there was little grassland.
7. They probably didn’t stand around with their heads in the air. Unlike some museum mounts. It makes them look impressive though.
8. You can still find their bones. Mostly in caves, swamps and sand dunes.
9. They aren’t the only extinct New Zealand bird. There are many other extinct New Zealand birds - rails, adzebill, wrens, eagle, etc.
10. Moa (singular and plural) is pronounced more like MORE than MOWER.

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.

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.

*Midden sites are where large amounts of cooking remains are found.

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...

"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)