South Island giant moa facts for kids
Quick facts for kids South Island giant moaTemporal range: Late Holocene
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| Skeleton | |
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| Genus: |
Dinornis
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| Species: |
robustus
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List
Dinornis ingens var. robustus Owen, 1846
Palapteryx robustus (Owen 1846) Owen 1851a Dinornis maximus Haast 1869 Dinornis altus Owen 1879 Dinornis validus Hutton 1891 Dinornis potens Hutton 1891 Dinornis strenuus Hutton 1893 Dinornis torosus Hutton 1891 Palapteryx plenus Hutton 1891 |
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The South Island giant moa (Dinornis robustus) is a member of the moa family. It was a ratite and a member of the order Dinornithiformes. The Dinornithiformes are flightless birds with a sternum without a keel. They also have a distinctive palate. The origin of these birds is becoming clearer as it is now believed that early ancestors of these birds were able to fly and flew to the southern areas in which they have been found.
The South Island giant moa was the biggest of them all. Adult females stood up to 2 metres (6 ft 6 in) high at the back, and could reach foliage up to 3.6 metres (11 ft 10 in) off the ground, making them the tallest bird species known. Only one specimen of complete or partially complete moa egg has been assigned to the South Island giant moa, found around Kaikōura. This egg, 240mm in length and 178mm in width, is the largest moa egg found in museum collections as of 2006.
It lived in the South Island of New Zealand, and its habitat was the lowlands (shrubland, duneland, grassland, and forests). Along with other members of the moa family, the South Island giant moa went extinct due to predation from humans in the centuries following human colonization.
See also
In Spanish: Moa gigante de la isla Sur para niños
