Extinct--Moa (Dinormis Maximus)

Carnegie Museum of Natural History

These birds are well known from bones and mummified remains of skin and feathers. Most likely strong runners, they seem to have preferred open scrublands and grasslands. Plants remain found with Moa skeletons show that these birds fed largely on seeds and grasses. Few complete Moa eggshells are known, but numerous shell fragments have been found. One egg, attributed to Dinornis, measured about 10 inches (25 centimeters) and would have held more than one gallon (4 liters).

Polynesians were the first people to settle in New Zealand. Shortly after their arrival in the 13th century, they began relentlessly hunting these birds, capturing them in pits and stealing eggs from their nests. Extinction of these remarkable birds apparently occurred within 160 years of the arrival of humans.