Dinornis maximus
The moa was a large, tall flightless bird that existed
in New Zealand during the Pleistocene and most of the Holocene. Its
extinction is entirely due to human activity. Polynesians (Maori
ancestors) wiped out this species by about 1500 A.D., less than two centuries
after arriving in New Zealand.
Dinornis maximus was named in 1869 in separate publications by Sir
Julius von Haast and by Sir Richard Owen.
Classification: Animalia, Chordata, Vertebrata, Aves, Paleognathae,
Dinornithiformes, Dinornithidae
Dinornis maximus (above & below) from the Pleistocene of Holocene of New Zealand.
(CM 81, Carnegie Museum of Natural History,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA)
Dinornis maximus skull and neck from the Pleistocene of Holocene of
New Zealand.
Dinornis maximus foot bones from the Pleistocene of Holocene of New
Zealand.
Dinornis maximus reconstruction.
(Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, USA)