They were the largest terrestrial animals and dominant herbivores in New Zealand's forest, shrubland, and subalpine ecosystems until the arrival of the Māori, and were hunted only by Haast's eagle. Moa extinction occurred within 100 years of human settlement of New Zealand, primarily due to overhunting. [7]

Over the past 100 years, periodic discoveries of preserved moa gizzard content and coprolites (ancient preserved dung) have gradually begun to shed light on the diets of moa and their roles within New Zealand ecosystems. Here, we review how the study of such samples has shaped our understanding of moa diets through time.

Diet of the Moa. These birds died off well before researchers could study their behavior. However, we can gain some information about their diets from their fossilized remains. Researchers have studied the contents of their gizzards, and their fossilized feces, also known as coprolite.

Scientists can carefully examine the pollen, seeds, DNA and plant microfossils in coprolites to determine what kind of food fuelled the nine moa species that roamed the country.

2022年3月28日 · The Moa, also known as the Giant Moa, was a genus of large-size birds that were endemic to the island nation of New Zealand several centuries back. These flightless birds, which existed in nine species under six genera, lived in the country for several thousand years before the Māori colonists settled in the country in around 1300 AD.

The moa (Dinornithiformes) are large to gigantic extinct terrestrial birds of New Zealand. Knowledge about niche partitioning, feeding mode and preference among moa species is limited, hampering palaeoecological reconstruction and evaluation of the ...

2020年2月7日 · Over the past 100 years, periodic discoveries of preserved moa gizzard content and coprolites (ancient preserved dung) have gradually begun to shed light on the diets of moa and their roles...

2013年10月3日 · Scientists from Australia and New Zealand have analyzed more than fifty fossilized feces of the South Island Giant Moa, Upland Moa, Heavy-footed Moa and Little Bush Moa to reconstruct the eating habits of these extinct giant birds.

the existing direct evidence for moa diet, thereby providing the most up-to-date synthesis of the diets of different moa species. We also compare these diets to examine how niche partitioning allowed different moa species to co-exist, and re-examine the roles of moa in New Zealand’s pre-human ecosystems based on available diet evidence.

We found evidence for limited overlap in biomecha-nical performance between the extant emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) and extinct upland moa (Megalapteryx didinus) based on similarities in mandibu-lar stress distribution in two loading cases, but overall our findings suggest that moa species exploited their habitats in different ways, relative t...