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I forgot to make two posts in the last days because i was occupied working on my other bird project

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The Upland Moa (Megalapteryx didinus)

Note: I put two pictures of the mummified remains of an upland moa under the cut (trigger warning for that).

The upland moa is an extinct moa species and, as all Moas are, a ratite. It inhabited the South Island of New Zealand/Aotearoa until the arrival of humans and likely survived the longest out of all Moa species. The Upland Moa was compared to other Moa species relatively small; it reached around 1 to 1.3 metres in height. This moa lived in alpine to subalpine environments and mostly fed on herbs and flowers. Because of this, the Upland Moa's body was covered in feathers except for the beak and the feet.

The Upland Moa likely went extinct from humans overhunting them.

Model of an Upland Moa:

sources:

foot of an Upland Moa found at Mount Owen and head of an Upland Moa found at a cave near Cromwell in Central Otago:

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I just made this blog yesterday but making the last post was already so much fun!! I think i'm first gonna do all the extinct moa species and then i'll move on to the whehaku/laughing owl and the new zealand owlet-nightjar. After that i'll do the several extinct duck species of new zealand

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South Island Giant Moa (Dinornis robustus)

The south island giant moa was a species of ratite that inhabited the south island of New Zealand/Aotearoa, the Native Island in New Zealand/Aotearoa and the Stewart Island in New Zealand/Aotearoa. The giant moa was a herbivore and fed on twigs, leaves, flowers, berries, seeds, herbs and vines. It seems very likely that their diet consists of vegetation other animals couldn't digest, so that they didn't have to compete with them.

The females were significantly taller than the males with a height of 2 metres in a natural position and a height of 3.6 metres when their necks were fully stretched to get to the leaves of tall trees. The males only reached 2.4 metres when their necks were fully stretched.

The south island giant moa went extinct during the 14./15 century, shortly after the first humans (Maori) inhabited New Zealand/Aotearoa. Because of this, many scientists conclude that humans are a major reason why the giant moa went extinct.

Before the arrival of humans on New Zealand/Aotearoa, the giant moa only had one predator to fear, the Haasts eagle. Since New Zealand/Aotearoa had no herbivorous mammals, the giant moa was the one who replaced them.

As opposed to other ratites who can move very fast like the ostrich or the emu, giant moas moved very slow. Their average speed was between 3.8 and 4.3 kilometers per hour.

Size compared to a human and model of a giant moa:

Note: All models were the giant moa is stretching its neck are not representative of how they looked like in their natural position. They only stretched their necks when trying to reach the leaves of a tree. Usually they foraged the ground for berries, seeds and twigs.

Sources:

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juvenile Grünspecht/european green woodpecker (Picus Viridis) that i had the pleasure to film at the local graveyard

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WHY is my video not uploading i'm going to go insane

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Hi!!

This is a blog about extinct and endangered birds, but sometimes i'll upload pictures and videos of birds that i took outside too.

Birds that aren't extinct will be tagged #not extinct.

Birds that aren't endangered will be tagged #not endangered.

I post the sources where i got the information from at the bottom of the post so you can check them out if you like! Sometimes the articles are unfortunately in german, but i'll always have at least one article/source in english.

About me:

I'm very whimsical and joyful about birds aka cringe, very sorry beforehand. Also big Kakapo fan!! My other favourites are the southern cassowary and the victoria crown-pidgeon. Also I love dinosaurs, but i won't be focusing on them on this blog. Maybe i'll put a pachyrhinosaur or a velociraptor here and there, but it'll mostly be birds from the cenozoic period.

The skull in my profile picture belongs to the south island giant moa (will change later on).