New Zealand's flightless birds are retreating to moa refuges
Researchers have found New Zealand's endangered flightless birds are seeking refuge in the locations where six species of moa last lived before going extinct.
Researchers have found New Zealand's endangered flightless birds are seeking refuge in the locations where six species of moa last lived before going extinct.
Plants & Animals
Jul 25, 2024
0
43
A team of evolutionary biologists at Harvard University, working with colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, East Carolina University, Osaka University and the University of Toronto, has reconstructed ...
Cosmogenic nuclide dating, a method commonly used in dating coastal areas and alluvial riverbeds for landscape reconstruction, is also useful for calculating the age of trace fossils, such as a footprint, where no remains ...
Biotechnology
Nov 15, 2023
0
100
The impact of deer on Aotearoa New Zealand's natural environment is never far from the headlines. Most recently, the Southland Conservation Board highlighted the damage the introduced species was doing to native forest on ...
Ecology
Oct 20, 2022
0
13
Recent genetic research has shed new light on the long-running debate about the evolutionary origins of some of New Zealand's quirkiest plants.
Plants & Animals
Aug 29, 2022
0
3
One species of iconic moa was almost wiped out during the last ice age, according to recently published research. But a small population survived in a modest patch of forest at the bottom of New Zealand's South Island, and ...
Ecology
May 26, 2022
0
15
Ancient moa DNA has provided insights into how species react to climate change, a University of Otago study has found.
Plants & Animals
May 10, 2022
0
173
In acute crisis situations, social media can play a crucial role in rapidly disseminating vital information. But there is also a risk that false or outdated facts are spread, causing unwarranted fear or panic. In a new study, ...
Social Sciences
Mar 4, 2022
0
2
New research by the University of Otago and the Department of Conservation provides evidence that moa may have been indigenous on Rakiura / Stewart Island shortly after human arrival.
Paleontology & Fossils
Nov 15, 2021
0
274
Knowledge of the diets of New Zealand's extinct moa (Aves: Dinornithiformes) comes from careful analysis of moa coprolites (fossilized poop) and gizzard contents. Moa coprolites and gizzard contents can be dissected and analyzed ...
Evolution
Jun 4, 2021
0
13
The moa were eleven species (in six genera) of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. The two largest species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae, reached about 3.7 m (12 ft) in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about 230 kg (510 lb).
Moa are members of the ratite group in the order Dinornithiformes. The eleven species of moa are the only wingless birds, lacking even the vestigial wings which all other ratites have. They were the dominant herbivores in New Zealand's forest, shrubland and subalpine ecosystems for thousands of years, and until the arrival of the Māori were hunted only by the Haast's Eagle. It is generally considered that most, if not all, species of Moa died out by Maori hunting and habitat decline before European discovery and settlement.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA