Susan Uaczy, age 12, of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, for her question:     

What sort of bird is a moa?

If you saw one of the giant moa birds, you might suspect that somebody invented him to scare the children. But, sad to say, human eyes never again will behold this great bird, or any of his lesser kinfolk. The entire family became extinct several centuries ago. Perhaps they were wiped out by hungry humans or perhaps they perished from the earth for other reasons we don't know.

The Europeans who settled Australia found it to be a wonderland of weird animals. The amazing kangaroos and dozens of other native creatures were unbelievable. The settlers of New Zealand found a similar zoological wonderland. However, they arrived too late to meet the moa bird, though they did not know this at the time. Perhaps if they had come sooner, they might have taken one look at this enormous bird and sailed back to their native lands.

Scientists later assembled records of the moa birds from bones and other fossils found in New Zealand. These islands had been their home for some sixty million years and about 20 species seem to have survived there until about 300 years ago. Several were about as big as turkeys and others were larger. But at least one giant species stood ten feet tall and possibly weighed a quarter of a ton.

This sounds like a rather tall tale    until we remember that an ostrich is only two feet shorter and about 150 pounds lighter. In fact, you might have mistaken the giant moa for a super ostrich. He had the same bulky body, long neck and small head. His legs were thicker and not quite as long as those of the ostrich. But he had similar small wings, too weak to lift him above the ground.

The moas were flightless birds who most likely dined on vegetation and perhaps other food on or near the ground. There were no sizeable meat eaters to threaten them and for 60 million years or so they enjoyed a very easy way of life. With no scarey neighbors to keep them on their toes, the moas became fearless and lazy. This helped to bring about their doom.

About 1,000 years ago, visitors arrived from Polynesian islands across the Pacific. Several groups decided to settle there and we know their descendants as the Maoris of New Zealand. One of the major attractions was the moa birds. The Maoris chased the clumsy, fearless birds with clubs, dined on moa meat and decked themselves with moa feathers.

This wholesale slaughter naturally reduced the number of moas and sometime in the 1600s, almost all of them were gone. Possibly a few of the smaller species survived another century or so.

Scientists hesitate to blame the Maoris for bringing about the total extinction of the moa birds. But there is no doubt that they were responsible for most of the tragedy. However, other Polynesians made long voyages across the Pacific and many paid brief visits to New Zealand. It is thought that these raiding parties helped to bring about the final doom of the amazing moa birds.