Extinct bird of New Zealand. Two huge birds, exterminated through the fault of human stupidity and greed. Ancient fossil birds: Dinornis or MOA

Until the 18th century, giant ratite birds Moa lived in New Zealand. They, like ostriches, did not have wings (and even their rudiments), reached a height of about 3.5 m and weighed about 250 kg. With such dimensions, in terms of brain volume, moas were close to pigeons.

Moa

These herbivorous birds were presumably destroyed by the Maori natives. According to unconfirmed evidence, individual representatives of this species were still encountered at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries.

At the present time, alas, we can only see moas in exhibition halls: in the form of skeletons.

Scientists examined the remains of 227 birds found at two major excavations in New Zealand. The excellent condition of the bones of birds allowed scientists to isolate DNA from them. Moreover, the specialists were able to obtain not only samples of short mitochondrial DNA, but also fragments of the nuclear DNA of moas.

Tinamou

DNA analysis shows that the closest modern relative of the moa is by no means an ostrich, as previously thought, but a small Tinamou bird only 20-40 centimeters long.

Based on the data obtained, scientists came to the conclusion that the appearance of the Kiwi tribe on the islands could have occurred from 70 to 30 million years ago, after the separation of New Zealand from the ancient mainland of Gondwana, while the moa settled these lands much earlier. It is a pity that these birds did not live only a couple of centuries before the appearance of the Red Book and the Greenpeace organization.

Podolyan Tatiana

A moa bird that no longer exists. The presentation was prepared by Tatyana Podolyan, a 7a grade student of the Municipal Educational Institution "Secondary School No. 1" in Kotlas. Before human intervention, New Zealand was the kingdom of birds. Land mammals, with the exception of a few species of bats, did not exist here. The queen of this feathered state was the giant moa bird. Its largest specimens reached two meters in the shoulder and weighed more than 200 kg.

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Giant Moa Bird, which is no longer there.

Before human intervention, New Zealand was the kingdom of birds. Land mammals, with the exception of a few species of bats, did not exist here. The queen of this feathered state was the giant moa bird. Its largest specimens reached two meters in the shoulder and weighed more than 200 kg. The females were almost twice as heavy as the males.

The giant moa had a natural enemy - the giant eagle, the largest bird of prey on the planet.

Moa ancestors arrived in New Zealand before the arrival of the Kiwi ancestors. Here they took root, lost the ability to fly, and by the time humans arrived, had evolved into at least ten different species. - Moa completely and irrevocably lost the ability to fly. She didn't even have rudimentary wings left. The rudiments of the forelimbs were resorbed even before hatching from the egg - a unique phenomenon among birds. Here are some facts about the wonderful moa bird:

Previously, scientists believed that at the time of the arrival of man in New Zealand, there were about 16 species of moa. Over time, this number was reduced to 10, as it turned out that often the skeletal remains identified as two different species turned out to be just a female and male of the same species. It's just that female moas were much more massive than males.

Not all types of moa were giants. The smallest of them did not exceed 20 kilograms (about like a large turkey). - Moa is completely exterminated, all ten species. Less than two centuries have passed since the arrival of man on the archipelago, as a meaty tasty “chicken” was eaten without a trace. Giant flightless birds proved too easy prey for primitive hunters and their dogs.

Moa were so numerous that even now it is not difficult to find their bones. Skeleton and tissues decay to dust in open spaces, but in cold caves, in anaerobic swamps and in dry dunes, they may not decompose for millennia. There you can still find them.

Unfortunately, the moa is not the only New Zealand bird exterminated by man. With the advent of humans in New Zealand, more than three dozen species of birds became extinct.

The moa was a flightless bird and became extinct about 500 years ago. Therefore, researchers were shocked when they discovered a huge and well-preserved moa paw in one of the caves of Mount Owen in New Zealand.

Let's find out more about this bird, exterminated by man. And the second story will be about very near times and even greater stupidity of a "reasonable person" ...

Even at the end of the 18th century, giant moa birds could be found in New Zealand, today they are listed as extinct species, but enthusiasts still hope to find live specimens of these unique birds in the secluded corners of two huge islands. Once upon a time, even before the arrival of people, New Zealand was a real bird "reserve", there were no mammals here (bats do not count), the kingdom of birds flourished and multiplied, and only a giant eagle posed a serious danger to its largest representatives - moa birds .

According to scientists, once upon a time, the ancestors of the moa flew to New Zealand, they really liked it here, and the complete absence of terrestrial predators caused the gradual loss of the habit of flying. Recently, a group of scientists suggested that moa forgot how to fly after the death of dinosaurs, which posed a serious threat to them. The lizards were gone, and the moa completely lost the need to fly. They don't even have rudimentary wings left.

Moa lost their wings and began to walk, eating leaves, fruits, shoots and roots. Before humans arrived on the islands, moa evolved into about ten different species. In addition to giant moas, there were also small-sized species weighing no more than 20 kg. The largest specimens of moa reached a height of 3.5 meters and weighed about 250 kg. Moreover, females were almost twice as heavy as males.

“Of course, such flightless and non-biting nutritious “hens”, a kind of mountains of meat on two legs, became easy and tasty prey for immigrants from the islands of Polynesia, who received the name Maori from the white discoverers of the islands. A significant contribution to the destruction of the moa was made by dogs and rats brought to the islands by Polynesian settlers. According to scientists, the period of extermination of the moa stretched from the 9th to the 14th century.

What the bones tell

Interest in such an exotic bird appeared among European scientists in the second quarter of the 19th century. There were plenty of moa skeletons on the islands, but live specimens did not come across. Trying to find the surviving birds, scientists organized a number of expeditions to the most remote corners of the islands. The enthusiasm of the researchers was fueled by the legend of the Maori, according to which one surviving moa allegedly hides on the top of Mount Bakapunaka. Unfortunately, no one was hiding on the mountain, not a single living bird could be found.

The moa was pioneered by paleontologist Richard Owen, who proved that a giant bone discovered in New Zealand in 1839 belonged to a bird and not to any animal. The scientist devoted 45 years of his life to the study of moa. At his request, naturalist Walter Mantell collected for him from 1847 to 1850 about a thousand bones of giant birds and shell fragments from their eggs. Owen described various types of moa and collected several skeletons of giant birds for museums. In the middle of the 19th century, the largest moa egg was found near Cromwell: its length was 30 cm and its diameter was 20 cm.

Moa research continues to this day. For example, relatively recently, scientists found that there were five times more females than males in the populations of mosquitoes. It was a kind of bird matriarchy, the researchers believe that females, larger than males, crowded out the latter with the richest food participants, pursuing an aggressive territorial policy.

In 2009, scientists reported that they were able to reconstruct the coloration of a giant extinct bird. At the disposal of scientists were feathers 2.5 thousand years old, examining their DNA, the researchers found that four species of moa had nondescript brown plumage, only some individuals had white tips of feathers. According to the researchers, the plumage of a soft olive shade of brown served as a good disguise for the moa from the giant Orla Haast. It was he who was the only enemy of the moa and the largest eagle in the world.

So, what did this largest bird in the world look like? Moa are considered close relatives of ostriches, and they were similar to these birds. Two "inflated" legs, carrying a wingless body with a long neck, crowned with a slightly flattened head with a beak bent downwards. The whole body of the bird was covered with feathers. It is curious that moa, like our chickens, swallowed pebbles that ground food in their stomach. Now these polished pebbles are found next to moa bones.

In search of the king bird

And even now in New Zealand they find well-preserved moa skeletons and not only bones, but also feathers and even dried pieces of muscles and tendons. It is not surprising that after such finds, many people have the idea to look in the secluded corners of the islands and live birds. Eyewitness accounts also encourage such searches. In the 19th century, meetings with giant birds sometimes occurred.

For example, one day, seal hunters in the area near Cook Strait were frightened by the sight of huge birds that ran ashore from the forest. In 1860, the paw prints of a huge bird were seen by officials marking out land. Bird tracks led into the thickets between the rocks, in that area there were many limestone caves, perhaps it was in them that the last moas hid.

In 1959, a small sensation broke out in the scientific world: they allegedly managed to photograph living "extinct" moas from an airplane. The picture was published in the English magazine "London Illustrated News", it could be seen indistinct silhouettes of feathered giants. Later it turned out that it was a newspaper "duck". In any case, the director of the New Zealand Museum in Wellington, Robert Falla, stated: "I declare with all certainty that no one has seen or photographed live moas."

However, already in the new millennium, talk about surviving moa resumed. Australian naturalist Rex Gilroy is sure that living moas live in the remote corners of the North Island of New Zealand, and on the territory of the Urevera National Reserve. True, these are not giant birds, but small bushy moas, but in any case, if they can be found, it will be a scientific sensation.

“Gilroy says: “I am convinced that the bush moas are still alive. I have some evidence for the existence of a small bird colony at Urever. And it’s really important to me that it really exists there.”

He claims that while traveling through the Urevere Wildlife Refuge in 2001, he found 35 bird tracks, which gave him an estimate of 15 moas in the colony. This became known only now, because the naturalist was not sure of his findings until, in November 2007, he found another piece of evidence: a bird's nest in the trunk of an old kauri tree.

At the same time, a professor at the Department of Zoology at the University of Otago in New Zealand, represented by Dr. David Wharton, questions Gilroy's findings. Wharton argues that if the moa actually existed, it would be possible to find much more traces of their life activity. The professor also noted that he would be much more willing to believe in the existence of moa in the sparsely populated region of Fjorland in the south of the country than in the numerous Urever region.

While there is no photographic evidence of the existence of the legendary birds, Rex Gilroy and his wife Heather plan to spend February in New Zealand to spend a few nights "hunting" moas in Urevere, sitting in ambush with a camera. Meanwhile, Gilroy refused to show the exact location of the finds, arguing that a large expedition could frighten away the birds. Rex Gilroy, 64, has been to New Zealand eight times since 1980, where on his first trip he found a fragment of a moa skeleton.

It is also worth recalling that in 1959 the English magazine London Illustrated News published a photograph of living moas on its pages. It depicted the indistinct silhouettes of feathered giants. However, experts immediately suspected that this was a fake, and one of the skeptics I.I. Akimushkin, the author of numerous children's books about animals, sent a request to moa specialist Robert Falla, director of the New Zealand Dominion Museum in Wellington. Here is his response: “I state with all certainty that no one has seen or photographed living moas. This message is false. This year we have undertaken many expeditions in search of giant birds. As a result, only the charred remains of a medium-sized moa, Megalapterys didi nus, were found at the site of an old Maori site in the valley near Lake Te Anau. It is possible that moa of this species disappeared recently, less than a hundred years ago. But at present there is no longer any hope of finding living moas.”

Skeptics take Gilroy's claims with irony, stating that all Moa became extinct 500 years ago and now only their skeletal remains can be found.

The giant wingless moas apparently died out before the famous Cook reached New Zealand. Some researchers of this mystery believe that the predatory extermination of these birds by the natives is to blame, the other is convinced that the reason for the death of the moa lies in changing climatic conditions on the islands. British scientists put forward another version.

This is what moa birds looked like. The growth of this "instance" is almost three meters (image from darkwing.uoregon.edu)

According to the staff of the London Zoological Institute, everything was to blame ... the genetics of giant birds. More precisely, that part of it that is responsible for the rate of maturation of individuals, writes Innovations Report with reference to a publication in the journal Nature.

Analyzing samples of bone tissue taken from the legs of extinct birds, scientists found the presence of up to nine "annual rings" in the places of bone joints. That is, it took the average moa up to ten years to get out of childhood, a few more years to reach puberty. At the same time, living birds belonging to other species are ready for breeding within a year after birth.

The "growth strategy" chosen by the giant moas was trouble-free in the absence of any predators. Nevertheless, since the appearance of man on the islands (and this happened around the 14th century AD), the rapid decline of their era began. Apparently, the birds simply did not have time to replenish their ranks, melting under the onslaught of Maori hunters.

It took the Maori only about a hundred years to completely exterminate this mysterious species of wingless birds, some of whose representatives reached almost three meters in height and weighed a quarter of a ton.

A bird exterminated through the fault of human stupidity and greed

Flightless auks could not fly at all, reached a height of 90 cm and were completely destroyed at the end of the 19th century. The last great auk in the British Isles was killed by three fishermen because they thought it was a werewolf witch.

Let's remember how it happened...

wingless auk(lat. Pinguinus impennis) is a large flightless bird of the auk family, which became extinct in the middle of the 19th century. She was the only living member of the genus Pinguinus, which previously included the Atlantic Razorbill. The wingless auk bred mainly on rocky, isolated islands, which were a great rarity in nature for large nesting sites of the bird. In search of food, wingless auks spent most of their time in the northern waters of the Atlantic Ocean, covering New England, part of Spain, eastern Canada, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Norway, Ireland and Great Britain.

In English, the wingless auk is called "Great Auk" - "Big Auk". The bird really was very large and weighed an average of about 5 kilograms. Flightless auks lived on uninhabited rocky islands and were very rare already in the 18th century.

As the largest member of the auk family, the great auk reached 75 to 85 cm (30 to 33 in) in length and weighed about 5 kg (11 lb). The massive hooked beak with depressions on its surface and the back of the great auk were black, while the rest of the body was white. A notable feature of the bird's plumage was the alternation of supraorbital white spots and stripes during the winter and summer periods. In summer, the bird had white spots, and in winter, wide stripes around the eyes. Despite having short, 15 cm (5.9 in) long wings, the flightless great auk was an excellent swimmer in the water and hunted successfully. The wingless auk fed on a variety of fish species, including American herring and capelin, as well as crustaceans. Despite the fact that the great auk swam perfectly in the water, on land it was very clumsy. The main threats to her were humans, killer whales, white-tailed eagles and polar bears.

The great auk has been known to humans for over 100,000 years. She was the most important source of food and a symbol of many Indian cultures that existed with her. Many people of ancient maritime cultures were buried with the remains of the great auk. In one such burial, more than 200 auk beaks were found, presumably decorating the cloak of an ancient man.

Flightless auks could not fly at all. And on land they moved, heavily waddling from side to side. These were the most clumsy and clumsy birds of the coastal strip, becoming easy prey for the more swift birds that lived on the islands. In case of danger, the auks could only slowly run across, taking short steps. At the same time, the waters of the ocean turned out to be a safe place for them, where they rushed, fleeing from enemies, from a height of 4 - 4.5 m.

Once in the water, wingless auks became fast and agile. And there was no trace of the slowness that was characteristic of them when they were on land. These birds could quickly dive and swim, thus covering considerable distances. Old-timers said that in such cases it was impossible to overtake the auk even in a rowboat. Short, but strong wings, which were used by the bird under water as flippers, helped the auk to swim well. Scientists suggest that auks once made long journeys on water.

Archaeologists and paleontologists claim that auks have long been known to people. Even 18 thousand years ago, people began to hunt for these coastal birds. Judging by the finds, then wingless auks inhabited many coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, starting from the coast of North America and ending with the British Isles, as well as the islands of Scandinavia and Spain. In historical times, auks were also quite widespread on Earth. They are known to have inhabited the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, and Labrador.

The eradication of the great auk began in the spring of 1534. It was then that the ship of the famous traveler Jacques Cartier approached the shores of Funk Island. Sailors from the ship saw a lot of birds that could become easy prey for hungry sailors. Then the Europeans took out two boats from the island, fully loaded with dead birds. This was only the beginning of the story of the disappearance of the feathered species.

At the beginning of the next 17th century, the Englishman Richard Whitbourne visited Funk Island. Later, he wrote: “... Sailors drive these birds along the board into the boat at once in a hundred, as if the Lord created this miserable creature so simple-hearted that it served a person as an excellent reinforcement of his strength ...” However, judging by historical sources, it was not the Europeans who were the main culprits of death wingless auks. It became known that long before Cartier arrived at Funk Island, the population began to decline sharply. At that time, the island mentioned above was the habitat of the largest colony of auks on the planet.

The most rapid decline in the number of wingless auks occurred in the period from 1732 to 1760. Sailors of whaling and fishing vessels passing by Funk Island filled the holds with the carcasses of dead birds. After the development and settlement, the settlers of the New World needed a pen. Its source was the same wingless auks that lived on islands located near North America. At the beginning of the 19th century, not a single auk was left on Funk Island.

The last habitat of a waterfowl was the Geyerfuglasker cliff, located off the coast of Iceland. The rocks of the cliff were high and impregnable. Many auk hunters who tried to climb the cliff often fell into the water and drowned. Such cases were not uncommon, and therefore at that time there were few people who wanted to go to the island to get birds. But at the beginning of the 19th century, American sailors were able to conquer the cliff. As a result, the number razorbill decreased even more.

And in 1830, due to geological changes, the Geyerfuglasker cliff sank to the bottom of the ocean. The birds living there were forced to move to the neighboring island of Eldy Rock. At this point, man could not miss the opportunity to take advantage of the gifts of nature.

At first, auks were hunted for the sake of fluff, which was used to stuff pillows. At the end of the 18th century, the authorities banned the fishing of wingless auks, but the local population continued to exterminate them - many museums around the world wanted to get a stuffed animal of this rare bird.

Due to the hunting of people for a bird for its meat, fluff and use as bait, the number of wingless auks began to decline sharply by the middle of the 16th century. Realizing that the wingless auk was on the verge of extinction, scientists decided to include it in the list of protected birds, but this was not enough to save the species. The growing rarity of the bird increased the already strong interest of European museums and private collectors in obtaining stuffed animals and eggs, thus ruining the last attempt to save the great auk.

The last auk seen in the British Isles was killed by three Scots in 1844. They caught the bird and tied it up to take it back to their village. But a strong storm began and the superstitious Scots thought that the unusual bird was a werewolf witch who wanted to sink their boat. Therefore, the auk was quickly beaten with a stick.

And the last pair of auks seen in Iceland were killed solely to sell their skins to zoological museums. By the way, now 75 stuffed Great Chistik, 75 eggs and 24 of its complete skeletons are stored in the museums of the world (two stuffed animals are stored in Russia: one is in the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, and the other is in the Darwin Museum in Moscow.): these 174 birds could give life to new generations of auks. But for museum workers, a scarecrow of an endangered species turned out to be more valuable than the endangered species itself.

In 1971, the Icelandic Museum of National History bought a stuffed Great Razorbill at auction. The acquisition cost was £9,000 and entered the Guinness Book of Records as the highest price for a stuffed bird.

Thus, the wingless auk, a species of birds that existed on the planet for many tens of thousands of years, disappeared. The great auk was the first of the European and American birds to be completely destroyed by man.

And this is a "hunt" in the modern:

Detachment - Moa-like

Family - Moa

Genus/Species - Dinornis maximus. Dinornis or moa

Basic data:

DIMENSIONS

Height: up to 3.5 m.

Weight: up to 275 kg.

BREEDING

Puberty: probably from 4-6 years old.

Nesting period: depended on the region.

Number of eggs: usually 1, sometimes 2 cream-colored eggs.

Incubation: 3 months.

LIFESTYLE

Habits: moa (see photo) is an active bird during the day and is not capable of flight.

Food: leaves, branches, fruits of plants, seeds.

RELATED SPECIES

The closest modern relatives of dinornis are ratites - in particular, common kiwi. Birds unable to fly include ostriches, etc.

The flightless dinornis was easy prey for the inhabitants of Polynesia and New Guinea. Birds have disappeared due to deforestation and exorbitant hunting. Dinornis is the largest bird among all that have ever existed.

FOOD

When the first Europeans arrived in New Zealand, the South Island was almost completely covered in tall grass. This gave scientists reason to assume that the dinornis fed on it. However, studies of the contents of the stomachs of Dinornis specimens that have survived showed that the birds fed on forest plants - remains of fruits and seeds were found in the stomachs of birds. Using the radiocarbon method, it was possible to establish that most of New Zealand was covered with forests in antiquity. Despite its large growth, dinornis fed on low-growing plants, digging roots, bulbs and young shoots from the ground. Like many modern birds, it swallowed small stones to improve digestion.

ORIGIN OF MOA

After the separation of the islands of New Zealand from the ancient continent of Gondwana, the ancestors of dinornis, whose Australian name is moa, remained isolated on them.

They adapted to the new living conditions, evolved and soon settled in different biotopes. Scientists believe that at least 12 species of these birds lived on the islands. The smallest of the moa's ancestors was the size of a turkey and reached a height of about 1 m, and the largest was from 2 to 3.5 m tall. The birds ate plant foods, because this was the only way they could survive in a small area.

The total number of all species of these birds on the islands of New Zealand probably reached about 100 thousand. Moas have always been relatively few in number. Aboriginal people say the birds had bright colors and some had crests on their heads.

BREEDING

Since the moa initially had no biological enemies, its breeding cycle was quite long. This later caused the extinction of these large birds.

During the nesting period, the female moa laid only one egg, in some cases she could lay two eggs - this is confirmed by finds. Researchers have found very large concentrations of eggs in the graves of Maori hunters. Some eggs retained embryos.

Moa eggs usually have a cream-colored shell, but are sometimes light blue, green, or brown. A huge egg was incubated by the female for 3 months, and the male brought her food all this time. The chick hatched from the egg was under the watchful guard of the parents.

ENEMIES

Before the arrival of the first Polynesians in New Zealand, moas had no enemies at all. The Polynesians considered the bird a dangerous opponent because it had strong claws with which it could inflict serious injuries. Aboriginal people hunted moa for meat, used eggshells as utensils, and they made weapons and jewelry from the bones of this bird. The Polynesians brought cats and dogs with them to the islands, which became a scourge for all birds that nest on earth. Dinornis was threatened with extinction when the Maori began to clear the forest for arable land. And although some sources indicate that moa lived here as early as the 19th century, scientists believe that these ancient giants died out as early as 400-500 years ago.

DINORNIS AND OTHER RATELLESS BIRDS

Like other keelless birds, the dinornis lacked a keel - an outgrowth of the sternum that serves to attach the highly developed pectoral muscles in flying birds. Whether all ratites share a common ancestor is unknown.

The largest modern birds are emus. Since these birds have vestigial wings, it can be assumed that their ancestor may have been able to fly. In the skeletons of dinornis, which have survived to this day, there is absolutely no keel, which indicates that he never flew or could do so several million years before the appearance of modern keelless birds.

A person next to a giant dinornis seems like a midget, because it barely reaches his shoulder joint.

- Locations where moa fossils have been found

WHEN AND WHERE THE MOAS LIVED

Dinornis, or moas, have lived on Earth for 100 million years. Giant moa became extinct only in the 15th-16th centuries, and smaller species were found until the 19th century. Large accumulations of dinornis bones were found in swamps - places of probable residence. A large number of complete skeletons of ancient birds have been preserved on the New Zealand South Island in the Pyramid Valley in the north of Canterbury. Some dinornis were preserved in swamps and preserved with their skin and feathers.