Dinornis

Dinornis may have been the tallest bird that ever lived, with the females standing around tall, and weighing an estimated or in various estimates. However, the males of the genus were much smaller, only around . Feather remains are reddish brown and hair-like, and covered most of the body except the lower legs and most of the head (plus a small portion of the neck below the head). While no feathers have been found from moa chicks, it is likely that they were speckled or striped to camouflage them from Haast's Eagles. The feet were large and powerful, and could probably deliver a powerful kick if threatened. The birds had long, strong necks and broad sharp beaks that would have allowed them to eat vegetation from subalpine herbs through to tree branches. In relation to its body, the head was small, with a pointed, short, flat and somewhat curved beak. The North Island giant moa tended to be larger than the South Island giant moa. ==Taxonomy==

The cladogram below follows a 2009 analysis by Bunce and colleagues: }} ==Palaeobiology==

Sexual dimorphism It has been long suspected that several species of moa constituted males and females, respectively. This has been confirmed by analysis for sex-specific genetic markers of DNA extracted from bone material. For example, prior to 2003 three species of Dinornis were recognised: South Island giant moa (D. robustus), North Island giant moa (D. novaezealandiae) and slender moa (D. struthioides). However, DNA analysis showed that all D. struthioides were in fact males, and all D. robustus were females. Therefore, the three species of Dinornis were reclassified as two species, one each formerly occurring in New Zealand's North Island (D. novaezealandiae) and South Island (D. robustus); However, despite their size, Dinornis eggs were extremely thin, with the eggshells of D. novaezealandiae being only around thick and ''D. robustus' eggshells being thick (for contrast, the eggs of Aepyornis'' are around thick It is possible that such fragile eggs resulted in the male moa adapting to become smaller than the females to reduce the risk of crushing the eggs. However, it is possible that the male moa would curl themselves around the eggs rather than sitting on them directly. Given the size of the eggs, and the incubation period, as soon as giant moa chicks hatched they would have been able to see, run and feed themselves. Habitat Dinornis were very adaptable and were present in a wide range of habitats from coastal to alpine. It is possible that individual moa would have moved from environment to environment with the changing seasons. ==Extinction==

Prior to the arrival of humans, the giant moa had an ecologically stable population in New Zealand for at least 40,000 years. who hunted it for food. All taxa in this genus were extinct by the year 1500. It is generally accepted that the Māori still hunted them at the beginning of the 15th century, although some models suggest extinction had already taken place by the middle of the 14th century. Although some birds became extinct due to farming, for which the forests were cut and burned down and the ground was turned into arable land, the giant moa had been extinct for 300 years prior to the arrival of European settlers. == Further reading ==