Moa

extinct birds · New Zealand · giants · ancient animals

Impossibly tall birds. The biggest moa species stood about 12 feet tall, as high as a basketball hoop, and weighed as much as a grown man plus another grown man. They had super long necks that they stretched up to reach leaves high in trees.

Could not fly. Unlike most birds, moa had tiny wings compared to their massive bodies, so they couldn't fly at all. Instead, they walked around on strong, thick legs to find food on the ground and in forests.

Only lived in New Zealand. Moa birds were found nowhere else in the world except New Zealand. They lived there peacefully for thousands of years until people arrived from Polynesia around the year 1300.

Nine different species. There were actually nine different moa species, ranging from tiny turkeys to giant giants. Some lived in forests, others on grasslands, so they filled all kinds of bird jobs in New Zealand's wild places.

Gone in centuries. When Polynesians settled New Zealand, there were tens of thousands to millions of moa birds. But people hunted them so much that within a few hundred years, every single moa was gone forever.