Endangered New Zealand

 Indigenous 

The Dinornis Moa is a native animal this is because the Dinornis Moa was created in New Zealand it wasn't shipped or moved here.

Introduced

The only predators the Dinornis Moa had was the Haast's Eagle and the Maoris also ate the Dinornis's egg for food. The Dinornis's only predator was the Haast's Eagle until the Maoris hunted there eggs. The Maoris started hunting the Dinornis Moa when the Maoris first came to New Zealand as the Dinornis was living in New Zealand before the Maoris arrived.

Human Practices

The Maoris where the only humans who effected the extinction of the Dinornis Moa as they where the only humans around at that time. They effect the Dinornis Moa by eating there eggs as food, this was part of the reason that the Dinornis Moa started going extinct. Another reason the Dinornis Moa is extinct is because the Haast's Eagle preyed on it, but once the Dinornis Moa was extinct the Haast's Eagle died off as it had know more prey as the Dinornis Moa was extinct, this is also why the Haast's Eagle is now extinct. 

Evaluate

If the Dinornis Moa wasn't preyed on by the Haast's Eagle it would of lived for a while longer. 

Community

 

a)Habitat

The Dinornis Moa lived in the South Island of New Zealand, and its habitat was in the southern part of the South Island. They where mostly found in shrubland, duneland, grassland, and forests. Since the Dinornis Moa is a  herbivore they lived off mainly fruits, leafs and seeds. Since they had long necks and could reach 3 meters when the extended there neck they could reach the best fruit which is located at the top of the tree.

b) Environment

The Dinornis Moa is mostly found in the South Island in forests and grass lands where they can find food, fruits, seeds and leaves as the Dinornis Moa is a herbivore.

c) Competition

According to researches the Dinornis Moa didn't have many competition to find food as they only had one enemy,the
Haast's Eagle, but the Maoris did eat the Dinornis' Moas egg for food, this meant they could not complete the full cycle of the Moa  This made the Dinornis Moa population go done as the Maoris would steel there eggs and eat them. Even though they where protective of the eggs they still manged to steel the eggs.

d) Relationships With Other Organisms

The Dinornis Moa didn't have many relationships with any other organisms except the other Moas who lived in the same or a close habitat.

Evaluate

The reason why the Dinornis Moa is extinct is because the Maoris destroyed there habitat when trying to hunt them down for food. They Maoris also hunted the Moas eggs for food this is why the Dinornis Moa is extinct as well as all other Moas.

References:

 http://designeranimals.wikispaces.com/Ancient+Animal+Moa
http://www.nzbirds.com/birds/moagiant.html
http://www.newzealandfauna.com/moa.php
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-TreRace-t1-body-d10-d2.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moa

Adaptations

Key Adaptations:

 

1.

a) Structural

  

The largest Moa is the long-legged Moa Dinornis that has the longest and slender leg-bones with large and vaulted skulls. Moa have no wings and they were nicknamed “running birds” due to their long sturdy and large legs allowing them to quickly run and avoid predators.

Moa necks are facing forwards rather than upwards which is similar to kiwi, but their head can’t rise any higher than two meters.

b) behavioral

They have a distinguish low productivity and long growth periods taking at least ten years to grow into adulthood. Moa varied in size, some grow up to thirteen feet tall while some dominate the size of a turkey. Most male and female Moa guard their nests conservatively. A large female Moa weighs the same as a human man and its eggs is relatively huge contributing to the reason of the female’s size. The eggs were at least one and a half times larger than the male and three times heavier dominating most of the space inside the stomach leading to 'gestation' this is where the female is unable to move and eat. The eggs are a pale green color and were a favourite food of the Maori who had exterminated these animals. The large Dinornis species however need the same time to reach adult size as a small Moa species, due to accelerated rate of their bong growth during their young years.

c) physiological

Moa have soft tissues (muscles, skin, feathers) that can survive and preserve through dry conditions. Moa where usually seen in the South Island, but the Dinornis Moa was mostly seen in the North Island. The preserved stomach contents of the Dinornis Moa show that they snipped twigs off plants such as the daisy–bush, Olearia, and ate them. They also ate berries and leaves. Like many birds, they had to swallow stones to grind up the food in the gizzard. Stones polished smooth by being rubbed together in the gizzard are often found with Moa skeletons. They normally browsed on food about 2 meters off the ground. If they leaned back and stretched out their necks, they could pluck food as high up as 3 meters. The Dinornis Moa only laid one or two eggs at a time. Eggshell fragments have been found at many sites, including at prehistoric Maori settlements, where they had been cooked and eaten. Dinornis eggs measured 240 millimeters long and 178 millimeters wide.

2.   Analyse

All of these adaptions are describing how the Dinornis lives in its habitat and there physical well being. . If we knew these adaptations before the Dinornis Moa was extinct maybe we could of put them in an enclosure and helped them survive until there population is back, then set them free in there natural habitat. The reason why all Moas' are flightless birds are because they are to heavy and too tall to lift themselves off the ground therefore they find there food, such as plants and leafs, on the ground or high up in trees where they can reach.