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.