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Moa were nine species of now-extinct flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. The two largest species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae, reached about 3.6 m (12 ft) in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about 230 kg (510 lb) while the smallest, the bush moa, was around the size of a turkey. Estimates of the moa population when Polynesians settled New Zealand circa 1300 vary between 58,000 and approximately 2.5 million.
Haast's eagle is an extinct species of eagle that once lived in the South Island of New Zealand, commonly accepted to be the pouakai of Maori legend. It was the largest eagle known to have existed, with an estimated weight of 15 kilograms (33 lb), compared to the 9 kg (20 lb) harpy eagle. Its massive size is explained as an evolutionary response to the size of its prey, the flightless moa, the largest of which could weigh 230 kg (510 lb). Haast's eagle became extinct around 1400, following the arrival of the Māori.
The swamp harrier, also known as the Australasian marsh harrier, Australasian harrier or swamp-hawk, is a large, slim bird of prey widely distributed across Australasia. In New Zealand it is also known as the harrier hawk, hawk, or by the Māori name kāhu. Its arrival in New Zealand happened within the last 700 years, replacing its sister species, the larger extinct New Zealand endemic Eyles's harrier.
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The adzebills, genus Aptornis, were two closely related bird species, the North Island adzebill, Aptornis otidiformis, and the South Island adzebill, Aptornis defossor, of the extinct family Aptornithidae. The family was endemic to New Zealand. A fossil species, Aptornis proasciarostratus, is known from the Miocene Saint Bathans fauna.
The upland moa was a species of moa endemic to New Zealand. It was a ratite, a grouping of flightless birds with no keel on the sternum. It was the last moa species to become extinct, vanishing in 1445 CE, and was predominantly found in alpine and sub-alpine environments.
Kupe was the legendary Polynesian explorer, navigator and a great Rangatira of Hawaiki, who is said to have been the first human to discover Aotearoa New Zealand. Kupe features prominently in the mythology and oral history of some Māori iwi (tribes). Kupe is generally held to have been born to a father from Rarotonga and a mother from Raiatea, during the middle ages, and probably spoke a proto-Māori language similar to Cook Islands Māori or Tahitian. His voyage to New Zealand would ensure that the land would be known to the Polynesians, and was responsible therefore for the genesis of Māori civilisation. Various legends and histories describe Kupe's extensive involvement in the settlement of Aotearoa, around 1000-1300 CE, with many talking of his achievements, such as the hunting and destruction of the great octopus, Te Wheke-a-Muturangi. However, the details of his life differ from iwi to iwi. Whether Kupe existed historically is likely but difficult to confirm.
The giant moa (Dinornis) is an extinct genus of birds belonging to the moa family. As with other moa, it was a member of the order Dinornithiformes. It was endemic to New Zealand. Two species of Dinornis are considered valid, the North Island giant moa and the South Island giant moa. In addition, two further species have been suggested based on distinct DNA lineages.
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Eyles's harrier is an extinct bird of prey which lived in New Zealand. This species was named after Jim Eyles, paleontologist and former director of the Nelson Provincial Museum and the West Coast Museum. It was presumably somewhat similar to the living spotted harrier, its closest living relative, from which it diverged around 2.4 million years ago.
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The heavy-footed moa is a species of moa from the lesser moa family. The heavy-footed moa was widespread only in the South Island of New Zealand, and its habitat was the lowlands. The moa were ratites, flightless birds with a sternum without a keel. They also have a distinctive palate. The origin of these birds is becoming clearer as it is now believed that early ancestors of these birds were able to fly and flew to the southern areas in which they have been found.
The North Island giant moa is an extinct moa in the genus Dinornis.
The environment of New Zealand is characterised by an endemic flora and fauna which has evolved in near isolation from the rest of the world. The main islands of New Zealand span two biomes, temperate and subtropical ,complicated by large mountainous areas above the tree line. There are also numerous smaller islands which extend into the subantarctic. The prevailing weather systems bring significantly more rain to the west of the country. New Zealand's territorial waters cover a much larger area than its landmass and extend over the continental shelf and abyssal plateau in the South Pacific Ocean, Tasman Sea and Southern ocean.
The broad-billed, stout-legged moa or coastal moa is an extinct species of moa. These moa lived in both the North and the South Islands of New Zealand, and on Stewart Island. Its habitat was in the lowlands. It was a ratite and a member of the lesser moa family. The ratites are flightless birds with a sternum without a keel. They also have a distinctive palate. The origin of these birds is becoming clearer as it is now believed that early ancestors of these birds were able to fly and flew to the southern areas that they have been found in.
The Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand. Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350. Over several centuries in isolation, these settlers developed their own distinctive culture, whose language, mythology, crafts, and performing arts evolved independently from those of other eastern Polynesian cultures. Some early Māori moved to the Chatham Islands, where their descendants became New Zealand's other indigenous Polynesian ethnic group, the Moriori.
New Zealand's archaeology started in the early 1800s and was largely conducted by amateurs with little regard for meticulous study. However, starting slowly in the 1870s detailed research answered questions about human culture, that have international relevance and wide public interest. Archaeology has, along with oral traditions, defined New Zealand's prehistory and protohistory and has been a valuable aid in solving some later historical problems. Academically New Zealand's human prehistory is broadly divided into Archaic after c. 1300 AD and Classic after c. 1500 AD periods, based on Māori culture. Eurasian labels do not perfectly fit as some level of horticulture was always present in northern New Zealand, even existing at the same time as megafauna. More simply it can also be divided into time periods of pre and post European contact. Large poorly documented sections of New Zealand's more recent history have also been supplemented by archaeological research, such as at old battle sites or early urban centres.
The history of the Māori began with the arrival of Polynesian settlers in New Zealand, in a series of ocean migrations in canoes starting from the late 13th or early 14th centuries. Over several centuries of isolation, the Polynesian settlers formed a distinct culture that became known as the Māori.
References
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- ↑ "Richard N Holdaway". Google Scholar. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
- ↑ Gsell, Anna Clarissa (May 2012). "The ecology and anatomy of scent in the critically endangered kakapo (Strigops habroptilus)" (PDF). Semantics Scholar. S2CID 80672854.
- ↑ Southern Bird No. 18 June 2004 Outstanding contributions to Australasian ornithology.
- ↑ "Awards - List of Recipients" (PDF). Birds New Zealand. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
- ↑ Allentoft, Morten E.; Oskam, Charlotte; Houston, Jayne; Hale, Marie L.; Gilbert, M. Thomas P; Rasmussen, Morten; Spencer, Peter; Jacomb, Christopher; Willerslev, Eske; Holdaway, Richard N. & Bunce, Michael (January 31, 2011). "Profiling the Dead: Generating Microsatellite Data from Fossil Bones of Extinct Megafauna—Protocols, Problems, and Prospects". PLOS ONE. 6 (1): e16670. Bibcode:2011PLoSO...616670A. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016670 . PMC 3031614 . PMID 21304955.
- ↑ "Professor Richard N Holdaway". Palaecol Research.
- ↑ "Study shows that the Moa was killed off by settlers". The New Zealand Herald. 8 November 2014. ISSN 1170-0777 . Retrieved 9 September 2019.
- ↑ "New Zealand's moa were exterminated by an extremely low-density human population". University of Otago. 10 November 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
- ↑ Holdaway, R. N.; Worthy, T.H. & Tennyson, A. J. D. (2001). "A working list of breeding bird species of the New Zealand region at first human contact". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 28 (2): 119–187. doi: 10.1080/03014223.2001.9518262 .
- ↑ Holdaway, Richard N.; Allentoft, Morten E.; Jacomb, Christopher; Oskam, Charlotte L.; Beavan, Nancy R. & Bunce, Michael (7 November 2014). "An extremely low-density human population exterminated New Zealand moa". Nature Communications. 5: 5436. Bibcode:2014NatCo...5.5436H. doi: 10.1038/ncomms6436 . ISSN 2041-1723. PMID 25378020.
- ↑ Horton, Travis W.; Holdaway, Richard N.; Zerbini, Alexandre N.; Hauser, Nan; Garrigue, Claire; Andriolo, Artur & Clapham, Phillip J. (23 October 2011). "Straight as an arrow: humpback whales swim constant course tracks during long-distance migration". Biology Letters. 7 (5): 674–679. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2011.0279. PMC 3169072 . PMID 21508023.
- ↑ "New Zealand's moa were exterminated by an extremely low-density human population". ScienceDaily. 7 November 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
