North Island Giant Moa | |
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Restoration from 1907 | |
Conservation status | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Superorder: | Paleognathae |
Order: | Struthioniformes |
Family: | Dinornithidae |
Genus: | Dinornis |
Species: | Dinornis novaezealandiae (Owen 1843) |
Binomial name | |
D. novaezealandiae (Owen 1843)[1] |
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Synonyms | |
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The North Island Giant Moa (Dinornis novaezealandiae) is one of three extinct moa in the genus Dinornis. It is a ratite and a member of the Struthioniformes Order. The Struthioniformes 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 where they have been found.[3]
This particular moa lived on both the North Island and the South Island of New Zealand, and lived in the lowlands (shrublands, grasslands, dunelands, and forests).[3]