Hello, everyone, and thank you for your patience while I moved back to the US! In this episode I cover the extinction of the moa. While we think of the moa as a giant bird-and rightly so- it is imperative to realize that there were actually 9 species of moa living on New Zealand when humans first arrived to the islands. What happened that could have brought an entire family down? Find out in this episode!

Editing for this episode was provided by Kalie Shaw. For more information about editing, you can contact her at [email protected]. 

Kalie's Demo Reel and Credited Editor Roles

Sources: 

Books: Quest Aotearoa by John Tasker

http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-TreRace.html

Moa Browsing Evidence:

https://newzealandecology.org/nzje/1861.pdf

Baby Moa Growth Rates:

https://theplosblog.plos.org/2014/06/baby-moa-bones/

Wood et al 2008:

https://tinyurl.com/y522kwl6

Allentoft et al 2014:

https://www.pnas.org/content/111/13/4922

Huynen et al 2014:

https://tinyurl.com/y536dkds

Other sources:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091118092633.htm

https://www.nzbirds.com/birds/moagiant.html

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-color-was-that-moa-13810770/

The cover art for the episode is a recreation of Megalapteryx (Upland Moa) by George Edward Lodge in 1907. Photo via Wikimedia.