"the kokako, black robin, Mariana crow, and the Hawaiian duck. Humans have exploited birds for a very long time, and sometimes this exploitation has resulted in extinction. Overhunting occurred in some instances with a naive species unfamiliar with humans, such as the moa of New Zealand, in other cases it was an industrial level of hunting that led to extinction. The passenger pigeon was once the most numerous species of bird alive (possibly ever), overhunting reduced a species that once numbered in the billions to extinction. Hunting pressure can be for food, sport, feathers, or even come from scientists collecting"
"Haast's eagle The Haast's eagle (""Hieraaetus moorei"") 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. The species was the largest eagle known to have existed. Its massive size is explained as an evolutionary response to the size of its prey, the flightless moa, the largest of which could weigh . Haast's eagle became extinct around 1400, after the moa were hunted to extinction by the first Māori. Haast's eagle was first described by Julius von Haast in 1871 from remains discovered by F."
"Poukai In Māori mythology, the pouakai or poukai is a monstrous bird. In some of these legends pouakai kill and eat humans. The myth may refer to the real but now extinct Haast's eagle: the largest known eagle species, which was able to kill adult moa weighing up to , and which had the capability to kill a small child. Haast's eagles, which only lived in the eastern and northwestern South Island of New Zealand, did not become extinct until around two hundred years after the arrival of Māori. Pouakai are depicted in early rock-shelter paintings in South Canterbury. Large"
"amounts of the eagle's lowland habitat had been destroyed by burning by A.D. 1350, and it was driven extinct by overhunting, both directly (Haast's eagle bones have been found in Māori archaeological sites) and indirectly: its main prey species, nine species of moa and other large birds such as adzebills, flightless ducks, and flightless geese, were hunted to extinction at the same time. Poukai In Māori mythology, the pouakai or poukai is a monstrous bird. In some of these legends pouakai kill and eat humans. The myth may refer to the real but now extinct Haast's eagle: the largest known"
"spotted kiwi, at and . At least nine species of moa lived in New Zealand before the arrival of humans, ranging from turkey-sized to the giant moa ""Dinornis giganteus"" with a height of and weighing about . They became extinct by A.D. 1400 due to hunting by Māori settlers, who arrived around A.D. 1280. ""Aepyornis maximus"", the ""elephant bird"" of Madagascar, was the heaviest bird ever known. Although shorter than the tallest moa, a large ""A. maximus"" could weigh over and stand up to tall. Accompanying it were three other species of ""Aepyornis"" as well as three species of the"
"306 takahē. South Island takahē The takahē (""Porphyrio hochstetteri""), also known as the South Island takahē or notornis, is a flightless bird indigenous to New Zealand, and the largest living member of the rail family. First encountered by Europeans in 1847, just four specimens were collected in the 19th century. After the final bird was captured in 1898, and no more were to be found, the species was presumed extinct. Fifty years later, however, after a carefully planned search, takahē were dramatically rediscovered in 1948 by Geoffrey Orbell in an isolated valley in the South Island's Murchison Mountains. The species"
"Dinornis The giant moa (""Dinornis"") is an extinct genus of birds belonging to the moa family. Like all Moas it was a member of the order Dinornithiformes. It was endemic to New Zealand. Two species of ""Dinornis"" are considered valid, ""Dinornis novaezealandiae"" of the North Island, and ""Dinornis robustus"" of the South. In addition, two further species (new lineage A and lineage B) have been suggested based on distinct DNA lineages. ""Dinornis"" may have been the tallest bird that ever lived, with the females of the largest species standing tall, and one of the most massive, weighing or in various"
"Hakawai Hakawai, also Hokioi in the North Island, was to the New Zealand Māori people, a mythological bird that was sometimes heard but not usually seen. It is now associated with the nocturnal aerial displays made by ""Coenocorypha"" snipe. In Māori mythology the Hakawai was one of eleven tapu or sacred birds of Raka Maomao, the god of the winds. The Hakawai lived in the heavens and only descended to the earth at night. It was considered to be a gigantic bird of prey and was described (as the Hokioi) by a Ngāti Apa chief, to the Governor of New"
"Great Maui crake The great Maui rail or great Maui crake (""Porzana severnsi"") is an extinct bird species from Maui, one of two flightless rails which survived on Maui until people arrived in 150 C.E. It was the larger of two species of rail found on the island of Maui, Hawaii. Several specimens of this bird were found in early settlements. It was tall. Its beak was inch long; its neck was inches long. It was probably brown and grey and black like its recently extinct relatives the Hawaiian rail and Laysan rail. It was flightless due to its small"
"Tāne Mahuta Tāne Mahuta is a giant kauri tree (""Agathis australis"") in the Waipoua Forest of Northland Region, New Zealand. Its age is unknown but is estimated to be between 1,250 and 2,500 years. It is the largest kauri known to stand today. It is named for the Māori god of forests and of birds (see Tāne). The tree is a remnant of the ancient subtropical rainforest that once grew on the North Auckland Peninsula. Other giant kauri are found nearby, notably Te Matua Ngahere. Tāne Mahuta is the most famous tree in New Zealand, along with Te Matua Ngahere."
"Great O‘ahu crake The Great Oahu crake or Great Oahu rail (""Porzana ralphorum"") is an extinct bird species that was endemic to the island of Oahu in Hawaii. It was one of two flightless rails that had survived on the island until the arrival of people in 200 C.E. It was the larger of two species of rail found on the island of Oahu. There were several specimens of this bird found in early settlements. It was tall, had a beak, and a neck long. Its wings were on average less than long, making it flightless. The Great Oahu crake"
"South Island takahē The takahē (""Porphyrio hochstetteri""), also known as the South Island takahē or notornis, is a flightless bird indigenous to New Zealand, and the largest living member of the rail family. First encountered by Europeans in 1847, just four specimens were collected in the 19th century. After the final bird was captured in 1898, and no more were to be found, the species was presumed extinct. Fifty years later, however, after a carefully planned search, takahē were dramatically rediscovered in 1948 by Geoffrey Orbell in an isolated valley in the South Island's Murchison Mountains. The species is now"
"Bushwren The bushwren (""Xenicus longipes""), bush wren, or mātuhituhi in Maori, was a very small and almost flightless bird that was endemic to New Zealand. It grew to about 9 cm long and 16 g in weight. It fed mostly on invertebrates which it captured by running along the branches of trees. It nested on or near the ground. It became extinct in 1972 by feral cats. It was widespread throughout the main islands of the country until the late 19th century when mustelids were introduced and joined rats as invasive mammalian predators. The only authenticated reports of the North"
"encountered and exterminated the elephant birds of Madagascar, and the Maori did likewise to the moa of New Zealand. The giant ratites of Madagascar and New Zealand had evolved with little or no exposure to mammalian predators, and were unable to cope with predation by humans; many other oceanic species met the same fate (as apparently had the Australian dromornithids earlier). Worldwide, most giant birds became extinct by the end of the 18th century and most surviving species are now endangered. However, the co-existence between elephant birds and human beings appears to have been longer than previously thought. Today, ratites"
"arrival of the Māori in New Zealand is given as around 1300 CE, and evidence suggests that Polynesian rats seemed to have arrived at a similar date. Their arrival set off a first wave of extinctions, eliminating smaller defenceless ground nesting birds such as the New Zealand owlet-nightjar. A second wave of extinctions was triggered by the arrival of the Māori, who hunted many of the larger species, such as the moa, adzebill and several large ducks and geese, for food. The ""Harpagornis"" and Eyles's harrier are thought to have gone extinct due to the loss of their food source."
"Viti Levu giant pigeon The Viti Levu giant pigeon (""Natunaornis gigoura"") is an extinct flightless pigeon of Viti Levu, the largest island in Fiji. It was only slightly smaller than the dodo (""Raphus cucullatus"") and Rodrigues solitaire (""Pezophaps solitaria"") and is the first giant, flightless pigeon to be discovered on a Pacific island. Remains of this species were discovered in Quaternary (probably Holocene) deposits in October 1998. Its first description was published in 2001. The holotype is in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. The generic name """"Natunaornis"""" is named after Natuna, the oldest chief"
"New Zealand falcon The New Zealand falcon or kārearea in Māori (""Falco novaeseelandiae"") is New Zealand's only falcon. Other common names for the bird are bush hawk and sparrow hawk. It is frequently mistaken for the larger and more common swamp harrier. It is the country’s most threatened bird of prey, with only around 3000–5000 breeding pairs remaining. A member of the bird family Falconidae, the New Zealand falcon is mainly found in heavy bush and the steep high country in the South Island, and is rarely seen north of a line through the central area of the North Island."
"energy to produce the massive egg. Great spotted kiwi The great spotted kiwi, great grey kiwi, or roroa (""Apteryx haastii"") is a species of kiwi endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. The great spotted kiwi, as a member of the ratites, is flightless. It is the largest of the kiwi. The rugged topography and harsh climate of the high altitude, alpine, part of its habitat render it inhospitable to a number of introduced mammalian predators, which include dogs, ferrets, cats and stoats. Because of this, populations of this species have been less seriously affected by the predations of"
"and ate them; but they may have been Eyles' harriers. Some believe that these birds are described in many legends of the Māori, under the names ""Pouakai"", ""Hokioi"", or ""Hakawai"". According to an account given to Sir George Grey, an early governor of New Zealand, Hokioi were huge black-and-white predators with a red crest and yellow-green tinged wingtips. In some Māori legends, Pouakai kill humans, which scientists believe could have been possible if the name relates to the eagle, given the massive size and strength of the bird. Even smaller golden eagles are capable of killing prey as big as"
"Greater ʻamakihi The greater ʻamakihi (""Viridonia sagittirostris"") was a species of Hawaiian honeycreeper in the Carduelinae subfamily of the Fringillidae family. It was endemic to the Island of Hawaii. The species was last recorded in 1901 and is now considered extinct. The greater ʻamakihi, also known as the green solitaire while it was extant, was the largest recent ʻamakihi. It was a brownish winged bird with a yellow body ending with a notched tail, and a whitish pointed beak. It was six inches long and it had blackish brown legs. (At least one naturalist of the era, however, noted, ""The"
"relocating all the birds they could capture. They caught six birds and transferred them to Kaimohu Island where they did not survive and died in 1972. Bushwren The bushwren (""Xenicus longipes""), bush wren, or mātuhituhi in Maori, was a very small and almost flightless bird that was endemic to New Zealand. It grew to about 9 cm long and 16 g in weight. It fed mostly on invertebrates which it captured by running along the branches of trees. It nested on or near the ground. It became extinct in 1972 by feral cats. It was widespread throughout the main islands"
"Noble megapode The noble megapode (""Megavitiornis altirostris""), also known as the deep-billed megapode, is an extinct, flightless, giant stem-galliform bird that was endemic to Fiji. Originally thought to be a megapode, more recent morphological studies indicate a close relationship with ""Sylviornis"", in a clade outside of the Galliformes crown group. It is likely that it became extinct through overhunting shortly after the colonisation of the Fiji Islands by humans. The genus is monotypic, with the generic name ""Megavitiornis"" derived from the Greek ""mega"" (great), ""viti"" (Fiji), and ""ornis"" (bird). The specific epithet ""altirostris"" comes from Latin ""altus"" (high or noble),"
"fifteenth century, although some models suggest extinction had already taken place by the middle of the 14th century. Although some birds became extinct due to farming, for which the forests were cut and burned down and the ground was turned into arable land, the giant moa had been extinct for 300 years prior to the arrival of European settlers. Dinornis The giant moa (""Dinornis"") is an extinct genus of birds belonging to the moa family. Like all Moas it was a member of the order Dinornithiformes. It was endemic to New Zealand. Two species of ""Dinornis"" are considered valid, ""Dinornis"
"Great spotted kiwi The great spotted kiwi, great grey kiwi, or roroa (""Apteryx haastii"") is a species of kiwi endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. The great spotted kiwi, as a member of the ratites, is flightless. It is the largest of the kiwi. The rugged topography and harsh climate of the high altitude, alpine, part of its habitat render it inhospitable to a number of introduced mammalian predators, which include dogs, ferrets, cats and stoats. Because of this, populations of this species have been less seriously affected by the predations of these invasive species compared to other"
"may have been brought to Kublai Khan under the guise of roc's feathers. Some recent scholars have compared the legendary roc with the Haast's eagle, of New Zealand. long with a wingspan, it became extinct around the 15th century, but probably inspired the Māori legend of ""Te Hokioi"" or ""Te Hakawai"". This was said to be a colorful huge bird which (in some versions of the legend) had occasionally descended to Earth to carry off humans to eat, but generally lived in the clouds unseen. Only its cry, after which it was named, could be heard. Indeed, the ""hokioi"" seems"
"A poem about moa, ""The Skeleton of the Great Moa in the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch"" by Allen Curnow, was released by The 1979 Anthology of New Zealand Poetry. General: Moa Moa were nine species (in six genera) of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. The two largest species, ""Dinornis robustus"" and ""Dinornis novaezelandiae"", reached about in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about . It is estimated that, when Polynesians settled New Zealand circa 1280, the moa population was about 58,000. Moa belong to the order Dinornithiformes, traditionally placed in the ratite group. However, their closest relatives have been found"
"the giant moa (""Dinornis maximus""), part of the moa family of New Zealand that went extinct around 1500 AD. This particular species of moa stood up to tall, but weighed about half as much as a large elephant bird or mihirung due to its comparatively slender frame. The heaviest bird ever capable of flight was ""Argentavis magnificens"", the largest member of the now extinct family Teratornithidae, found in Miocene-aged fossil beds of Argentina, with a wingspan up to , a length of up to , a height on the ground of up to and a body weight of at least"
"Genyornis Genyornis newtoni was a large, flightless bird that lived in Australia. Over two metres in height, they were likely either omnivorous or herbivorous. They became extinct 30±5 thousand years ago. Many other species became extinct in Australia around that time, coinciding with the arrival of humans. Their closest living relatives are fowl. Two main theories propose a cause for megafauna extinction - human impact and climate change. A study has been performed in which more than 700 ""Genyornis"" eggshell fragments were dated. Through this, it was determined that ""Genyornis"" declined and became extinct over a short period—too short for"
"New Zealand and was in fact the lost ""kawekaweau"", a giant and mysterious forest lizard of Maori oral tradition. This animal's specific epithet, ""delcourti"", is taken from the surname of French museum worker Alain Delcourt, who discovered the forgotten specimen in the basement of the Natural History Museum of Marseille. Hoplodactylus delcourti Hoplodactylus delcourti, also commonly known as kawekaweau, Delcourt's sticky-toed gecko or Delcourt's giant gecko, is an extinct species of lizard, the largest known of all geckos with a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of and an overall length (including tail) of at least . It was perhaps endemic to New"
"most pronounced sexual dimorphism of all moa, with females being up to 150% as tall and 280% as heavy as males. The cladogram below follows a 2009 analysis by Bunce ""et al."": Prior to the arrival of humans, the giant moa had an ecologically stable population in New Zealand for at least 40,000 years. The giant moa, along with other moa genera, were wiped out by Polynesian settlers, who hunted it for food. All taxa in this genus were extinct by 1500 in New Zealand. It is generally accepted that the Māori still hunted them at the beginning of the"
"North Island giant moa The North Island giant moa (""Dinornis novaezealandiae"") is one of two extinct moa in the genus ""Dinornis"". It is a ratite and a member of the order Dinornithiformes. The Dinorthiformes are flightless birds with a sternum but 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. This moa lived on the North Island of New Zealand, and lived in the lowlands (shrublands,"
"The Maori people would have adverse impacts, hunting the flightless moa to extinction and clearing large swathes of forests, both to make way for settlements and to light fires in order to more easily hunt birds. Approximately half the native forests of New Zealand were destroyed within the first several hundred years. Without their primary foodsource (the moa) Haast's Eagle would go extinct sometime in the 15th century. Most devastating to the local bird populations, the Maori people introduced the Polynesian Rat to New Zealand. Most likely, the rats were brought as a food source by the Maori settlers, but"
"environment for threatened bird species such as the mōhua (yellowhead) and tieke (saddleback). Many other native bird species can be found on the island, including kārearea (New Zealand falcon), kākā, kea, and kiwi. Resolution Island (New Zealand) Resolution Island or Tau Moana (Māori) is the largest island in the Fiordland region of southwest New Zealand, covering a total of . It is the country's seventh largest island, and the second largest uninhabited island. Resolution Island is separated from the mainland of the South Island by Dusky Sound and Breaksea Sound. The island is part of the Fiordland National Park. The"