Wednesday, August 4, 2010

.......MOA........ Flightless Bird Of New Zealand


The moa are flightless birds widespread to New Zealand. The two largest species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae. Height is about 3.7 m (12 ft) with neck outstretched Weight is about 230 kg (510 lb).

Diet:

It’s very difficult to find out the Feeding habits of moa and many scientists researched on it. Moa fed on a range of plant species and plant parts, including fibrous twigs and leaves taken from low trees and shrubs. Moa swallowed gizzard stones, which were retained in their muscular gizzards, with a grinding motion that allowed them to eat coarse plant material.

Breeding:


This bird is characterized by having low fecundity and a long maturation period. They will take approximately ten years to reach adult size. As a result had accelerated rate of skeletal growth during their juvenile years.

Eggs:

The eggs of Moa vary greatly in size from 120–240 millimeters to (4.7–9.4 in) in length and 91–178 millimeters (3.6–7.0 in) wide. The outer surface of moa eggshell is characterized by small slit-shaped pores. Most moa Eggs were white, although those of the upland moa were blue-green.

Vocalization:

It has different vocal sound. The trachea of moa were supported by many small rings of bone known as tracheal ring. They do have tracheal elongation, that is, their trachea were up to 1 meter (3 ft) long and formed a huge loop within the body cavity.

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