The evolutionary reason for the massive difference in size between male and female giant moa -- the extinct giant birds of New Zealand -- has been revealed for the first time.

There were 10 different moa species, ranging from turkey-size up to the giant Dinornis robustus, whose females weighed 530 pounds (240 kilograms) and stood 6 feet tall (2 meters) at the shoulder ...

Its prey included the moa — a group of flightless birds that stood taller than a basketball player and weighed as much as 440 pounds (200 kg). Though the eagle was a fraction of the moa’s size ...

the big new-zealand bird; remains that exist of the giant moa. studies that have been made-- collections formed--belief that the bird may still exist. share full article. oct. 13, 1889.

A Haast’s eagle attacks a moa pair. John Megahan, PLOS Biology, 3(1): e20 via Wikipedia under CC By 2.5 Evolution has a fondness for big birds. During the past 66 million years, repeated on ...

Their eggs were 150 times the size of a chicken egg. The tallest bird to ever exist was the extinct South Island giant moa, native to New Zealand. Female giant moas could reach nearly 12 feet tall .

The bush moa also served as a food base for other species in New Zealand, such as the giant eagle, once the largest bird of prey in the world, which also went extinct, Edwards added.

DNA analysis reveals the big, flightless moa birds ate — and pooped out — 13 kinds of fungi, including ones crucial for New Zealand’s forest ecosystem.

The little bush moa was once one of the biggest birds in the world—about the size of a modern turkey, they went extinct shortly after the arrival of human settlers in New Zealand.