Giant prehistoric bird gets ‘clothed’

Scientists from Australia and New Zealand have completed the first DNA-based reconstruction of the giant extinct moa bird.

Four different species of moa have been uncovered after analysis of prehistoric feathers, thought to be at least 2500 years old, which were recovered from caves in New Zealand.

The giant moa birds had wing spans of up to 2.5m and could weigh in at 250kg. They were the dominant herbivores in New Zealand forests and shrub land until they quickly became extinct after the Maori arrived in around 1280AD and began to hunt them.   

Analysis of the feathers revealed what four out of the ten known species of Moa actually looked like. The research group have reconstructed the features of the stout-legged moa, heavy-footed moa, upland moa and South Island giant moa.

The researchers, from the University of Adelaide and Landcare Research, compared the feathers to others found in the sediments from red-crowned parakeets that are still living today, determining they had not faded or changed in colour. Co-author of the group’s recent paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B, Dr Jamie Wood said: “It is likely that the drab colouring was driving by selection to avoid predation by the extinct Haast’s eagle, the largest and most powerful eagle in the world.”

Their research has also revealed that DNA reconstruction is not just the tip of the feather – it is possible to retrieve DNA material from all parts of the feather not just the end as was previously thought. Dr Kyle from the University of Adelaide said: “This important finding opens the way to study DNA from museum bird skins while causing almost no damage to these valuable specimens, just by clipping a small part of a single feather.”

Professor Cooper, also from Adelaide, said: “There are so many enigmatic extinct species it would be great to see ‘clothed’.”

By Leila Sattary