Digital News Report – An Extinct bird of New Zealand called the Moa had the DNA recovered of this giant bird that have been extinct for around 500 years. Scientists from the University of Adelaide have completed the genetic history of the moa. Another recent find of an extinct moa was discovered recently in the North Shore of Auckland and was believed to be around 500 years old and in excellent condition.
The moa bird remains over time have been believed ranging from 500 years old to up to 25 million years old depending on the discovery. The moa is a giant flightless bird. The researchers have sequence DNA from hundred of bird species from nine species of moa that were found in swamps and caves around New Zealand. The researchers say that the birds weighed up to 250 kg or around 551 pounds. They became extinct shortly after the Maori, an indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand, who arrived around 1280 AD.
By taking traces of the DNA from moa bones, mummies and coprolites, the scientists were able to come up with a detailed evolutionary time frame for this ancient bird species. It may help the scientists to understand how the moa evolved over time and how the environment may have played a role.