DNA gives up new clues to giant moa

AN extinct giant bird which once roamed New Zealand hillsides is being rebuilt, feather by feather, by Australian scientists.

AN extinct giant bird which once roamed New Zealand hillsides is being rebuilt, feather by feather, by Australian scientists.

Adelaide researchers are piecing together the plumage of the majestic moa, a flightless vegetarian that stood up to 2.5m tall and weighed 250kg.

The massive bird, which looks a little like an emu, dominated the ancient New Zealand landscape but was hunted to extinction after humans arrived around 1280 AD.

Using ancient feathers believed to be up to 2500 years old, DNA expert Nicolas Rawlence, of the University of Adelaide, pieced together the plumage to get the first pictures of what the moa looked like.

"Until now, the scientific community has not known what the 10 different species of moa looked like," Mr Rawlence said.

"By using ancient DNA we have been able to connect feathers to four different moa species."

So far they have worked out the appearance of the stout-legged moa, heavy-footed moa, upland moa and the South Island giant moa.

"The surprising thing is that while many of the species had a similar, relatively plain brown plumage for camouflage, some had white-tipped feathers to create a speckled appearance," Mr Rawlence said.

A co-author of the study, Dr Jamie Wood from Landcare Research, said it was likely the drab colouring was driven by selection to avoid predation by the extinct Haast's eagle, the largest and most powerful eagle in the world.

The work, published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, is expected to pave the way for other extinct bird species to be "clothed" using DNA analysis.