moa

Any of a group of extinct flightless kiwi-like birds, order Dinornithiformes, that lived in New Zealand. There were 19 species; they varied from 0.5 to 3.5 m/2 to 12 ft, with strong limbs, a long neck, and no wings. The largest species was Dinornis maximus. The last moa was killed in the 1800s.

The Maori killed them for food, and with the use of European firearms killed them in excessive numbers. In February 2001, UK and Spanish researchers succeeded in sequencing the mitochondrial DNA of a moa, the first time this had been done for an extinct species.