A reconstruction of a female coastal moa (Euryapteryx curtus), also called the broad-billed or stout-legged moa, built for the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in 2006. [x]
Adult females of this species could be over twice the size of adult males. Individuals from the southern part of the country were larger and more robust than those from the north.
This moa species also had an elongated windpipe similar to some modern-day swans and cranes, suggesting it could make loud, resonating calls: “The windpipe included a loop up to one metre long that ran downwards inside the left side of the body, and across to the other side before it doubled back on itself to the breast and into the lungs.” [x]
I know it isn’t a horrible, bloodcurdling scream or screech or wail, but that sound is fucking TERRIFYING. It reminds me of the synthesized T rex noise with infrasound. Imagine hearing that IRL and knowing it’s coming from this prehistoric-ass fuckin devil muppet.
Now I’m gonna REALLY ruin your day (or improve it, if you’re like me and love terrifying wildlife).
This gal, sixth to the right, was not the biggest these bad babes got. How about 12 feet and 550 pounds?
Can you IMAGINE the unholy noises the big ones made? You’d feel it in your BONES.
a fun fact! c: Moa were prey for the haast’s eagle, the largest known eagle. Which sounds SUPER impressive until you realize that these guys topped out at like 30-ish pounds (15 kg). Its wingspan was still pretty impressive, around 10 feet (3 meters), aka wider than a average human being is tall.
And then you remember that a thirty pound raptor was still capable of taking down potentially 500 pound (230 kg) prey. Its believed that they did this by essentially divebombing moa, seizing their skull in their talons, and piercing the skull. This is backed up by the Maori oral history and studies done on the fossils of moa and haast’s eagles. It’s also possible that their heads were bald or at least less feathered than their bodies. They share a lot of morphological similarities with vultures and eagles.
Maori oral history also indicates that the eagles may have preyed on human children as well.
(note that the painting is an inaccurate depiction of moa; at the time, it was believed they held their heads up in a swan-like posture. Now it’s thought that they held them more like kiwis do)
