Mantell’s Moa was a stoutly built but relatively small bird. It was about 30 kilograms in weight and preferred forest edges and wetlands and was widespread in the North Island and the dominant species on the east coast.
Worthy and Holdaway identify the egg and chick in the lower illustration as as a species of Pachyornis. It was found in Central Otago.
| Taxonomy | |
|---|---|
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Dinornithiformes |
| Family: | Anomalopteryginae |
| Genera: | Pachyornis |
| Species: | geranoides |
| Sub Species: |
Other common names: —
P. mappini, Mappin’s Moa.
Description: —
Extinct bird
1.3 m., 30 kg.
Poetry: —
No moa, no moa
In old Ao–tea–roa.
Can’t get ’em.
They’ve et ’em;
They’ve gone and there aint no moa!
Illustration description: —
Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, Volume 4, 1871.
Reference(s): —
Oliver, W.R.B. New Zealand Birds, 1955.
Worthy, Trevor H., & Holdaway, Richard N., The Lost World of the Moa, 2002.
Page date & version: —
Thursday, 21 October, 2010; ver2009v1