Moa Story

-Extinction of Moa birds

-Different sounds Moa makes

-Environment it lives in

-Texture of the skin, feathers

-Movement and behaviour 

Moa sounds:
The eastern moa was common in the eastern South Island. It was sufficiently distinct from other moa to be placed in its own genus. This species and the larger stout-legged moa were remarkable in having a very long elongated windpipe, which probably enabled them to make louder, more resonant calls than those of other moa. 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. Modern day swan, crane and some spoonbill species also have elongated windpipes, and this explains their resonant, bugling calls. Only male eastern moa appear to have had an elongated windpipe, and so their calls may have had a role in sexual selection and competition for mates.

Source: http://www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/eastern-moa

Other traits:

Wingless

Flightless moa were the only birds in the world to lack any vestige of a wing. They had a small bone called the scapulocoracoid, formed from the fused scapula and coracoid. The junction of these two bones is where the humerus of the wing would have been at an earlier stage in evolution.

Feathers

Moa had rough, furry feathers like a kiwi. The feathers lacked the barbules that usually link the filaments. Little is known about the colour, as feathers have been found only for upland moa. These are dark at the base, lightening to greyish-white at the tip.

Feet

Moa had three front-facing toes on each foot, and a small rear toe, often just a spur on the leg. This differs from all other large ratites, who lack a rear toe, and from ostriches, who have just two toes. The moa foot is also distinctive because the tarsus (the scaly part of the leg to which the toes are attached) was very short. In the heavy-footed moa, the breast feathers were barely off the ground.

Head and bill

Moa had small skulls. This is a trait of all ratites, but a 250-kilogram bird would have looked particularly odd with a skull just 23 centimetres long and 12.5 centimetres wide. Their skulls reveal relatively poor eyesight , a good sense of smell (enlarged olfactory region), and a very short bill. The bills of different species vary from robust, sharp and pointed to snip branches and flax, to weaker, rounded ones more suited to plucking soft leaves and fruit.