Scientists Use Ancient DNA Rebuilding Extinct Giant Moa Bird

Scientists have performed the first DNA based reconstruction of the giant extinct moa bird, using prehistoric feathers recovered from caves and rock shelters in New Zealand.

Landcare Research in New Zealand and University of Adelaide Researchers have identified four different moa species after retrieving ancient DNA from moa feathers believed at least 2500-yo.

The giant birds measuring up to 2.5 metres and weighing 250 kilograms were the dominant animals in New Zealand’s prehuman environment but were quickly exterminated after the arrival of the Maori around 1280AD.

University’s Australian Centre for Ancient DNA PhD Student Nicolas Rawlence says until now, the scientific community has not known what the 10 different species of moa looked like. ‘By using ancient DNA we have been able to connect feathers to four different moa species’.

The researchers compared the feathers to others found in the sediments from red-crowned parakeets that are still living today, determining they had not faded or changed in colour. They then reconstructed the appearance of the stout-legged moa, heavy-footed moa, upland moa and the South Island giant moa.

The research team demonstrated that it is possible to retrieve DNA from all parts of the ancient feathers, not just the tip of the quill, as previously thought.

Australian Centre for Ancient DNA’s Dr Kyle Armstrong says that ‘this important finding opens the way to study DNA from museum bird skins while causing almost no damage to these valuable specimens, just by clipping a small part of a single feather’.

ACAD Director Professor Alan Cooper says this finding suggests it may be possible to reconstruct the appearance of other extinct birds using feathers from fossil deposits.