Giant moa

Like the ratites, the moas belong to the primitive group of paleognath birds. In the past, they were found across all of New Zealand. Unable to fly, they were an easy prey for the Maori, the first human settlers to arrive on the two islands in the 13th century. When the British explorer James Cook set foot on New Zealand for the first time in 1769, the moas had already been extirpated through intensive hunting by the native inhabitants.