DNA suggests moa once flew
10 Feb, 2010
Source: Massey University
DNA analysis has revealed the moa may once have been able to fly.
Although the moa are extinct, it is possible to sequence their DNA from well preserved bones.
The research found the moa were close relatives of the tinamou, a breed of South American birds.
Both the moa and the tinamou belong to a group of birds known as ratites, which includes kiwi and other flightless birds such as the ostrich and emu.
Tinamou are the only members of the group that can fly, although very poorly.
“It now appears more likely that the ancestor of the moa flew or was blown to New Zealand via Antarctica before it froze over,” Professor David Penny of the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution says.
“There are well over 100 cases of birds becoming flightless on Pacific Islands because of the absence of mammal predators,” he explains.
“We did some more DNA sequencing from kiwi and also new analysis of the data set for the ratites,” PhD candidate Gillian Gibb says.
“The reanalysis shows that the ratites probably lost flight independently of each other, rather than the ancestor of all ratites being large and flightless, as traditionally thought. We’ve known for about 15 years that kiwi possibly flew to New Zealand, escaping from Australia, but no one realised that moa may have too.”
Earlier theories pointed to moa being established on the land that would become New Zealand as it broke away from Gondwana more than 80 million years ago.
Get News story: Moa dung shows birds evolved with plants they ate
