North Island giant moa

[4] Even though it might have walked with a lowered posture, standing upright, it would have been the tallest bird ever to exist, with a height estimated up to 3.6 metres (12 ft).[8]: 76 The North Island brown kiwi, that does not reach adult body mass until 12 months, is viewed as a more appropriate developmental analog for the Dinornis due to the similarities that have been drawn between the time taken to reach complete maturity of hindlimbs (5 years), as well as the time upon which tarsals commence fusion with adjacent long bones (4 years).[15]: 8261 Further speculation suggests that in order to ferment their plant diet in accordance with their large body size, moa such as D. novaezealandiae may have evolved to have long intestines.[14]: 2 Moa have been found to filiramulate growth habit in plants such as divarication, heteroblasty, deciduousness, spines or spine like structures (enlarged stinging hairs), leaf loss and photosynthetic stems, mimicry and reduced visual apparency, tough and fibrous leaves, distasteful compounds and low nutrient status.[14]: 15 The deep, longstanding interconnectedness between plants and moa means that the consequences of the extinction of the Dinornis novaezealandiae may still be largely unknown.It was observed in the Poukawa region that these would often lead to freshwater springs and the bottom of rocky cliffs; where they would tend to nest and roost.[16]: 46 Once this observation was made these paths became particularly useful for humans when searching for fresh water sources and were continued to be used for these purposes long after the moa's extinction.[7] There is a single, largely intact egg (197 x 151 mm) attributed to this species, from a rock shelter in the Mangawhitikau Valley, Waitomo.This is because the moa was used as a metaphor for the Māori people to express fears of their own extinction that developed; as illness, disease and deforestation, by European settlers, posed severe threat to their survival.[21]: 131–134 Though human settlement and hunting activities played the most significant role, there are some factors that may have inhibited Dinornis novaezealandiae abilities to reproduce at the rate that they were being culled, such as the introduction of Polynesian dogs.