Cortical growth marks reveal extended juvenile development in New Zealand moa

Samuel T. Turvey (), Owen R. Green and Richard N. Holdaway
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Samuel T. Turvey: University of Canterbury
Owen R. Green: University of Oxford
Richard N. Holdaway: University of Canterbury

Nature, 2005, vol. 435, issue 7044, 940-943

Abstract: Why moa are no more Ornithurines, the theropod group that includes all modern birds, are characterized by rapid growth rates. Most of their growing is done in less than a year. The recently extinct New Zealand moa, however, was different. Cyclical growth marks have been detected in the bones of museum specimens of the giant moa, Dinornis, consistent with much slower growth. It took them almost a decade to reach maturity, a factor that may have contributed to their demise in the face of hunting by early human colonists.

Date: 2005
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DOI: 10.1038/nature03635

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