Using DNA to reveal extinct moas 2 July 2009
Posted by eatmorecookies in Endangered Species Act, IUCN, Links, bird evolution, birding, birds/nature, deforestation, editorial, environment, evolution, history, paleontology, skepticism and science, tuatara, wildlife.trackback
It’s only been a few hundred years since Maori settlers in New Zealand hunted moas and other birds to extinction, but that was still too long ago for any photographs or paintings of the birds to have been preserved. Now scientists have extracted DNA from feathers in caves and matched those feathers to DNA obtained from skeletal remains from 4 of the 10 species of extinct moas. The result? Predictably, the moas were clothed in drab colors, but at least one of the species would most likely have appeared to be speckled, owing to white tips on its feathers.
wow who would have known that a little thing likea kiwi came from the great moa