Located above Kiwi Pass and at the southern end of Kent Plateau, it was named after an extinct and flightless bird species in New Zealand, the moa ( " Dinornis gigantea " ).
12.
The large " Dinornis " species took the same length of time to reach adult size as small moa species, and as a result had an accelerated rate of skeletal growth during their juvenile years.
13.
Moreover, sex-specific DNA recovered from the outer surfaces of eggshells belonging to species of " Dinornis " and " Euryapteryx " suggest that these very thin eggs were likely to have been incubated by the lighter males.
14.
At least three other genera ( " Dinornis ", a mastodon, and " Glyptodon " ) were planned, and Hawkins began to build at least the mastodon before the Crystal Palace Company cut his funding in 1855.
15.
Models of the " fearfully great bird " " Dinornis " of New Zealand ( extinct by 1500 AD ), and of the extinct elephant-like " Mastodon " ( Deinotherium ) of the Miocene and Pliocene of America, were planned for the'Tertiary Islands'but not completed.
16.
Therefore, the three species of " Dinornis " were reclassified as two species, one each formerly occurring on New Zealand's North Island ( " D . novaezealandiae " ) and South Island ( " D . robustus " ); " D . robustus " however, comprises three distinct genetic lineages and may eventually be classified as many species, as discussed above.
17.
A 2010 study by Huynen et al . has found that the eggs of certain species were fragile, only around a millimeter in thickness : " Unexpectedly, several thin-shelled eggs were also shown to belong to the heaviest moa of the genera " Dinornis ", " Euryapteryx ", and " Emeus ", making these, to our knowledge, the most fragile of all avian eggs measured to date.
18.
One factor that has caused much confusion in moa taxonomy is the intraspecific variation of bone sizes, between glacial and inter-glacial periods ( see Bergmann s rule and Allen s rule ) as well as sexual dimorphism being evident in several species . " Dinornis " seems to have had the most pronounced sexual dimorphism, with females being up to 150 % as tall and 280 % as heavy as males & mdash; so much bigger that they were formerly classified as separate species until 2003.
19.
When the first specimens were originally described by Richard Owen, they were placed within the genus " Dinornis " as three different species, but, was later split off into their own genus, " Emeus " . " E . crassus " is currently the only species of " Emeus ", as the other two species, " E . casuarinus " and " E . huttonii " are now regarded as synonyms of " E . crassus ".
20.
The documentary was filmed at the Natural History Museum, London, and uses CGI imagery to bring to life several of the extinct animal skeletons in the museum, including " Archaeopteryx ", the Moa Ratite bird ( " Dinornis " ) and Haast's eagle ( " Harpagornis moorei "; lit . " grappling hook bird " ), " Gigantopithecus " ( presented as more human than ponginae ), " Glossotherium ", " Ichthyosaurus " and Dippy, a replica of a famous " Diplodocus " skeleton.
