GabiPaleo @gabipaleo.bsky.social · 25/12/2024Kiwis were thought to be closely related to the extinct moa due to shared traits. However, DNA studies show they're closer to Madagascar's elephant birds, rather than to the moa, with which they shared New Zealand. 4/6 192
GabiPaleo @gabipaleo.bsky.social · 25/12/2024The kiwi's massive eggs were once thought to be a shared trait with its relatives, the elephant birds; which laid the largest eggs ever recorded. However, it's now thought to be an adaptation for precocity, allowing the chicks to hatch mobile with yolk to sustain them. 5/6 1103
GabiPaleo @gabipaleo.bsky.social · 25/12/2024Fossils of the extinct genus of kiwi - Proapteryx, suggest that their ancestors were capable of flight and lost this ability after reaching New Zealand. This also suggests that kiwis arrived in New Zealand independently and much later than the Moas, which were already there. 6/6 082
