Sometimes I think I'm not dying fast enough

I have a nasty flue and a migraine.... Coughing makes my head want to explode, and I wouldn't mind the dizziness if only I could regulate my body temp... ice cold one second, sweating bullets the next. If I were a horse someone would have the good sense to put me down. I hate being sick. Can't last forever though... right?

Moa

The Moa bird was one of the last giant birds. It was a native of New Zealand and consisted of 11 sub species. They were the only species of birds that were truly wingless... lacking even vestigial wings that other large land birds have (ostrich, emu, cassowary, etc). They were a "running" bird, but they were very unique from their distant cousins.

For starters, New Zealand completely lacked mammals (with the exception of bats) until it was colonized by the Maori people. It also lacked reptiles with the exception of the skink and the gecko. This translated to having no land based natural predators. New Zealand (a very young land mass, as they go) was pretty much populated by birds only and was one massive rain forest. Now, thanks to human influence, it has more sheep than people. Seriously, it has around 13 times more sheep than people, and the forests have been clearcut to a large degree to make way for agricultural interests.

But I digress. The Moa birds were a giant flightless bird. They were unique in that their growth rate took several years to mature, and this was evident in rings in their bones, much the same as rings of trees. All other birds mature with in a year, as rapid maturity helped protect them from enemies and gave them an advantage for quicker procreation and therefore survival. Having no natural land predators gave Moa's the freedom to grow slower and to much larger size than all other birds (with the exception of the elephant bird of Madagascar, also extinct due to human over hunting). The elephant bird was of similar height, but much heavier.

The Moa's were the dominant herbivores and ruled both the north and south islands for hundreds of thousands of years. They reached sizes up to 13' tall and weighed up to 606.5 lb. The females were up to 1.5 times the size of males, and could get up to 3 times the weight of males. The eggs were 10" by 7". Very impressive.

The Moa's extinction is a direct result to the colonization of New Zealand. Having no natural land predators, and being quite large, they had no fear of humans. The Maori literally just walked up to them and killed them. Being an easy and strong food source had the Maori hunting the Moa extensively, and their slow maturity made their numbers drop exceedingly fast. They were completely wiped out in a matter of years.

There are still Moa sightings, but again most of that is just wishful thinking.