With some species reaching a massive 4 metres tall, the Moa was still much lighter than the Elephant bird - weighing only up to 275kg. The Elephant Bird was heavier but the Giant Moa was taller. One focus of her dissertation project is the interaction between people and the now-extinct giant elephant bird, Aepyornis, the largest of which stood over 10 feet tall, weighed up to 800 pounds, and laid eggs 160 times the volume of a chicken egg. Moa,elephant bird,and the passenger pigeon Asked in Dodos, New Zealand Moa were nine species (in six genera) of now-extinct flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. Estimates of the Moa population when Polynesians settled New Zealand circa 1280, vary between 58,000 to c. 2.5 million. Elephant birds have been extinct since at least the 17th century. The Moa of New Zealand has been likened in appearance to the much smaller kiwi with its similar shape and brown plumage. Asked in Dodos Can you name three extinct birds? The two largest species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae, reached about 3.6 m (12 ft) in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about 230 kg (510 lb). Another flightless giant island-living bird was the New Zealand giant moa (Dinornis giganteus), a member of the ratite family.