Giant moa (South Island)
3 m (9.843 ft)
Height with neck stretched up
New Zealand's giant flightless bird, extinct for about 600 years. Measured with its neck stretched up. Up to 3 m tall with its neck stretched up, and 240 kg.
Published
How big is that?
3 m is 1.7 times an adult man and 11% of a blue whale.
Giant moa is the 14th smallest of the 31 Prehistoric Giants objects, and the 35th smallest of the 109 objects across all three SizeItUp games.
Closest in size from the other games: Bowling pin (Ten-pin) (Classic), 38.1 cm tall and Voyager's dish (High-gain antenna) (Cosmic Scale), 3.66 m across.
Size comparison
To scale, smallest to largest: Giant moa in orange beside the Prehistoric Giants objects nearest in size, in teal.
| Object | Size | vs Giant moa |
|---|---|---|
| Wandering albatross (Wings spread)The seabird with the widest wings alive today. | 3 m wingtip to wingtip | about the same |
| Elephant bird (Madagascar)A giant flightless bird from Madagascar, extinct for about a thousand years. | 3 m tall | about the same |
| Komodo dragon (Large adult)The largest living lizard, measured nose to tail tip. | 3 m long | about the same |
| Giant moa (South Island) | 3 m tall | – |
| African bush elephant (Adult male)The largest land animal alive today. Measured at the shoulder. | 3.2 m tall | 1.1× bigger |
In other units
| Centimetres | 300 |
|---|---|
| Metres | 3 |
| Inches | 118.1 |
| Feet | 9.843 |
| Yards | 3.281 |
How it's measured
Height with neck stretched up. Te Papa (Museum of New Zealand).
Sources
- guide.tepapa.govt.nz: South Island giant moa could stretch to 3 metres tall.
Checked against the source on .
Could you have guessed it by eye?
Giant moa is one of the objects in Prehistoric Giants, a daily size comparison game: you stretch a shape to the size you think is right beside one you know.