NZ traditionally had no land animals or snakes to predate birdlife, the only mammal was a bat – so many of the birds became flightless through lack of animal predation, they filled the space that animals would have taken in other continents in the world., Some became nocturnal as night hunting predator birds were more uncommon than day hunting birds such as the world’s biggest eagle.  This was the Haast Eagle with a wingspan of 2- 3 metres – a bird big enough to tackle the world’s tallest bird, New Zealand’s Moa , which was flightless and standing upto 3.6 metres tall and weighing up to 250kg.

Did you know?

Thirteen of the world’s 18 penguin species have been recorded in the New Zealand region, more than any other country.

The Kiwi is New Zealand's national bird, it is unique, is flightless and has features that are more common with animals.

Almost half the world's whale and dolphin species are found in New Zealand.