Paleontologists have used fossilised moa droppings to reconstruct the feeding habits of four types of these extinct flightless birds.
The fossil dung was found under a rock overhang near the Dart River in the Otago Lakes region.
A team of scientists from Landcare Research used several methods, including DNA analysis, to determine the diets of four types of moa, including the largest species - the South Island giant moa.
Their analysis of the droppings showed four species of herbivorous birds were able to coexist in the same spot by targeting different plants.
For example the smaller bush moa ate mainly forest plants while the South Island Giant Moa was a grazer, eating herbs.
The researchers were even able to tell what type of flowers they might have pollinated.
One of the researchers, Janet Wilmshurst, says analysis of the droppings showed four species of herbivorous birds were able to coexist in the same spot by targeting different plants.
She says the analysis disproved the conventional theory that all moa ate the same thing.
