Data from: Moa diet fits the bill: virtual reconstruction incorporating mummified remains and prediction of biomechanical performance in avian giants

The moa (Dinornithiformes) are large to gigantic extinct terrestrial birds
of New Zealand. Knowledge about niche partitioning, feeding mode and
preference among moa species is limited, hampering palaeoecological
reconstruction and evaluation of the impacts of their extinction on
remnant native biota, or the viability of exotic species as proposed
ecological ‘surrogates'. Here we apply three-dimensional
finite-element analysis to compare the biomechanical performance of skulls
from five of the six moa genera, and two extant ratites, to predict the
range of moa feeding behaviours relative to each other and to living
relatives. Mechanical performance during biting was compared using
simulations of the birds clipping twigs based on muscle reconstruction of
mummified moa remains. Other simulated food acquisition strategies
included lateral shaking, pullback and dorsoventral movement of the skull.
We found evidence for limited overlap in biomechanical performance between
the extant emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) and extinct upland moa
(Megalapteryx didinus) based on similarities in mandibular stress
distribution in two loading cases, but overall our findings suggest that
moa species exploited their habitats in different ways, relative to both
each other and extant ratites. The broad range of feeding strategies used
by moa, as inferred from interspecific differences in biomechanical
performance of the skull, provides insight into mechanisms that
facilitated high diversities of these avian herbivores in prehistoric New
Zealand.