Moa feather

This little feather comes from an Elephant-foot Moa (Pachyornis elephantopus (Owen)), which was found on the South Island of New Zealand and was exterminated about 600 to 500 years ago through hunting and habitat destruction.

reconstruction of a ca. 500 years old, subfossil feather

The feather is approx. 3.5 cm long and incomplete, but the original colors have been preserved to this day. [1]

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References:

[1] Nicolas J. Rawlence; Jamie R. Wood; Kyle N. Armstrong; Alan Cooper: DNA content and distribution in ancient feathers and potential to reconstruct the plumage of extinct avian taxa. Proceedings of the Royal Society 276: 3395-3402. 2009

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edited: 21.11.2020