energy

Tinana

The Moa

The Moa

Sourced from: arbs

This task is about reading to find information and make inferences. Read the article below then answer the questions that follow.

Nobody today has seen a live moa – the bird is extinct.

The things we know about the moa come from accounts left by people who saw it in the past, and from the studies of scientists.

Thousands and thousands of moas have lived and died here, but their bodies have all rotted away long ago. In order to find out how the moa looked and lived, scientists must study the things which are still left – mainly bones.

As well as the bones, people often find little heaps of stones which came from the bird's gizzard. The moa swallowed these stones to help grind up its food. And in very dry parts of New Zealand, people have even found skin and feathers, still stuck to dried-up moa bones.

If you have been to a museum, you may have seen a model of a moa. The model has been built by using all this information as a guide.

Model-building is not very difficult to do. We have lots of moa bones. If you put a set of bones together to make a skeleton, you then have a shape of the bird.

There are places on the bones which show where the muscles should go. You can model the muscles from a plastic material and put them on to the skeleton. Then you put a skin over it.

It is more difficult to find the right sort of feathers. Most models use emu feathers. The moa feathers which have been found look soft and droopy, like emu feathers. But they have more colour than those of the emu – they are golden-brown, with a purple streak down the middle.

Even so, these feathers may be faded. Some early Maori, who were asked about moas, said that they had bright, bright feathers. It may be that the moa was more brightly coloured than the models that you see in the museum.

Source: School Journal, Part 2, No 3, Learning Media, 1982.

Use the text above to answer these questions. Highlight your answer

1. Information about moas comes mainly from

(A)   Studies of dried skin and feathers.

(B)   Scientific studies and records of people's observations.

(C)   Remains found in very dry parts of New Zealand.

(D)   Stories told by early Maori.

(E)   Making visits to museums.

2. What is often found together with moa bones?

(A)   Rotting bodies.

(B)   Skin and feathers.

(C)   Small piles of stones.

(D)   Birds' gizzards.

(E)   Ground-up food.

3. Which is the best description of a 'gizzard'?

(A)   Container for small stones.

(B)   Part of a bird's stomach.

(C)   What is left when a bird dies.

(D)   Part of a moa.

(E)   Part of a bird's digestive system.

4. How is the basic shape of the moa worked out?

(A)   By looking at the places where muscles attach to the bones.

(B)   From making a model out of plastic material.

(C)   By reading accounts left by people who once saw it.

(D)   From examining dried skins and feathers.

(E)   By putting together a complete set of bones.

5. Compared with emu feathers, moa feathers were probably

(A)   Softer and droopier.

(B)   Less colourful.

(C)   Harder and stiffer.

(D)   Faded and streaked.

(E)   Brighter.

6. Why has no living person ever seen a live moa?

• Because they are extinct which means they are all dead   

7. Why would moa skin and feathers only be found in 'very dry' parts of New Zealand?

• Moa skin and feathers sticks Because in dry places it's so hot it justs sicks to it

8. How do scientists know where the moa's muscles were attached to its skeleton?

• There are places on the bones that mark where the muscles should go

Somalia

Somalia WALT Write a narrative.

One day I was doing my thing I do everyday driving a cargo ship . Some smelly pirates go on to my brand new cargo ship with their muddy feet . I tell them get off then they shot a crew member . The leader went up to me and said “ you know who I am i’m ,the new captain so give me the keys GIVE ME THE KEYS” “no” I say in a nice voice . Then he threatened me and he said “ give me your keys or I will shoot one of your crew members .” I give him the keys.

Then they open up a container a robot comes out then millions come out and one goes “BOO” in a loud and creaky voice . All the pirates scatter I was laughing hard out one robot tripped a pirate over. One robot scared someone and made him jump into the water but the, robot throws him a life jacket. Two robots were wrapping some pirates up then Max Gross the red robot taped on the captain.

Everyone was surrendering, smelly odor was coming out of there armpits. The robot gives me the keys. I say to the second in charge “what happened stays here” then I walked away.

I go and make another coffee nothing bad was going to happen. I put the key in something. The radar came on and a meteor hits the middle of the ship, and it sinks and one robot saves me .