Slow growth 'helped wipe out' moa
A virus is placing Scotland's dwindling red squirrel population under threat, conservationists have warned. Squirrel pox is said to have been carried over the border by grey squirrels migrating north from Cumbria.
The extinction of New Zealand's giant, flightless moa birds may have been hastened by the long time they took to reach maturity, experts believe. UK and New Zealand scientists studied growth rings (similar to tree rings) in leg bones from the giant birds. They found that moa took about 10 years to reach full size and then several more to reach sexual maturity.