Experts have said that human population of just 2,500 people living in New Zealand were responsible for the extinction of moa bird.

They said that it is bereaved that tens of thousands of people and hundreds of years of hunting will result in extinction of an entire species. However, a total of only 1,500 Polynesian settlers in New Zealand and a little more than a century resulted in the extinction of the moa bird. They said that the population reached 2,500 by the time moa went extinct.

Study showed that it is the lowest human population densities on record for any human presence before industrialisation. Experts analysed eggshell pieces that were found at first settlement era archaeological sites in the eastern South Island of New Zealand and determined that the settlers used to hunt the bird. The settlers developed taste for the bird and increased hunting.

Researcher Chris Jacomb explained in a press release, "The analyses showed that the sites were all first occupied - and the people began eating moa, after the major Kaharoa eruption of Mt Tarawera of about 1314 CE."

The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.