Angela Li

5/11/16
Dinornis Giganteus: An Adventure Game

The climate is warm, the era is cenozoic(though, you are a bit slow to understand this),
and the time period is very diverse. With birds. Boy, you sure do love New Zealand.
You are a Dinornis Giganteus. You aren't smart enough to know that though, so your
name for now, will be Moe the Giant Moa. The sun is high in the sky, and your feathers are
sticky with sweat. What will you do?
Choices:
Fly
Go to the Ocean to Cool Down and Hunt Fish
Go talk to your friends

FlyAh, yes, the gift of flight. Which you dont have. You seem to be so slow that youve forgotten
you were flightless. Good job, pipsqueak. And yes, you are quite small for your very diverse
species, even for a male. This makes your herbivorous leaf-eating lifestyle so much harder.
Suddenly, cooling down in the ocean seems pleasurable now. You do a strange, swift bird-like
jiggy-run to the ocean, much like one of an ostrich, which doesnt exist yet.

Go to the Ocean to Cool Down and Hunt FishBut you are vegetarian! Your sharp, but herbivorous beak isnt agile enough for eating meat!
Besides, eating leaves is where its at. Cooling down does sound swell, though. You do a strange,

but quick bird-like jiggy-run to the ocean, much like one of an ostrich, which doesnt exist yet.
Being flightless can be exhausting, but youre used to it, despite being quite small, even for the
male of your very diverse species.

Go Talk to Your FriendsYou love your friends, and like to talk to them. Your friends are very diverse, as is your species
and phylum. Also, the pygmy ones make yourself feel less short. You send one of the female
giant moas a jealous gaze. Oh, if only you had the height of an average female in your species!
Eating leaves would be so much easier! After a conversation, cooling down in the ocean seems
nice to do. You do a strange, fast bird-like jiggy-run to the ocean, much like one of an ostrich,
which doesnt exist yet. Sigh, being flightless is exhausting!

At the OceanThe soft lick of the ocean waves are amazing. While cooling down, out of the corner of your eye,
you see a Haasts Eagle, your only natural predator at this time. Before it comes closer, you
threaten to kick and fluff out your feathers. The eagle decides to take an easy day, and kill a baby
moa instead, which isnt much better, but, youre alive! The celebration of your shorthand
victory and offhand murder was suddenly interrupted by a thing in the ocean that seems to be
floating closer!
Choices:
Run Away!
Go Closer to that Thing!
Kindly Welcome that Thing!

Run Away!Youre not interested in having 2 close-death experiences in one day, so you run off to tell your
friends about that strange thing in the water. They dont care. Huh. After a while, you stop
caring too. It feels too serene on this island for another predator to come! After all, your species
had lived for 80 million years without a predator, with the exception of the Haasts Eagle.
Run Away! Epilogue:
After a while, you and your friends realize that the strange creatures that came, the Polynesian
Maori Tribe Homosapians, were dangerous. They stole eggs and hunted everyone down. They
even tamed some moas and rode them to battle. Everything was falling apart, and soon, they got
to you too. Using a spear, they snuck up on you while you were reaching up for some leaves.
Like the rest of your species, you died off, hunted to extinction. They ate you, and used your
bones as tools.
Lame Dead End

Go Closer to that Thing!You go closer to that thing. Its bigger than you thought it would be, and its made out of wood.
You are quite puzzled, and wait for it to float closer. It cant possibly be a predator, right? Your
only predator is the Haasts Eagle, as it was for 80 million years. Suddenly, you heard excited yet
fearful voices on that thing. Even more suddenly, you felt a pain in your chest! You look down
to see that a spear had impaled you! Before you react, more spears came flying, and some of the
creatures on that boat came running toward you. You are now dead, as with the rest of your
species in the future, hunted to extinction by the Polynesian Maori Homosapians. They carried
you off to their settlement to eat and create tools out of your bones.
Lame Dead End

Kindly Welcome that Thing!You respect the creature as it came closer. It seemed to be made of wood, and there seems to be
more things on top of that wooden creature. Some jumped onto the sand, and ran toward you.
You stood your ground and didnt attack. Suddenly, the creatures trapped you! Youve never seen
anything like them before, and for once, you are worried, as you thought of the 80 million years
of peace that your species used to live in. The Haasts Eagle used to be the only predator you
had. But now You aren't sure what to think anymore.
Kind End Epilogue:
After a while, you notice that the islands birds and moas become very quiet. The Polynesian
Maori Tribe Homosapians have hunted them in huge numbers, with a few exceptions, including
you. They have kept you as a battle bird, and regularly ride you to battle. They respect you for
your sharp beak and quick reflexes, even if you are small. Everyday is a pain, though. Covered in
wounds, you become sickly. The fact that the Homosapians are hunting your species and eating
the eggs doesnt help. You died, and the tribe members, deeming you too sick to eat, left your
body near the ocean, in which it was washed away quickly, eaten by fish. The bones, however,
stuck to pieces of sediment. As the sediment hardened, water eroded them, making them nothing
more than a hole in hardened sand. However, with new ocean waves passing by, minerals were
able to fill the mold up, and a mostly clay embodiment of some of your bones were created..
When European Homosapians came, your species were already extinct. But later on, they
discovered you. They dug you up and researched your remains, dubbing you the Giant Moa.
Fossilization End(Congrats!) Even though you still died and didnt save your species.