Moa

Moa

Health	10 ()
Spawn	Light level of 15, Aether Grass.
Drops	Feather (0-3) on death.

“Moa; peaceful and majestic giant birds.”
—Kingbdogz

Moa are large, passive birds that populate the Aether and come in a variety of colors. Moa cannot mate, but will occasionally drop eggs of their respective coat/feather color. These eggs can be hatched in the Incubator. Due to their appearance, they can be mistaken for Cockatrices, although they can be distinguished as Moa have less vibrant colors and aren't aggressive. There are two Donator Moa types, the Phoenix Moa and the Valkyrie Moa. Donator Moa are, however, just a reskin of the original one, so they give no special abilities and are just for looks.

A blue, a black, and a white Moa egg

Taming and Usage

Wild Moa cannot be tamed. The only way to tame a Moa is to place a Moa egg into an Incubator, and feed the newborn Moa until it matures. To acquire a Moa egg, players must either wait for a wild Moa to lay one, or find eggs in Dungeon chests (the most common Dungeon egg is a blue one). Moa will usually lay eggs after about 5-7 minutes. Once obtained, the player can place the Moa Egg in an Incubator, and heat it with Ambrosium Torches. After the incubating process is complete, the hatchling will spawn above the Incubator. Before one can ride it, however, he or she will need to feed it Aechor Petals. To get these petals, they must kill Aechor Plants, which are very dangerous and should be approached with caution or killed from afar. Although Moa require petals in total to grow, they are not always hungry and will occasionally refuse your offer. Blue Moa require 3 petals to grow, while White Moa require 4 petals, and Black Moa require 8 petals to grow fully. Moa are very useful for transportation in the Aether because they can jump in midair. Moa can also climb up one block without jumping. When fully grown, a saddle can be placed on the Moa, allowing the player to ride the Moa around.

Full-grown Moa will drop eggs. Making an egg farm is very useful for gaining more Moa. It should be noted that Moa can even grow in the Overworld. The main reason for going through the trouble of growing these creatures is so that players can have a suitable way to get around in the Aether, and can be seen as a better alternative to Phygs and Flying Cows. Currently, the only way to heal a Moa, besides using mods to do so, is to throw a Splash Potion of Healing on it.

Moa are attracted to the player when the player holds an aechor petal in his hand, much like how cows and sheep are drawn in to the player when holding wheat.

Types of Moa

Moa come in three different colors: blue, white and black. The most common Moa is blue in color. White is rarer, and black Moa are the rarest variety. Blue Moa require 3 petals to grow, while white Moa require 4 petals, and black Moa require 8 petals to grow fully. Blue Moa can jump 3 times in the air, while white Moa can jump 4 times in midair and black Moa can jump 8 times in midair.

Known Bugs

Moa will get stuck and start to glitch if they touch Green Aercloud.
They will also suffocate you in walls if they cannot climb up them.
As of Aether II Alpha, if the player falls to the Overworld while riding a Moa, the Moa won't come with the Player and she/he will die of fall damage, even if he/she is wearing Gravitite armor.
Even though moa are passive mobs, they despawn unless you name them with a name tag. This applies for wild and tamed moas, and as such finding wild moas may require travelling within the overworld to find them instead of just travelling in the aether.
There used to be a glitch were if it was attacked while mounted, it would despawn.

Trivia

Moa are based on a long-extinct species of bird by the same name. These moa inhabited New Zealand over 1,000 years ago, and, due to being hunted down by the Māori, were completely wiped out. However, unlike the Moa from the Aether, these large birds were flightless. Coincidentally, both Cockatrices and Moa are based on creatures from the past, whether extinct or myth.
Moa have a rare chance to drop Moa Music Disk, which plays the Approaches. The original song can be heard here.
It was announced on 01/08/2013 that Moa will be found in several different colors in future updates, instead of only the current three ones (see image below).