Moa

Moa

Health	6 (
Spawn	Light level of 15, Aether Grass.
Drops	Feather (0-999) on death.

“Moa; peaceful and majestic giant birds.”
—Brandon Pearce

Moas are large, passive birds that populate the Aether and come in a variety of colors. Moas 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 four Donator Moas types, the Phoenix Moa, the Valkyrie Moa, the Arctic Moa, and the Sentry Moa. Donator Moas 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 Moas 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). Moas will usually lay eggs after about 6 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 Moas require petals in total to grow, they are not always hungry and will occasionally refuse your offer. All Moas require 3 petals to grow. 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 Moas. 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.

Moas 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 Moas

Moas 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. All Moas require 3 petals to grow. 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

Moas 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 moas 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 where if it was attacked while mounted, it would despawn.
If ridden into the Overworld or Aether through a portal or falling the Moa will return to full health.
Moas sometimes die in 1 hit with a holystone or zanite sword. It is unknown why this happens.

Trivia

Moas are based on a long-extinct species of bird by the same name. These moas 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 Moas are based on creatures from the past, whether extinct or myth.

It was announced on 01/08/2013 that Moas will be found in several different colors in future updates, instead of only the current three ones (see image below).