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Most parts of the former Gondwana have ratites, or have had until the fairly recent past.

• The African Ostrich is the largest living ratite. A large specimen can be 3 metres tall, weigh 135 kilograms, and outrun a horse.
• Aepyornis, the 'elephant bird' of Madagascar was the largest bird ever known. Although shorter than the tallest moa, a large one could weigh 450 kilograms. There were two species when humans arrived from Borneo and Africa, probably in the 1st Century AD. Both seem to have survived for a time: the smaller Aepyornis mullerornis probably disappearing first, the giant Aepyornis maximus may have existed until as late as 1600.
• Of the living species, the Australian Emu is next in size, reaching two metres and about 60 kilograms. Like the ostrich, it is a fast-running, powerful bird of the open plains and woodlands.
• Also native to Australia and the islands to the north, are the three species of cassowaryCasuarius casuarius ''Casuarius unappendiculatus ''Casuarius bennetti Cassowaries ( genus Casuarius are very large flightless birds native to the tropical forests of New Guinea and Australia. Some nearby islands also have small cassowary populations: it i. Shorter than an Emu and very solidly built, cassowaries prefer thickly vegetated tropical forest. They can be very dangerous when surprised or cornered. In New GuineaNew Guinea located just north of Australia, is the world's second largest island having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded around 5000 BC. The name Papua also refers to the island in whole or, cassowary eggs are brought back to villages and the chicks raised for eating as a much-prized delicacy, despite (or perhaps because of) the risk they pose to life and limb.
• The extensive moaAnomalopteryx Dinornis Emeus Euryapteryx Megalapteryx Pachyornis The moa were giant flightless birds of New Zealand. Ten species are known, of varying sizes, with the largest species, the Giant Moa Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae , reaching family of New ZealandFor alternative meanings, see New Zealand (disambiguation). New Zealand is a country formed of two major islands and a number of smaller islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. A common Mori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa popularly translated as Land had 10 different species until humans began arriving in numbers at about 1300AD. Like the cassowaries, moa were mostly forest dwellers without any mammalSubclass Monotremata Monotremata Subclass Marsupialia Didelphimorphia Paucituberculata Microbiotheria Dasyuromorphia Peramelemorphia Notoryctemorphia Diprotodontia Subclass Placentalia Xenarthra Dermoptera Desmostylia Scandentia Primates Rodentia Lagomorpian predatorThis snapping turtle is trying to make a mealof a Canada goose, but the goose is too wary. A predator is an animal or other organism that hunts and kills other organisms for food in an act called predation . Most predators are carnivores. Some predators as. They are believed to have been brought to extinction by hunting within a few hundred years of human settlement. However, some believe small populations may have survived in isolated regions until more recent times.
• The smallest ratites are the four species of kiwiAlternative meanings at Kiwi (disambiguation A. australis ''A. haastii ''A. owenii A kiwi is any of the species of small flightless birds native to New Zealand of the genus Apteryx (the only genus in family Apterygidae . At around the size of a domestic c from New Zealand. Kiwi are chickenA chicken is a type of domesticated bird which is usually raised as a type of poultry. It is believed to be descended from the wild Asian Red Junglefowl, Gallus gallus''. Habits In the wild, junglefowl sleep in trees. Chickens are omnivores and will feed-sized, shy, and almost blind. They nest in deep burrows and use a highly developed sense of smell to find small insects and grubs in the soil. Kiwi are notable for laying the largest eggs in relation to body-size of any bird.
• South America has two species of rhea, mid-sized, fast-running birds of the pampas. The larger American Rhea grows to about 1.5 metres tall and weighs 20 to 25 kilograms. (South America also has 73 species of the small, ground-dwelling but not flightless tinamou family, which is distantly related to the ratite group.)

The traditional account of ratite evolution has the order emerging in Gondwana in cretaceous times, then evolving in their separate directions as the continents drifted apart. Cladistic evidence for this is strong: ratites share too many features for their current forms to be easily explained by convergent evolution. However, recent analysis of genetic variations between the ratites conflict with this: DNA analysis appears to show that the ratites diverged from one another too recently to share a common Gondwanian ancestor, and suggest that the kiwis are more closely related to the cassowaries than the moa! At present there is no generally accepted explanation. Research continues.