Huia (male and female) Skulls

3D Model

Modeled from images of real specimens. The Huia (Heteralocha acutirostris) was a forest-dwelling bird endemic to New Zealand’s North Island, renowned for its extreme sexual dimorphism in bill shape between males and females. Males (top) possessed short, stout bills adapted for chiseling into wood, while females (bottom) had long, slender, curved bills specialized for probing into crevices—together allowing pairs to exploit different food sources cooperatively. The species declined rapidly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries due to overhunting for its prized tail feathers and widespread habitat loss, with the last confirmed sighting occurring in 1907. Base model created with AI tools, then sculpted/edited in Blender for scientific accuracy.