This is bizarre. Yes, archaic Māori population density shifted from the South Island to the North following the (close enough) extinction of the moa. (And the

This is bizarre. Yes, archaic Māori population density shifted from the South Island to the North following the (close enough) extinction of the moa. (And the people who would become the Moriori migrated from the South Island to the Chathams) But this isn't surprising, the crops they brought with them from Hawaiki grew better in the North Island, so when the moa population collapsed (entirely due to hunting) it makes sense that population density would shift from the areas good for moa to the areas good for agriculture. There's no evidence that I've ever seen that ties the extinction of moa to the Little Ice Age.