A comparison of the huge claws of Haast’s eagle with those of its close relative the Hieraaetus morphnoides, the “little” eagle. Image / Bunce M, Szulkin M, Lerner HRL, Barnes I, Shapiro B, et al.
With a wingspan reaching as wide as 3m and huge claws that could crush bone, the Haast’s eagle was one of the most fearsome creatures ever to stalk New Zealand’s prehistoric wilderness.
The largest eagle known to have existed anywhere, its demise quickly followed that of its much-larger prey, the moa, which was hunted to extinction by early Maori settlers around 1400 CE.
Now a top international scientist and Kiwi collaborators hope to shed more light on the lost giant, in an innovative study that could help conserve those endangered predatory birds that remain today.
An artist’s depiction of a Haast’s eagle attacking two moa. Image / John Megahan.
You can read more here, thanks to David for letting me know about this.
If only they had switched to eating humans.
Well, the children will be indoors…
Very interesting. I gather they’re suggesting that the eagle was about as big as a California condor, with similar wingspan and possibly weight. In waterfowl terms that would be heavier than a Canada goose, about the same weight as a female mute swan, but with a larger wingspan and shorter neck.
I’ve often seen weight estimates around 10-11 kg for males and 12-14 kg for females. These eagles were heavy for their wingspan, as they apparently often had to chase their prey between trees. See also:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poukai
lumipuna @ 4
With body weights like that, takeoff must have been hard work if it had to be done from low ground and the landing must have been somewhat hard. Best to land on prey and let them absorb the energy. 8-)
Hunting with blunt force trauma? Now that’s a new strategy. Just need to learn to fall with great accuracy…
Ordinary large eagles are quite capable of killing large land animals, but it’s too risky for a livelihood so they don’t usually attempt it. The Haast’s eagle was somewhat specialized in this, and also, moas didn’t have strong jaws or upper limbs to fight back.
Some, like Jared Diamond, have hence speculated that the Haast’s eagle was also behaviorally adapted to routinely go after large, vertically postured land animals, making them really dangerous to humans. However, the humans fought back.
rq @ 6 -- I’ve seen hawks use blint force where they simply smash into their prey to knock them out of the air, its pretty effective.
Isn’t peregrine falcon specialized in diving and crashing into flying birds at very high speeds?