The Haast Eagle: An Extinct Avian Predator
One of the least known birds of prey and one of the greatest hunters New Zealand had ever seen. The Haast Eagle was New Zealand’s version of Africa’s lion or Asia’s tiger, hunting with intense and precise vigour mostly for another pre homo-sapien New Zealand phenom, a large flightless bird named the Moa.
Before human inhabitants and colonisation of New Zealand, the three islands boasted not a single mammalian predator allowing the survival of hundreds of thousands of unique and varied species. But there was one that soared the skies untouched named the Haast Eagle. It is said that the wingspan of the Haast Eagle (3 metres) could be related size wise to that of the Golden Eagle but its weight and girth far out did those of its relatives some said to have been up to 30 pounds or 14 kilograms.
It was first discovered by Dr Julius von Haast in 1871 around 50 years after colonisation when its bones were dug up in Canterbury, in the South Island of New Zealand while excavation of Moa bones was happening. So far only three skeletons have ever been found but experts agree that the giant bird did exist.
It is believed that the Moa was the Haast Eagles main source of food because of the share size of the Moa (12 feet in height and 400 pounds) and rather than soar like some other species, would sit atop the tall native bush and spot out its prey then diving at speeds of up to 80km an hour to make the kill.
The Haast Eagles extinction less than 500 years ago according to bone samples suggests that it was still living at the time of Maori settlers (New Zealand’s native people) and came about due to the Maori hunting the Moa to extinction thus essentially starving it to death. Moari are also reputed to have killed the Haast Eagle not only for food but for the fashioning tools and garments.
It was named Te Hokioi or Pouakai by the native people referring to the noise made by its huge wings and legends were told by Maori of the snatching of children and smaller adults by the Haast Eagle.
The three complete skeletons of the Haast Eagle can be viewed at the Otago Museum and Wellington National Museum in New Zealand and the third can be seen at London’s Natural History Museum.
Stay tuned for more on the Giant Moa.
Other animal articles by RJ Chamberlain:
Siberian Huskies: Unlocking the Mystery of the Snow Dog
The Magical World Down Under: Five Fantastic Fauna Spotted Only in New Zealand
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28 Responses to “The Haast Eagle: An Extinct Avian Predator”
On February 22, 2009 at 7:41 am
Thanks for the interesting info RJ.
On February 22, 2009 at 7:50 am
Huge bird. Great post!
On February 22, 2009 at 7:58 am
Excellent article I always find it so sad when I hear the word “extinct”. I didn’t know about this bird so thanks.
On February 22, 2009 at 8:05 am
Very nice!
On February 22, 2009 at 8:26 am
very interesting!!
On February 22, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Not heard of this! Great article.
On February 22, 2009 at 1:25 pm
You have a very didactic style to write this kind of articles, very good piece.
On February 22, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Puts a whole new slant on ‘big bird’ – imagine the slaughter on Sesame Street…
On February 22, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Nice pictures and information
On February 22, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Hey this was very interesting and informative! Thanks for enlightening me. Nicely done!
On February 22, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Very interesting, RJ. I have never hard of this bird, thank you for telling us about him. We have a Golden Eagle who lives in the field beyond our backyard. I have been lucky enough to have him fly low overhead…he is not shy. The Haast Eagle would have been magnificent.
Great information!
On February 22, 2009 at 4:55 pm
nice article RJ. tnx for sharing.
On February 22, 2009 at 5:28 pm
great article RJ..
On February 22, 2009 at 9:12 pm
An extinct king of the air.
On February 22, 2009 at 11:36 pm
just learned new information on this one.. thanks for the share!
On February 23, 2009 at 12:42 am
Great article, I am like the others and have not heard of these birds before. Very interesting.
On February 23, 2009 at 1:33 am
Fascinating article RJ, thanks for this.
On February 23, 2009 at 5:20 am
very interesting… thanks for sharing!
On February 23, 2009 at 7:07 am
Thanks for bringing my attention to this. I hadn’t known about it before.
On February 23, 2009 at 7:58 pm
This is amazing. These birds are huge. Our eagles that I see around the lake are much smaller.
On February 24, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Fascinating read.
On February 24, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Freaky Bird
On February 25, 2009 at 8:30 am
Very interesting article!
On February 25, 2009 at 8:08 pm
I like reading this kind of stuff. Thanks.
On March 9, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Thanks RJ
On March 9, 2009 at 7:17 pm
eeewwwww yuck
On September 7, 2009 at 12:48 am
holy that eagle was big emagin the eagle still alive look at it will robally pick you up and eat you so thanks for the information.
On September 7, 2009 at 12:53 am
im doing this thing and i need to know is the hasst eagle native or not plz get back to me soon
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