NUMBER FIFTY-SIX: It's a bird, it's a plane, oh wait it is a bird and...it's coming right towards me. Oh crude! Oh crude! Oh crude! Ahhhhhhh! *sound of talons piercing through flesh*
- Animal: Haast's eagle (Hieraaetus moorei) (formerly Harpagornis moorei)
- Named By: Julius von Haast - 1872
- Classification: Life, Eukaryota, Animalia, Chordata, Vertebrata, Gnathostomata, Osteichthyes, Sarcopterygii, Tetrapodomorpha, Tetrapoda, Reptiliomorpha, Amniota, Sauropsida, Eureptilia, Sauria, Archosauromorpha, Archosauriformes, Archosauria, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Theropoda, Paraves, Avialae, Aves, Neognathae, Accipitriformes, Accipitridae
- When: 1,800,000 B.C.E. to around 1,400 C.E.
- Where: Oceania (New Zealand (South Island))
- Size: *See below*
- Diet: Carnivore
This giant eagle was, as a far as current science is aware, the largest true raptor ever. Female eagles were larger than males. Most estimates place the female Haast's eagles at 22 to 33 pounds (10 to 15 kilograms) and males around 20 to 26 pounds (9 to 12 kilograms). The wingspan was short compared to the size of the body, but was still a respectable 8.5 to 10 feet (2.6 to 3 meters). Although this wingspan is matched or exceeded by several modern birds including several eagles and vultures, it should be noted that their bodies are proportionally much smaller with longer wings, making them much less massive. The Haast’s eagle likely flew in a manner similar to modern large, forest eagles such as the crowned eagle (
Stephanoaetus coronatus), the harpy eagle (
Harpia harpyja), and the Philippine eagle (
Pithecophaga jefferyi): utilizing constant flapping with occasional spurts of gliding. The shortness of its wings made the energy-conserving soaring flight employed by most large birds impossible, but instead enabled greater speed and agility at the cost of higher rates of energy expenditure. Based on its body proportions, the Haast’s eagle has been interpreted as an ambush predator capable of short bursts of very rapid and agile flight, enabling it to maneuver through closed environments and chase terrestrial prey animals which were equally agile. Haast's eagles preyed on large, flightless bird species, including the moas, which was up to fifteen times the weight of the eagle. It is estimated to have attacked at speeds up to 50 mph (80 kph). Its size and weight indicate a bodily striking force equivalent to a concrete block falling from the top of an eight-story building (aka it came down hard). Its large beak also could be used to rip into the internal organs of its prey and death then would have been caused by blood loss. In the absence of other large predators or scavengers, a Haast's eagle could easily have monopolized a single large kill over a number of days, with its only competition being other eagles. Until the recent human colonization, the only placental mammals found on the islands of New Zealand were three species of bat: the New Zealand greater short-tailed bat (
Mystacina robusta), the New Zealand lesser short-tailed bat (
Mystacina tuberculata), and the New Zealand long-tailed bat (
Chalinolobus tuberculatus). Birds occupied all major niches in the New Zealand environment. The moas were grazers, functionally similar to deer or gazelle in other habitats, and Haast's eagles were the hunters who filled the same niche as top-niche mammalian predators, such as tigers or bears. One study estimated the total population at 3,000 to 4,500 breeding pairs, so the Haast's eagle would have been very vulnerable to changes in the number of moa.
Early human
settlers in New Zealand preyed heavily on large flightless birds, including all moa species, eventually hunting them to extinction by around 1400. The loss of its primary prey caused the Haast's eagle to become extinct at about the same time.
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