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Massive Eagle Was Deadly Predator

  • 12-09-2009 8:47pm
    #1
    Galvasean
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 30,746 ✭✭✭✭


    New research has proven once and for all that Haast's Eagle aka Harpagornis moorei (the biggest eagle the world has ever known) was a deadly predator, and not a scavenger as some had suggested.
    A new study shows that New Zealand's giant – and now extinct – Haast's eagle ruled the skies until 500 years ago, swooping down on moa.

    Scientists have known about the existence of Haast's eagle since 1871 based on excavated bones, including bones carved by early Maori, but their behaviour was not entirely clear.

    Because of their large size – they weighed up to 18kg with wingspans up to 3m – some scientists believed they were scavengers rather than predators.

    Earlier research has indicated the eagle had enough strength in its talons to kill a moa weighing 180kg, attacking at up to 80kph, or even to attack a human child.

    Read more here.

    giant_haasts_eagle_attacking_new_zealand_moa.jpg
    Picture by John Megahan
    Tagged:


Comments

  • #2
    kiffer
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,097 ✭✭✭kiffer


    picture needs a man for scale...
    That could be a normal sized eagle attacking large Kiwi...
    Actualy a man wouldn't make sense and would ruin the picture... :-(

    Giant Eagles would be great... Screw cloning a mammoth. We need these... Trained for home defense and postal service...


  • #3
    Galvasean
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 30,746 ✭✭✭✭Galvasean


    kiffer wrote: »
    picture needs a man for scale...
    That could be a normal sized eagle attacking large Kiwi...
    Actualy a man wouldn't make sense and would ruin the picture... :-(

    Actually they did live at the same time as humans. As for size their wingspan was between 8 and 10 feet.


  • #4
    kiffer
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,097 ✭✭✭kiffer


    Galvasean wrote: »
    Actually they did live at the same time as humans. As for size their wingspan was between 8 and 10 feet.

    Yeah... Or 3m as said... But that doesn't have the impact of seeing a small mauri child running from it...


  • #5
    Kess73
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,560 ✭✭✭✭Kess73


    The picture has even more impact for me than if it had a person in it. I have stodd beside a moa skeleton and they were a huge bird. I stand a few inches over six foot and the skeleton had a good three feet on me.


    Haast's Eagles must have been an amazing raptor to watch. I have a keen interest in modern day raptors, and have spent time observing some of the larger modern day eagles in the US, but something like the Haast's Eagle would have been mindblowing.


    While it's wingspan is nothing special when compared to the biggest eagles around today, it's body mass was immense in comparison, and the sheer power generated by it for each kg it weighed must have been astounding.


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