Fearsome predator in spotlight
Scientists hope Haast’s eagle study will help conserve species of today
Its largest claws were as much as 9cm long, as large as those of a tiger.
Most experts agree it is most likely to have been brown or brownish-grey, similar to the other very large forest eagles found around the world today.
Skeletons of Haast’s eagles have been found in the drier eastern parts of the South Island, but the birds were probably in the North Island too.
Evidence of talon marks on moa skeletons confirm the eagles preyed on the large flightless birds, which weighed up to 200kg. But they also would have targeted other flightless birds — particularly aptornis, weka, takahe¯ , flightless geese and ducks — and potentially even unfortunate humans. Source: Wingspan National Bird of Prey Centre
With a wingspan as wide as 3m and huge claws that could crush bone, the Haast’s eagle was one of the most fearsome creatures 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, hunted to extinction by early Maori settlers around 1400AD.
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 endangered predatory birds today.
Professor Andrei Zinoviev, of Tver State University in Russia, will work with Dr Paul Scofield of Canterbury Museum and Massey University’s Dr Daniel Thomas to digitally reconstruct the powerful muscles, tendons and bones of the eagle’s hind limb.
They’ll then compare what The extinction of the Haast’s eagle has been tied to that of the moa.
they find with legs of living eagles that use their hind limbs to tear flesh, and to those that mainly use them to grab prey, just as the Haast’s eagle, or poua¯kai, likely once did.
By analysing the position and size of the eagle’s reconstructed muscles, Zinoviev expected they could discover the main way it fed,
among other rich new insights.
Researchers say the Haast’s eagle’s population began its slide into extinction when the availability of its key food, the moa, started to dwindle.
Zinoviev noted it happened to be the largest terrestrial carnivore around when humans arrived on our shores, more than 700 years ago.
It must have been an intimidating sight.Its sheer size, and a body weight comparable to that of a toddler, meant it could strike with a force equivalent to a concrete block falling from the top of an eight-storey building.
The project would ultimately build a “proof-ofconcept” case study that could lead to larger studies into other extinct or declining bird groups, including penguins, Zinoviev said.
“Studies of extinct animal habitats and ecological requirements provide useful information about the reasons for extinction, which can help identify pitfalls for conserving endangered species.”