Haast's eagle
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Haast's eagle (Hieraaetus moorei) is an extinct species of eagle that lived in the South Island of New Zealand, commonly accepted to be the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} of Māori mythology.<ref name="collections.tepapa.govt.nz">Giant eagle (Aquila moorei), Haast's eagle, or Pouakai Template:Webarchive. Museum of New Zealand: Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved 27 October 2010.</ref> It is the largest eagle known to have existed, with an estimated weight of Template:Convert, compared to the next-largest and extant harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja), at up to Template:Convert.<ref name=":1" /> Its massive size is explained as an evolutionary response to the size of its prey—the flightless moa—the largest of which could weigh Template:Convert. Haast's eagle became extinct around 1445, following the arrival of the Māori, who hunted moa to extinction, introduced the Polynesian rat (Rattus exulans), and destroyed large tracts of forest by fire.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref>
TaxonomyEdit
Haast's eagle was first scientifically described by Julius von Haast in 1871 from remains discovered by the Canterbury Museum taxidermist, Frederick Richardson Fuller,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> in a former marsh.<ref name="Tudge2009">Template:Cite book</ref> Haast named the eagle Harpagornis moorei after George Henry Moore, the owner of the Glenmark Estate, where the bones of the bird were found.<ref name="Institute1872">Template:Cite journal</ref> The genus name was from the Greek harpax, meaning "grappling hook", and ornis, meaning "bird".<ref name="NZGeo">Template:Cite journal</ref> DNA analysis later showed that this bird is related most closely to the much smaller little eagle (Hieraaetus morphnoides) as well as the booted eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus) and not, as previously thought, to the large wedge-tailed eagle (Aquila audax).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Bunce">Template:Cite journal</ref> Harpagornis moorei was therefore reclassified as Hieraaetus moorei.<ref name=NZGeo/>
H. moorei is estimated to have diverged from these smaller eagles as recently as 1.8 million to 700,000 years ago.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> If this estimate is correct, its increase in weight by ten to fifteen times is an exceptionally rapid weight increase.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The suggested increase in the average weight of Haast's eagle over that period would therefore represent the largest, fastest evolutionary increase in average weight of any known vertebrate species.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> This was made possible in part by the presence of large prey and the absence of competition from other large predators, an example of ecological release and island gigantism.<ref name="PLOSBiology">Template:Cite journal</ref> A recent mitochondrial DNA study found it to be more closely related to the little eagle than the booted eagle, with an estimated divergence from the little eagle around 2.2 million years ago.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite journal</ref> It was placed in the genus Aquila by recent taxonomists.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
DescriptionEdit
Haast's eagle was one of the largest known true raptors.<ref name=":2" /> In length and weight, it was even larger than the largest living vulture (the Andean condor).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Another giant bird (not actually an eagle save for in name) more recently and scantily described from the fossil record, the Woodward's eagle, which resided in North America,<ref name="suarez">Template:Cite journal</ref> rivaled the Haast's in at least the aspect of total length.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Female eagles were larger than males.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Most estimates place the female Haast's eagles in the range of Template:Convert and males around Template:Convert.<ref name=Brathwaite>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A comparison with living eagles of the Australasian region resulted in estimated masses in Haast's eagles of Template:Convert for males and Template:Convert for females.<ref name=Brathwaite/> One source estimates that the largest females could have weighed more than Template:Convert.<ref name= Worthy>Worthy, T. & Holdaway, R., The Lost World of the Moa: Prehistoric Life of New Zealand. Indiana University Press (2003), Template:ISBN</ref> The largest extant eagles, none of which are verified to exceed Template:Convert in a wild state, are about forty percent smaller in body size than Haast's eagles.<ref name="Wood">Template:Cite book</ref>
It had a relatively short wingspan for its size. It is estimated that the grown female typically spanned up to Template:Convert, possibly up to Template:Convert in a few cases.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This wingspan is broadly similar to the larger range of female size in some extant eagles: the wedge-tailed eagle, golden eagle (A. chrysaetos), martial eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus), white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) and Steller's sea eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus) are all known to exceed Template:Convert in wingspan. Several of the largest extant Old World vultures, if not in mean mass or other linear measurements, probably exceed Haast's eagle in average wingspan as well.<ref name= "Wood"/><ref name=RaptorsWorld>Template:Cite book</ref> Haast's eagle's relatively short wingspan has sometimes led to it being incorrectly portrayed as having evolved toward flightlessness, even though evidence strongly suggests that it flew.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Instead, its short and broad wings represents an evolutionary departure from the mode of its ancestors' soaring flight in favour of navigating through a crowded woodland environment. Haast's eagles are likely to have hunted within the dense shrubland and forests of New Zealand, somewhat akin to other forest-dwelling raptors like the goshawks or harpy eagle.<ref name="BBCFactFiles">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Some wing and leg remains of Haast's eagles permit direct comparison with living eagles. The harpy eagle, the Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi), and the Steller's sea eagle are the largest and most powerful living eagles, and the first two also have a similarly reduced relative wing-length as an adaptation to forest-dwelling.<ref name= "Wood"/> A lower mandible from the Haast's eagle measured Template:Convert and the tarsus in several Haast's eagle fossils has been measured from Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In comparison, the largest beaks of eagles today (from the Philippine and the Steller's sea eagle) reach a little more than Template:Convert; and the longest tarsal measurements (from the Philippine and the Papuan eagle, Harpyopsis novaeguineae) top out around Template:Convert.<ref name=RaptorsWorld/><ref>Ladyguin, Alexander (2000). The morphology of the bill apparatus in the Steller's Sea Eagle Template:Webarchive. First Symposium on Steller's and White-tailed Sea Eagles in East Asia pp. 1–10; Ueta, M. & McGrady, M.J. (eds.) Wild Bird Society of Japan</ref>
The talons of the Haast's eagle were similar in length to those of the harpy eagle, with a front-left talon length of Template:Convert and a hallux-claw of possibly up to Template:Convert.<ref name= Worthy/> The Philippine eagle might be a particularly appropriate living species to compare with the Haast's eagle, because it too evolved in an insular environment from smaller ancestors (apparently basal snake eagles) to island gigantism in the absence of large carnivorous mammals and other competing predators.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The eagle's talons are similar to modern eagles, suggesting that it used its talons for hunting and not scavenging.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The strong legs and massive flight muscles of these eagles would have enabled the birds to take off with a jumping start from the ground, despite their great weight.<ref name=":2" /> The tail was almost certainly long, in excess of Template:Convert in female specimens, and very broad. This characteristic would compensate for the reduction in wing area by providing additional lift.<ref name=Brathwaite/> Total length is estimated to have been up to Template:Convert in females, with a standing height of approximately Template:Convert tall or perhaps slightly greater.<ref name= Worthy/>
Māori cave art depicts the Haast's eagle with a pale head. These Māori rock art drawings can still be found in modern-day South Canterbury near Timaru.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Combined with its vulture-like feeding behaviour, this might suggest it had a bald head, or had shorter feathers on its head than elsewhere on its body.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Behaviour and ecologyEdit
The Haast's eagle predominantly preyed on large, flightless bird species, including the moa, which ultimately led to the species' extinction.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Moa would be up to fifteen times the weight of the eagle.<ref name=Brathwaite/> 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.<ref name=":2" /> Due to the absence of other large predators or kleptoparasites, a Haast's eagle could easily have monopolised a single large kill over a number of days.<ref name="collections.tepapa.govt.nz" /> Its prey, the moa, could weigh up to Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
A 2021 analysis showed that, while predatory, the bill of the Haast's eagle was functionally closer to that of the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) than to that of other eagles. This is also supported by historic Māori Cave art which depicts the Haast's eagle being pale-headed.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It also suggests that it deployed feeding tactics more similar to those of vultures after making a kill, plunging its head into the body cavity to devour the vital organs of its prey. This may have been an adaptation as a result of the bird hunting animals much larger than itself.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
ExtinctionEdit
Until recent human colonisation that introduced rodents and cats, the only placental land mammals found on the islands of New Zealand were three species of bat.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Birds occupied or dominated all major niches in the New Zealand animal ecology. Moa were grazers, functionally similar to large ungulates, such as deer or cattle in other habitats, and Haast's eagles were the hunters who filled the same niche as top-niche mammalian predators.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
One study estimated the total population of Haast's eagle at 3,000 to 4,500 breeding pairs.<ref name="NZGeo"/> Early Māori settlers arrived in New Zealand sometime between AD 1250 and AD 1275,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Māori preyed heavily on large flightless birds, including all moa species. The added hunting pressure from the Māori led the moa to extinction by around 1440 to 1445.<ref name=":0"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Both eagles and Māori likely competed for the same foods.<ref name=":2" /> Unlike the adaptable humans, eagles were dependent on the native medium and large-sized flightless birds, being specialised in hunting them.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The loss of its primary prey caused the Haast's eagle to become extinct at about the same time as its prey.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref>
Relationship with humansEdit
Some believe that these birds are described in many legends of the Māori mythology, under the names pouākai, Hakawai (or Hōkioi in the North Island).<ref name="rodgers">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> According to an account given to Sir George Grey—an early governor of New Zealand—Hōkioi were huge black-and-white birds with yellow-green tinged wings and a red crest. In Māori mythology, Pouākai would prey on and kill humans along with moa,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> which scientists believe could have been possible if the name relates to the eagle, given the massive size and strength of the bird.<ref name=rodgers/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, it has also been argued that the "hakawai" and "hōkioi" legends refer to the Austral snipe—in particular the extinct South Island species.<ref name="Miskelly">Template:Cite journal</ref>
In popular cultureEdit
Artwork depicting Haast's eagle now may be viewed at OceanaGold's Heritage and Art Park at Macraes, Otago, New Zealand.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The sculpture, weighing approximately Template:Convert, standing Template:Convert tall, and depicted with a wingspan of Template:Convert is constructed from stainless steel tube and sheet and was designed and constructed by Mark Hill, a sculptor from Arrowtown, New Zealand.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} text version Template:Webarchive</ref> The Haast's eagle also appeared in a 2003 BBC documentary Monsters We Met.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
There is also a statue depicting the Haast's eagle in Karamea, West Coast. This statue was unveiled by the community and the Ngāti Waewae iwi.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
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- Wingspan Birds of Prey Trust
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