Wildlife
Haast's eagle
Haast’s eagle was the largest eagle ever to have lived and the top predator of the time in its ecosystem. Its relatively short wings were designed for flapping flight and not for soaring, allowing for fast, manoeuvrable flight in dense forest. Because of its large size, Haast’s eagle was approaching the upper limit of size for flapping flight – if it had been any bigger it would have had to rely on gliding. It preyed upon the large flightless birds of the time, including various species of moa. Haast's eagle relied upon these flightless birds for food, once they were hunted to extinction then Haast's eagle became extinct soon after.
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Aerial man-killer
Monsters We Met
The world's largest aerial predator ever, Haast's eagle struck fear into the hearts of the Maori.
A drama reconstruction of how, in centuries past, Maori people lived in fear of Haast's eagle. The part of the Haast's eagle is played by a trained harpy eagle.
Habitats
The following habitats are found across the Haast's eagle distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.
Broadleaf forestBroadleaf forests are the dominant habitat of the UK and most of temperate northern Europe. There's little left of Britain's ancient wildwood, but isolated pockets of oak, beech and mixed deciduous and evergreen woodlands are scattered across the continent, and dictate its biodiversity.
Behaviours
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Carnivorous
Adapted to flying
Acoustic communication
Moulting
Egg layer
Predator
Sexual dimorphismAdditional data source: Animal Diversity Web
When they lived
Discover the other animals and plants that lived during the following geological time periods.
What their world was like
Ice ageThe last ice age hasn't ended, the climate has just warmed up a bit causing the ice sheets to retreat. When the ice was more extensive, our climate was very different.
About
Haast's Eagle (Harpagornis moorei) was a species of massive eagles that once lived on the South Island of New Zealand. The species was the largest eagle known to have existed. Its prey consisted mainly of gigantic flightless birds that were unable to defend themselves from the striking force and speed of these eagles, which at times reached 80 km/h (50 mph). The Eagle's massive size may have been an evolutionary response to the size of its prey, as both would have been much smaller when they first came to the island, and would have grown larger over time due to lack of competition (see Island gigantism). The Haast's Eagle became extinct about 1400, when its major food sources, the moa, were hunted to extinction by humans living on the island and much of its dense-forest habitat was cleared.
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Classification
- Life
- Animals
- Vertebrates
- Birds
- Birds of prey
- Hawk and eagle family
- Harpagornis
- Haast's eagle
Elsewhere on the web
- More information on Haast's eagle (nzbirds.com)
- Brief introduction to Haast's eagle (nzconservationtrust.org.nz)
- Haast's eagle fact sheet (petermaas.nl)
- Haast's Eagle (wikipedia.org)
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BBC links
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