Maori Legend of Man-Eating Bird is True

[FlyingKiwi]

The title certainly grabbed my attention! An ancient Maori legend of a giant bird big enough to eat people has been found to have basis in fact. The giant, and now extinct, Haast Eagle which inhabited New Zealand until around 500 years ago was previously thought to be only a scavenger, however new research has found it was most probably a hunter - the largest bird of prey in history.

Maori legend of man-eating bird is true

9:58AM Monday Sep 14, 2009
By Paul Rodgers



A Maori legend about a giant, man-eating bird has been confirmed by scientists.

Te Hokioi was a huge black-and-white predator with a red crest and yellow-green tinged wingtips, in an account given to Sir George Gray, an early governor of New Zealand.

It was said to be named after its cry and to have "raced the hawk to the heavens".

"It was certainly capable of swooping down and taking a child," said Paul Scofield, the curator of vertebrate zoology at the Canterbury Museum.

"They had the ability to not only strike with their talons but to close the talons and put them through quite solid objects such as a pelvis. It was designed as a killing machine."

Its main prey would have been moa, flightless birds which grew to as much as 250kg and 2.5 metres tall.

"In some fossil sites, moa bones have been found with signs of eagle predation," Dr Scofield said.

New Zealand has no native land mammals because it became isolated from other continents in the Cretaceous, more than 65 million years ago.

As a result, birds filled niches usually populated by large mammals such as deer and cattle.

"Haast's eagle wasn't just the equivalent of a giant predatory bird," said Dr Scofield. "It was the equivalent of a lion."

The eagle is thought to have died out after the arrival, 1000 years ago, of humans, who exterminated the giant moa.

The latest study shows it was a recent immigrant to the islands, related to the little eagle (Aquila morphnoides) an Australian bird weighing less than 1kg.

Remains of Haast's eagles are rare because there never were many.

They lived only on the South Island, with probably not more than 1000 breeding pairs at any one time.

- INDEPENDENT

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[Iconic]

What a great find, that is good that it doesn't still exist

[Scurry Inertia]

Aha! Further evidence that Lord of the Rings is a New Zealand documentry.

[FlyingKiwi]

Originally Posted by Brad..

What a great find, that is good that it doesn't still exist

Agreed - while it would be an amazing sight, I don't think I'd want those flying around outside!

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by FlyingKiwi

Agreed - while it would be an amazing sight, I don't think I'd want those flying around outside!

Imagine sucking one of those into a jet engine.

[bluey]

That's so rad
pretty scary thought lol

[The Amazing G]

now that's cool

makes you wonder what other legends could be true

[Pixie.]

I laughed at the author's name.
But that's just because I like that particular singer and all.

Damn birds, this is why i'm avoiding NZ at all costs.

[Iconic]

Originally Posted by FlyingKiwi

Agreed - while it would be an amazing sight, I don't think I'd want those flying around outside!

I could image it one minute your dog is there the next its gone

[Bobby B]

Originally Posted by FlyingKiwi

Agreed - while it would be an amazing sight, I don't think I'd want those flying around outside!

Haha It'd be cool... until it gets closer and closer and then you're looking at a giant bird's mouth

Originally Posted by Prismatic

Imagine sucking one of those into a jet engine.

the Plane goes BOOM? haha

[Neverender]

I'm gonna catch one so I can ride it.