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Thanks for sharing that, I've never heard of the Haast's Eagle. The ~9ft wing span would be terrifying to see. > Haast's eagles preyed on large, flightless bi

Thanks for sharing that, I've never heard of the Haast's Eagle. The ~9ft wing span would be terrifying to see. > Haast's eagles preyed on large, flightless bird species, including the moa, which was up to fifteen times the weight of the eagle.[9] It is estimated to have attacked at speeds up to 80 km/h (50 mph) I wonder if these things attacked the early humans that inhabited New Zealand, before they went extinct.

grzm 8y ago
> "The ~9ft wing span would be terrifying to see." Wow! Looks like large bald eagles can have wing spans of 8ft, so you might get a chance to be nearly (89%?) as terrified :) > " The largest eagles are from Alaska, where large females may weigh up to 7.5 kg (17 lb) and span 2.44 m (8.0 ft) across the wings." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald_eagle#Description https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald_eagle#Description
- lostlogin 8y ago
  The Haasts Eagle had a small wingspan relative to it’s size, supposedly as an adaption for forest flight/Moa hunting. So depending on what measure you choose, eg weight, a bald eagle could be less than half the terror.
lostlogin 8y ago
It’s speculated that they did, and there is a small amount of evidence to support this - cave drawings and word-of-mouth legend among the Māori. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10597177 https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&object...