Haast’s Eagle (Harpagornis moorei)

This Haast’s Eagle (Harpagornis moorei) skull is of an extinct species of eagle that once lived in the South Island of New Zealand. It is thought to be the Pouakai of Maori legend. In Māori mythology, the pouakai or poukai is a sizeable monstrous bird. In these legends, pouakai kill and eat humans. The myth is now thought to refer to the real but now extinct Haast’s eagle.

This Haast’s Eagle was the largest eagle known to have existed and which could kill humans. Its massive size is explained as an evolutionary response to the size of its prey, the giant flightless Moa.

Giant Haast’s eagle attacking New Zealand Moa

Haast’s eagle became extinct around 1400 after the Moa were hunted to extinction by the first Māori. This probably took place around one hundred years after the arrival of the Māori, and the Moa become extinct due to overhunting by the Māori, and loss of natural habitat.

Haast’s Eagle (Harpagornis moorei)

• Exhibit:                   Haast’s Eagle (Harpagornis moorei)
• Date:                        1500
• Origin:                     New Zealand
• Museum:                 Canterbury Museum, Christchurch

A Tour of the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch

• Moa Skeleton
• South Island Adzebill
• Haast’s Eagle
• Canoe Bailer – Tiheru
• Antarctic Sledges
• Maori Pare – Lintel from a Maori Meeting House
• Maori Pātaka or Storehouse Panels

A Tour of New Zealand’s Museums

• Museums in Auckland
  • Auckland War Memorial Museum
  • New Zealand Maritime Museum
  • Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki

• Museums in Wellington
  • Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

• Museums in Christchurch
  • • Canterbury Museum, Christchurch

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“As man disappears from sight, the land remains.”
– Maori Proverb

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Photo Credit: GM 2) By John Megahan [CC BY 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons