Editing Haast's eagle (section)

==Description==
[[File:Giant Haasts eagle attacking New Zealand moa.jpg|thumb|Haast's eagle attacking moa by John Megahan]]

Haast's eagle was one of the largest known true [[Accipitriformes|raptors]].<ref name=":2" /> In length and weight, it was even larger than the largest living [[vulture]] (the [[Andean condor]]).<ref>{{Cite news |title=This Extinct Eagle May Have Gulped Guts Like a Vulture |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/30/science/haasts-eagle-vulture-new-zealand.html |last=Imbler |first=Sabrina |date=30 November 2021 |access-date=22 March 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]] |archive-date=22 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240322101045/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/30/science/haasts-eagle-vulture-new-zealand.html |url-status=live }}</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">{{cite journal|url=https://silo.tips/download/the-identity-of-the-fossil-raptor-of-the-genus-amplibuteo-aves-accipitridae-from|title=The Identity of the Fossil Raptor of the Genus ''Amplibuteo'' (Aves: Accipitridae) from the Quaternary of Cuba|author=Suarez, William|journal=Caribbean Journal of Science|volume=40|issue=1|pages=120–125|year=2004|access-date=22 March 2024|archive-date=20 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230520180441/https://silo.tips/download/the-identity-of-the-fossil-raptor-of-the-genus-amplibuteo-aves-accipitridae-from|url-status=live}}</ref> rivaled the Haast's in at least the aspect of total length.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Suarez |first=W. |year=2004 |title=The identity of the fossil raptor of the genus Amplibuteo (Aves: Accipitridae) from the Quaternary of Cuba |url=http://www.redciencia.cu/geobiblio/paper/2004_Suarez,%20W._Fossil%20Raptor%20of%20the%20Genus%20Amplibuteo_Cuba.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.redciencia.cu/geobiblio/paper/2004_Suarez,%20W._Fossil%20Raptor%20of%20the%20Genus%20Amplibuteo_Cuba.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live |journal=Caribbean Journal of Science |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=120–125}}</ref> Female eagles were larger than males.<ref>{{Cite news |title=The man – killer that came from the sky |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/lifestyle/2522035/The-man-killer-that-came-from-the-sky |last=O'Connor |first=Tom |date=28 July 2009 |access-date=22 March 2024 |work=[[Taranaki Daily News]] |archive-date=22 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240322093601/https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/lifestyle/2522035/The-man-killer-that-came-from-the-sky |url-status=live }}</ref> Most estimates place the female Haast's eagles in the range of {{convert|10–18|kg|abbr=on}} and males around {{convert|9|-|12|kg|abbr=on}}.<ref name=Brathwaite>{{cite journal |last=Brathwaite |first=D. H. |title=Notes on the weight, flying ability, habitat, and prey of Haast's Eagle (''Harpagornis moorei'') |journal=Notornis |date=December 1992 |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=239–247 |publisher=[[Ornithological Society of New Zealand]] |url=http://notornis.osnz.org.nz/system/files/Notornis_39_4_239.pdf |access-date=26 January 2014 |archive-date=19 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119162446/http://notornis.osnz.org.nz/system/files/Notornis_39_4_239.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Maori legend of man-eating bird is true |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/maori-legend-of-man-eating-bird-is-true/QRUOJKCF524QMJKX5P7SMTGO2Y/ |last=Rodgers |first=Paul |date=14 September 2009 |access-date=22 March 2024 |work=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |archive-date=22 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240322095247/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/maori-legend-of-man-eating-bird-is-true/QRUOJKCF524QMJKX5P7SMTGO2Y/ |url-status=live }}</ref> A comparison with living eagles of the Australasian region resulted in estimated masses in Haast's eagles of {{convert|11.5|kg|lb|abbr=on}} for males and {{convert|14|kg|lb|abbr=on}} for females.<ref name=Brathwaite/> One source estimates that the largest females could have weighed more than {{convert|16.5|kg|lb|abbr=on}}.<ref name= Worthy>Worthy, T. & Holdaway, R., ''The Lost World of the Moa: Prehistoric Life of New Zealand''. Indiana University Press (2003), {{ISBN|978-0253340344}}</ref> The largest extant eagles, none of which are verified to exceed {{convert|9|kg|lb|abbr=on}} in a wild state, are about forty percent smaller in body size than Haast's eagles.<ref name="Wood">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/guinnessbookofan00wood |title=The Guinness Book of Animal Facts and Feats |publisher=[[Guinness]] |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-85112-235-9 |author=Wood, Gerald |url-access=registration}}</ref>

[[File:Harpagornis claw vs eagle.png|thumb|Foot bones of Haast's eagle (top) and those of its [[common descent|closest living relative]], the [[little eagle]]]]
It had a relatively short wingspan for its size. It is estimated that the grown female typically spanned up to {{convert|2.6|m|ftin|abbr=on}}, possibly up to {{convert|3|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} in a few cases.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct/speciesinfo/haastseagle.htm |title=Recently Extinct Animals – Species Info – Haast's Eagle |author=Maas, P. |publisher=The Sixth Extinction |access-date=19 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120225443/http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct/speciesinfo/haastseagle.htm |archive-date=20 January 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/macro/islandrule/haast'seagle.html |title=Haast's Eagle |publisher=Paleobiology and Biodiversity Research Group |access-date=19 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505231658/http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/macro/islandrule/Haast'sEagle.html |archive-date=5 May 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> This wingspan is broadly similar to the larger range of female size in some [[Extant taxon|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 {{convert|2.5|m|ftin|abbr=on}} in wingspan. Several of the largest extant [[Old World vulture]]s, 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>{{cite book |year=2001 |title=Raptors of the World |publisher=[[Helm Identification Guides|Christopher Helm]] |location=London |isbn=0-7136-8026-1 |author1=Ferguson-Lees, J. |author2=Christie, D.}}</ref> Haast's eagle's relatively short wingspan has sometimes led to it being incorrectly portrayed as having evolved toward [[Flightless bird |flightlessness]], even though evidence strongly suggests that it flew.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Extinct Bird Series; Part Two; Haast's Eagle |date=29 December 2008 |work=[[The Press]] |publication-place=Christchurch, New Zealand |issn=0113-9762}}</ref> Instead, its short and broad wings represents an evolutionary departure from the mode of its ancestors' [[Bird flight |soaring flight]] in favour of navigating through a crowded woodland environment. Haast's eagles are likely to have hunted within the dense [[shrubland]] and [[forest]]s of New Zealand, somewhat akin to other forest-dwelling [[bird of prey|raptor]]s like the [[goshawk]]s or [[harpy eagle]].<ref name="BBCFactFiles">{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228152921/http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/3044.shtml |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/3044.shtml |title= Haast's eagle, New Zealand giant eagle |archive-date= 28 February 2009 |publisher=[[BBC]] |access-date= 30 September 2014}}</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 {{convert|11.4|cm|in|frac=16|abbr=on}} and the [[Tarsus (skeleton)|tarsus]] in several Haast's eagle fossils has been measured from {{convert|13.7|to|16.2|cm|in|frac=16|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hamilton |first=A. |year=1888 |title=On Avian Remains in Southland |journal=Transactions of the New Zealand Institute}}</ref> In comparison, the largest beaks of eagles today (from the Philippine and the Steller's sea eagle) reach a little more than {{convert|7|cm|in|frac=2|abbr=on}}; and the longest tarsal measurements (from the Philippine and the [[Papuan eagle]], ''Harpyopsis novaeguineae'') top out around {{convert|14|cm|in|frac=2 |abbr=on}}.<ref name=RaptorsWorld/><ref>Ladyguin, Alexander (2000). [http://www.wbsj.org/nature/kisyou/eagle/pdf/morphology.pdf The morphology of the bill apparatus in the Steller's Sea Eagle] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207065315/http://www.wbsj.org/nature/kisyou/eagle/pdf/morphology.pdf |date=7 February 2012 }}. 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 {{convert|4.9|to|6.15|cm|in|frac=16|abbr=on}} and a [[claw|hallux-claw]] of possibly up to {{convert|11|cm|in|frac=2|abbr=on}}.<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 [[Circaetinae|snake eagles]]) to island gigantism in the absence of large [[carnivorous]] mammals and other competing predators.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lerner |first1=Heather R.L. |last2=Mindell |first2=David P. |title=Phylogeny of eagles, Old World vultures, and other Accipitridae based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |date=November 2005 |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=327–346 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2005.04.010 |pmid=15925523|bibcode=2005MolPE..37..327L }}</ref> The eagle's talons are similar to modern eagles, suggesting that it used its talons for hunting and not scavenging.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 December 2021 |title=Haast's Eagle research points to bird being carnivorous predator |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/456971/haast-s-eagle-research-points-to-bird-being-carnivorous-predator |access-date=2 December 2021 |website=[[Radio New Zealand]] |language=en-nz |archive-date=2 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211202014623/https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/456971/haast-s-eagle-research-points-to-bird-being-carnivorous-predator |url-status=live }}</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 {{convert|50|cm|in|0|abbr=on}} in female specimens, and very broad. This characteristic would compensate for the reduction in wing area by providing additional [[lift (physics)|lift]].<ref name=Brathwaite/> Total length is estimated to have been up to {{convert|1.4|m|ftin|abbr=on}} in females, with a standing height of approximately {{convert|90|cm|ftin|abbr=on}} tall or perhaps slightly greater.<ref name= Worthy/>

Māori [[Cave painting|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>{{Cite news |title=Maori rock art sites our cathedrals |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/our-people/107972920/maori-rock-art-sites-our-cathedrals |last=Gerard |first=Hindmarsh |date=20 October 2018 |access-date=22 March 2024 |work=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]] |archive-date=22 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240322102206/https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/our-people/107972920/maori-rock-art-sites-our-cathedrals |url-status=live }}</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>{{Cite journal |last1=van Heteren |first1=A. H. |last2=Wroe |first2=S. |last3=Tsang |first3=L. R. |last4=Mitchell |first4=D. R. |last5=Ross |first5=P. |last6=Ledogar |first6=J. A. |last7=Attard |first7=M. R. G. |author-link7=Marie Attard |last8=Sustaita |first8=D. |last9=Clausen |first9=P. |last10=Scofield |first10=R. P. |last11=Sansalone |first11=G. |date=8 December 2021 |title=New Zealand's extinct giant raptor (Hieraaetus moorei) killed like an eagle, ate like a condor |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=288 |issue=1964 |pages=20211913 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2021.1913 |pmc=8634616 |pmid=34847767 |s2cid=244731381}}</ref>