The giant Haast's eagle has competition!
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
- Haast's eagle (Harpagornis) has long been considered the biggest, baddest eagle ever, but there are some new kids on the block; giant fossil eagles from Australia and Cuba. Prof Steve assesses the competition and gives you the verdict.
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Hey, thanks!
oh my god i have seen you in so many documentaries i cant believe that you are actually in youtube you're a true legend
Thank you!
This is officially my favorite paleontology channel on youtube! Thank you for making great content. I'd like to see an episode on Homotherium.
Very kind of you and yes I will do Homotherium at some point
This channel is a rising star ⭐️!
@@messiahmatrix thank you. I hope so but either way I'm enjoying doing it!
Outstanding analysis! A true scientist.
Thank you! You would kind of hope so with 35 years of experience and a 130 peer-reviewed papers...........
Thank you Steve for the comprehensive analysis! I wonder if there were other giant eagles in early Quaternary to pre-Quaternary times? On islands on island-continents like Australia or South America. Bird fossil record is rather spotty, and even then we find such wonders as the Haast's Eagle.
I think it's certainly quite likely. Because their bones are so lightweight they rarely fossilize
That was a very interesting vid, well done!
Thank you
There's also Woodward's Eagle (Buteogallus woodwardi), a giant relative of modern Black Hawks, it easily rivaled the size of the more famous Haast's Eagle, the New Zealand bird only beating woodward's eagle by a slight margin. And remarkably, it lived in Late Pleistocene North America, alongside a host of iconic ice age megafauna, including Smilodon, american lions, dire wolves, mammoths, mastodons, american horses and camels, etc.
Yes I thought about including this bird. It certainly very interesting and might be worth a show of its own.. it's definitely the biggest hawk!
In case you should know, the scientific name of the woodward's eagle is actually Amplibuteo woodwardi, Amplibuteo belongs to the family Aquilidae like all eagles do whereas Buteogallus belongs to the family Accipitridae, which is now currently restricted to only the hawks, buzzards, harriers, and kites.
@@indyreno2933 Ugh, you again. Spouting more nonsense taxonomy I see. *Sigh* I'm not even going to bother trying to correct what you said, you'll just ignore what I say and spout even more nonsense.
@@jessejarmon2100, in case you should know, birds of prey (order Falconiformes) are currently split into nine extant families: Cariamidae (Seriemas), Sagittariidae (Secretarybird), Aquilidae (Eagles), Accipitridae (Hawks, Buzzards, Harriers, and Kites), Pandionidae (Ospreys), Aegypiidae (Old World Vultures), Caracaridae (Caracaras), Falconidae (Falcons, Kestrels, Hobbies, Falconets, and Montanaguila), and Cathartidae (New World Vultures).
Eagles (family Aquilidae) are split into three valid subfamilies: Circaetinae (Snake Eagles) with the tribes Spilornithini (Eastern Snake Eagles (contains Spilornis and Ornithoraptor)) and Circaetini (Western Snake Eagles (contains Circaetus, Terathopius, Dryotriorchis, and Eutriorchis)), Harpiinae (Tufted Eagles) with the tribes Pithecophagini (Philippine Eagle and Relatives (contains Sondaicotriorchis, Pithecophaga, and Harpyopsis)), Polemaetini (Martial Eagle, Crowned Eagles, and Relatives (contains Nisastur, Lophohierax, Nisaetus, Lophaetus, Polemaetus, and Stephanoaetus)), and Harpiini (New World Tufted Eagles (contains Oroaetus, Spizastur, Spizaetus, Harpyhaliaetus, Morphnus, and Harpia)), and Aquilinae (True Eagles) with the tribes Hieraaetini (Booted Eagle and Relatives (contains Hieraeetus, Pseudobuteo, and Cassinaetus)), Aquilini (Golden Eagle and Relatives (contains Archoraptor, Aquila, Lophotriorchis, Ammaetus, and Geranoaetus)), Haliaeetini (Sea Eagles and Relatives (contains Ictinaetus, Gigantokestrellus, Clanga, Ichthyophaga, and Haliaeetus)), and Uroaetini (Oceanian Eagles (contains Milvaetus and Uroaetus)).
The Haast's Eagle (Harpagornis moorei) is an extinct eagle species that inhabited New Zealand, it was one of the largest eagles that ever lived, its closest known relatives are the Thick-Boned Eagle (Dynatoaetus pachyosteus) and the Mather's Eagle (Dynatoaetus gaffae) and the closest living relatives of all three species are the Pygmy Eagle (Milvaetus weiskei), the Little Eagle (Milvaetus morphnoides), the Gurney's Eagle (Uroaetus gurneyi), and the Wedge-Tailed Eagle (Uroaetus audax), all these species are members of a unique tribe of true eagles known as Uroaetini, which is exclusively native to Oceania, this tribe was once more diverse containing many eagle species native to Oceania, many eagle species in the Uroaetini tribe have been known to take on large prey.
@@indyreno2933 sounds like bad AI
@@RealPaleontology, this isn't AI.
@@indyreno2933 good because I'd be trading it in if it was
@@RealPaleontology it has to be - none of the scientific names are correct.
Yes they are, as a matter of fact, the pygmy eagle (Milvaetus weiskei), little eagle (Milvaetus morphnoides), gurney's eagle (Uroaetus gurneyi), wedge-tailed eagle (Uroaetus audax), †thick-boned eagle (Dynatoaetus pachyosteus), †mather's eagle (Dynatoaetus gaffae), and †haast's eagle (Harpagornis moorei) that all constitute the tribe Uroaetini are more closely related to the tribe Haliaeetini which includes the asiatic black eagle (Ictinaetus malaiensis), african black eagle (Ictinaetus verreauxii), spot-bellied eagle (Gigantokestrellus spilogaster), indian spotted eagle (Clanga hastata), lesser spotted eagle (Clanga pomarina), greater spotted eagle (Clanga clanga), band-tailed fish eagle (Ichthyophaga leucorypha), lesser fish eagle (Ichthyophaga humilis), grey-headed fish eagle (Ichthyophaga ichthyaetus), mainland african fish eagle (Ichthyophaga vocifer), malagasy fish eagle (Ichthyophaga vociferoides), white-bellied sea eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster), solomon eagle (Haliaeetus sanfordi), white-tailed sea eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla), steller's sea eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus), and bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) than any of them are to either the tribes Aquilini that contains the eastern imperial eagle (Archoraptor heliacus), iberian imperial eagle (Archoraptor adalberti), golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), steppe eagle (Aquila nipalensis), tawny eagle (Aquila rapax), rufous-bellied eagle (Lophotriorchis kienerii), the wahlberg's eagle (Ammaetus wahlbergi), the ayres's eagle (Ammaetus ayresii), and black-chested eagle (Geranoaetus melanoleucus) or Hieraaetini that contains the booted eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus), bonelli's eagle (Pseudobuteo fasciatus), and cassin's eagle (Cassinaetus africanus).
Vultures are beautiful... and speaking of rhe "probability we havent found the largest", do you plan on making a video on the giant trassic ichthyosaurs?
Yes, I agree with you! But unfortunately I think most other people don't. And even if you think their faces are a bit sketchy, I don't see how anyone could but admire their ability to artfully harness the thermals. And yep I'll definitely look at some ichthyosaurs. I did briefly cover the biggest in the episode on megalodon...........
I'd love to have a Haast's Eagle-skull STL file so I could 3d-print my own specimen.
I think you can get a foot of the web.
@RealPaleontology
I saw that one. It's available on ebay. 😎👍
@@guodzillakaiju5683 yep, and there are various sites from which you can pull down everything from the skull of a terror bird to the entire skeleton of a giant short face to bear.
This guy is a professional in world of amateurs.
I know right?
Thanks heaps!
Going back to the sabretooth videos - could you do one about Barbourofelis fricki?
@@elisabethostrowski3783 yes I will definitely do that!
Huh so the Haast's eagle may have had a bald head?? thats actually really interesting
Yeah I think it's really quite likely
Awesome video. I'm working on a video on my opinion on the possible evolution of the Great White Shark.
Thanks and best of luck with your video hope it goes well. Have you seen mine on Megalodon? Might be of interest?
@RealPaleontology
I saw your Megalodon video.
thank for the interesting talk ,
same as the last commit, it competitive they eat every thing they can specialization is an indicator of competition and bent of the flavors it favored ,something to do with the gut flora ,?
on another note something I keep repeating during a trip to NT in the 1980 , I witnessed a Eagle , black , eating road kill in the center of the road it stretched its wings to fly and was not a foot either side of the paved road to spare. so about 14 ft wing span
Well that's gotta be a wedge tail.
@@RealPaleontology when mating opportunities are or become limited I thought that cross breading may happen between closely related species, i say that because of the following i moved to South Australia from the east coast and used of seeing grays Kangaroos and since I been here on the west side of south Australia I seen more variation in Kangaroos that i was educated existed from tall and extremely heavily built that stopped the cars that hit them colour differences to gray to blond ,even one female with round ears but not the suckling or others killed on the road and short with large ears i hope i have not bored you ,,
Strange question, but how fast do carcasses rot new zealand compared to Australia? I understand that in rainforests, dead animals get disposed of very quickly.
Im wondering since how much of a giant moa, haasts could could actually eat before either it spoils or gets eaten by other animals.
Good question. One thing to remember is that there were no big terrestrial predators in New Zealand so it had no competition aside from other eagles.
@RealPaleontology so is it mainly animals that dispose of carrion?
Im also guessing haasts, like vultures might have stronger stomachs when it comes to microbes.
I'm just wondering even ignoring the gristle and bone. How haasts managed to eat a moa without it rotting first.
I do a fossil tour of the Rockhampton zoo and will gladly add this info to the Wedge Tail eagle part of my talk (I show them my terror bird skull)
Awesome and yes Australians should know they had a giant eagle!
Wait I thought dynatoaetus was most closely related to vultures? Also apparently there’s 40 pound estimates for haast not sure how reliable they are though.
@@Skyypixelgamer yep it falls outside of the clade that would includes most living eagles. It seems to be closest to serpent Eagles. This includes the Philippine monkey eating eagle. And you can certainly find higher weight estimates for any of these extinct Giants depending on which method you use.
basically: haast eagle is the true bald eagle. bald eagle is now lesser called lesser seagul eagle
great
A late comment from a new viewer: I suspect the condors of the Americas evolved to take advantage of a bounty of marine mammal corpses washing up on the western shores of those continents. I've always seen Haasts eagle depicted as purely a moa killer. Could it be that it evolved to exploit big corpses washed up on New Zealand's shores, only opportunistically going after moas? The condor-like head seems less likely to have evolved to for digging into the body cavities of other birds.
Well I don't doubt that they would take such a feast when it presented itself. But those huge talons aren't the talons of a regular carion feeder
@@RealPaleontology Thanks for reading and replying to my comment! America's condors evolved from vulture stock with their walking feet, but imagine a few Little Eagles fetching up on New Zealand shores. Abundance of marine carcasses would certainly select for bigger size, the elongated and bare head, and maybe longer neck, but would there be pressure to change foot anatomy?
I see your point, but the feet of the ancestral Haast's Eagle actually got much larger in relative as well as absolute terms
@ really interesting! Thanks!
Hard to wrap my head around someone being eaten by a bird. A lone kid maybe? Between us being highly social and aggressive I wonder if adults had anything to worry about.
I totally agree that at most it would have been a very rare event! If it ever did happen then yes, more likely a child than a Maori warrior! I only point out that it would have been physically possible.
Do any of these birds have flight paths near Vietnam? Of the few grandiose war stories my grandfather has, he is adamant about seeing a bird so large that he could have put its tail feather in his hat, and it would've dragged the floor. Maybe the bird grew in size over the decades, maybe he was high, but of all the stories you can exagerate, im not surw qhy a bird stor6 would be on your list of lifelong memories unless he truly saw a rather large bird. Maybe not a bird with 6ft tail feathers, but maybe a large bird
@@ANONM60D there are no giant Eagles in Vietnam.
@@ANONM60D there are no giant Eagles in Vietnam. There are some large stalks and these are big birds
A Japanese long tailed rooster maybe? It isn't a giant bird, but the feather could be that long.
Ah, I see that the Marabou Stork fits his legendary tale! Amazing, thank you.
@@ANONM60D yep and that is a very big bird!
it would be nice to think humans were prey to the haast eagle, but its most likely it never happened, and it was the other way around. even lions and leopards normally give the hyper aggressive, excitable, insane predatory ape a wide berth if they get the chance. humans almost certainly targeted this eagle for food, feathers for ceremonial head dresses or whatever reason humans kill everything for. and humans are almost certainly the reason this eagle went extinct, from either direct hunting or from wiping out its prey species. just like the philipine monkey eating eagle and harpy eagle are heading there today.
Yes, by and large I agree. It's possible that the occasional human fell prey to an eagle but I'm sure far more evils died at the hands of humans. And that's before we consider the effect of the destruction of their habitat.
Eagle species even today are both capable and willing of human predation. The martial eagle and the crowned eagle both have confirmed incidents of it both in modern record and prehistory too in the case of the taung child. Furthermore animals that you mentioned such as big cats have an extremely lengthy history of predation on humans, particularly in antiquity. The idea that predators do not engage us is not very accurate. Some are willing to consume humans opportunistically. Birds of prey in particular can be very bold hunters, sometimes engaging with prey they cannot even successfully subdue, I’m fairly confident the Haast’s eagle was not opposed to killing people at times
Of course they kill Moa. They go for the head like red tail hawks go for the head of a turkey. They are the exact same size comparison only scaled down.
Not exactly. Evidence from damaged skeletons of moa Shows that they drove their talons into the vertebral column. Eagles primarily use their talons to make the kill, falcons typically use their beaks. But different raptors will apply different techniques depending on the size and type of prey.
@ yeah I’m sure that with the limited amount of Skulls that you’re getting a clear picture of the habits of these creatures sad face
@@shannoncockrell4861 yes indeed we do have enough evidence. Certainly enough to convince all of the world's experts on this bird. But hey, if you want to draw a different conclusion based on your personal observations of a distantly related bird of prey you are of course welcome to do so.
Incidentally, we have quite a few well preserved moa skulls. I've built computer models of various species. To the best of my knowledge none show any damage that would have been caused by the giant raptor.