Research backs legend of man-eating bird
September 22, 2009
An artist's impression of a Haast's eagle attacking moa. Image - John Megahan, PLoS Biology
(PhysOrg.com) -- A huge flesh-eating eagle that became extinct in New Zealand only 500 years ago was an efficient hunter that could attack prey 10 times its size, UNSW research has found, lending credibility to a Maori legend about a giant man-eating bird.
Research from UNSW’s School of Medical Sciences and NZ’s Canterbury Museum has confirmed that the Haast’s eagle - which had a wingspan of up to three metres and claws the size of a tiger - was indeed a predator and not a scavenger as previously thought.
Skeletal remains of the giant eagle (Harpagornis moorei) were first uncovered by Sir Julius von Haast in the 1870s. CAT scan re-examinations of the remains by Professor Ken Ashwell, from UNSW’s Department of Anatomy, and a colleague at Canterbury Museum in Christchurch, revealed that the bird had a strong enough pelvis to support a killing blow as it dived at speeds of up to 80kph.
A disproportionately small brain, olfactory and optic capacity in the Haast’s eagle also supports the theory that the giant bird evolved from a much smaller ancestor, most likely a genus of raptors which includes the modern day little eagle and the booted eagle.
The rapid growth in body size was likely due to the abundance of large prey particularly the moa, a flightless bird which grew up to 250kg and 2.5 metres tall.
Maori legend refers to a huge black-and-white predator - the Te Hokioi - that was capable of killing a man.
“That might be stretching things, but it was certainly capable of carrying off a child,” Professor Ashwell said.
The investigation was published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
-
Extinct New Zealand eagle may have eaten humans
Sep 11, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Scientists 'rebuild' giant moa using ancient DNA
Jul 01, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
'Terror bird' remains found in Argentina
Oct 26, 2006 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Huge owl moves into English village
Apr 18, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
New eagle crowding nesting eagle pair
Feb 18, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor
Feb 01, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (31) |
30
-
Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes
Jan 31, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
1
-
The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers
Jan 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
1
-
Stock market network reveals investor clustering
Jan 27, 2012 |
3.9 / 5 (23) |
8
-
Of microchemistry and molecules: Electronic microfluidic device synthesizes biocompatible probes
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
-
Stem cell question.
Feb 10, 2012
-
Protease cleavage
Feb 10, 2012
-
Pertubance in a model
Feb 10, 2012
-
Cancer drugs and Alzheimer's, Oh my!
Feb 09, 2012
-
Squishing cells
Feb 09, 2012
-
Any books/articles for evolutionary stable strategy models in humans?
Feb 09, 2012
- More from Physics Forums - Biology
More news stories
A frank discussion of the power law and linking correlation to causation
(PhysOrg.com) -- Michael Stumpf a mathematics professor at Imperial College in London, and Mason Porter a lecturer at Oxford have teamed together to write and publish a perspective piece in Science regarding the in ...
Employers feel no love for unscrupulous practice of 'service sweethearting'
A new study led by two Florida State University marketing professors finds that some frontline service employees who are rewarded for hikes in customer loyalty and satisfaction also may engage in "service ...
Other Sciences / Economics & Business
Feb 10, 2012 |
3.3 / 5 (3) |
11
US workers are 'giving away the store,' costing firms billions
Nearly 70 percent of the nation's service employees give away free goods and services from hamburgers to cable TV costing companies billions of dollars a year, according to a groundbreaking study.
Other Sciences / Economics & Business
Feb 09, 2012 |
3.5 / 5 (4) |
10
New insights into how to correct false knowledge
The abundance of false information available on the Internet, in movies and on TV has created a big challenge for educators.
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Feb 07, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (7) |
9
|
Neanderthal demise due to many influences, including cultural changes: study
As an ice age crept upon them thousands of years ago, Neanderthals and modern human ancestors expanded their territory ranges across Asia and Europe to adapt to the changing environment.
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Feb 07, 2012 |
4.4 / 5 (5) |
8
|
Google might launch Drive for cloud storage soon
(PhysOrg.com) -- Google's next big move, according to the Wall Street Journal, is a cloud storage service called Drive. Hardly first to the plate, Google is simply catching up to introducing its cloud reposi ...
Latin America mining boom clashes with conservation
Latin America is experiencing a mining boom as prices rise fuelled by a hike in global demand, but the region is also being hit by a wave of violent protests, strikes and rallies by environmentalists.
Walney offshore wind farm is world's biggest (for now)
(PhysOrg.com) -- The Walney wind farm on the Irish Sea--characterized by high tides, waves and windy weather--officially opened this week. The farm is treated in the press as a very big deal as the Walney ...
Love a click away in Indonesia's Twitter Republic
He was a geeky kid from Yogyakarta, she a glamorous city girl in Jakarta. In a country with one of the world's most vibrant social networking scenes they fell in love on Twitter.
GPS court ruling leaves US phone tracking unclear
A US Supreme Court decision requiring a warrant to place a GPS device on the car of a criminal suspect leaves unresolved the bigger issue of police tracking using mobile phones, legal experts say.
Europeans protest controversial Internet pact
Tens of thousands of people marched in protests in more than a dozen European cities Saturday against a controversial anti-online piracy pact that critics say could curtail Internet freedom.