Environment

Te Hokioi: Maori Man-Eating Bird Legend Is True

by Annina Bergman | September 14, 2009 at 10:25 am

3413 views | 2 Recommendations | 3 comments

A legendary bird that ate humans is more than a Maori legend. Te Hokioi, a bird with talons as big as tigers' paws, existed in the form of Haast's eagle, which became extinct around 500 years ago when humans killed its main prey, the moa.

Sir Julius von Haast discovered the remains of a large bird in the swamps of New Zealand in the 1870s. Because its bill was much like the one of a vulture, the bird was believed to be a scavenger, not a predator - but modern technology has now showed that Haast's eagle was capable of killing large prey, and was likely Te Hokioi.

Te Hokioi had a wingspan of nearly ten feet (3 meters) and weighed 40lbs (18kg), twice the size of the largest living eagle, Steller's sea eagle. It fed mainly on moa, birds which were incapable of flying, and weighed as much as 550lbs (250kg). Humans hunted the moa to extinction after their arrival in New Zealand around 1,000 years ago, killing Te Hokioi at the same time.

New Zealand has no native land mammals because it became isolated from other continents in the Cretaceous, more than 65 million years ago. As a result, birds filled niches usually populated by large mammals such as deer and cattle. "Haast's eagle wasn't just the equivalent of a giant predatory bird," said Dr Scofield. "It was the equivalent of a lion."

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LincolnB

at 11:50 on September 14th, 2009

We have been getting birds back for that ever since. See KFC.

Lincoln B
HSA

LarryDeezell

at 15:11 on September 14th, 2009

Interesting, the article reminds me of a youtube video of the golden eagle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QXMyNv4V54

Ed Smith (not verified)

at 02:27 on September 15th, 2009

Being of maori descent I was often told of giant birds that lived on Mt Tarawera that swopped down at people Te Hokioi / Puakai and hunted other birds including Moa.Also of an ancestor who had a pet Moa he had tamed and learnt to ride. He lived some where around Kawerau. I proudly told my teacher about these to which I was told "I think your telling me a very tall story, your relatives are having you on !" I went home and got told about a story from "The tales of a thousand and one nights".About a large eagle called a ROK which swopped down to grab children in some far-off land and scared the living daylights out of these Arab adventurers. My old grand-uncle laughed saying "No it's true see these fellas they saw them too when they came here long, long ago. I mean what's a kid suppose to believe ah! A journal records sailors on the N.Z coast in 1810s sighting Emus walking on the shore. Oh I know Cook Discovered NZ, those savage savages noble they may be but the legends they tell.