Haast's eagle

Haast's eagle

English

Etymology

Named after New Zealand explorer and geologist Julius von Haast, who described it scientifically in 1871.

Noun

Haast's eagle (plural Haast's eagles)

1. An extinct giant eagle of New Zealand, †Hieraaetus moorei, which preyed on moas.
   • 2012, Matt Kaplan, The Science of Monsters, Simon & Schuster (Scribner), page 26,

     Haast's eagle lived on the island undisturbed until people arrived and started eating all the moas they could find.

   • 2015, Janine Rogers, Eagle, Reaktion Books, page 21,

     The moas were bigger than modern ostriches, so the fact that Haast's eagle was able to kill them (hitting them from the side and taking them down that way) is even more impressive.

   • 2021 December 11, Christa Lesté-Lasserre, The bird that was eagle and vulture, New Scientist, Issue 3364, page 23,

     To work out how the Haast’s eagle (Hieraaetus moorei) — which lived in New Zealand and weighed up to 15 kilograms — fed, Anneke van Heteren at the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology in Germany and her colleagues created digital 3D models of specimens.

Usage notes

Formerly (until 2005) classified in the now obsolete genus †Harpagornis.

Translations

extinct giant eagle, Hieraaetus moorei

German: Haastadler m Italian: aquila di Haast f Russian: орёл Ха́аста m (orjól Xáasta)