What is Haast's eagle?
{{Taxobox | name = Haast's eagle | image = Giant_Haasts_eagle_attacking_New_Zealand_moa.jpg | image_width = 300px | image_caption = Artist's idea of a Haast's eagle attacking [[moa]] | regnum = [[Animal]]ia | classis = [[Aves]] | ordo = [[Accipitriformes]] | familia = [[Accipitridae]] | genus = '''''Harpagornis''''' | binomial = ''Harpagornis moorei'' | binomial_authority = [[Julius von Haast|Haast]], 1872}} '''Haast's eagle''' (''Harpagornis moorei'') was the largest known eagle.<ref>Compare with [[Argentavis magnificens|''Argentavis'']] and ''[[Pelagornis]]''.</ref> It is the only [[eagle]] in the world known to have been the [[top predator]] in its [[ecosystem]]. It lived on the [[South Island]] of [[New Zealand]], where there were no other large predators. Fossil evidence shows that the areas where the Haast’s eagle lived were covered in forest and [[shrubland]]s, as well as in the [[grassland]]s on river [[floodplain]]s. The arrival of people in [[New Zealand]] had unfortunate consequences for the eagle. By 1400 AD, most of the forest [[habitat]] it used had been cleared by fire, and most of the large flightless [[moa]]s that it ate had been hunted to extinction. Not surprisingly, Haarst's eagle also became extinct. == References == {{reflist}} {{-}} {{biology-stub}} [[Category:Eagles]]