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Post by surroundx on Feb 3, 2014 13:50:50 GMT
WELLINGTON (Reuters Life!) - Long before humans fully colonised New Zealand some 750 years ago, a giant, and now extinct, eagle ruled the skies, swooping down on its prey of flightless birds, according to a new study. Scientists have known about the existence of Haast's eagle for over a century based on excavated bones, but the behaviour of these giant birds was not entirely clear. Because of their large size -- these eagles weighed up to 40 lbs (18 kg) -- some scientists believe they were scavengers rather than predators. But the new study showed that not only was Haast's eagle a fearsome predator that probably swooped on its prey from a high mountain perch, it also it evolved over a relatively short period of time from a much smaller-bodied ancestor. Researchers Paul Scofield of the Canterbury Museum in New Zealand and Ken Ashwell of the University of New South Wales used computerised CT and CAT scans to reconstruct the size of the brain, eyes, ears and spinal cord of this ancient eagle. These data were compared to values from modern predatory and scavenging birds to determine the habits of the extinct eagle. "This work is a great example of how rapidly evolving medical techniques and equipment can be used to solve ancient mysteries," said Ashwell, co-author of the study. It is also an example of how the oral traditions of ancient peoples and scientific research can sometimes reach the same conclusion, added lead author Scofield. "This science supports Maori [native New Zealander] mythology of the legendary pouakai or hokioi, a huge bird that could swoop down on people in the mountains and was capable of killing a small child," he said. Haast's eagle became extinct a mere 500 years ago, probably due to habitat destruction and the extinction of its prey species by early Polynesian settlers. The study was published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Scofield, R. Paul and Ashwell, Ken W. S. (2009). Rapid somatic expansion causes the brain to lag behind: the brain and behavior of New Zealand's Haast's Eagle (Harpagornis moorei). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29(3): 637-649. [automatic download] |
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Post by surroundx on Nov 14, 2016 12:20:01 GMT
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Post by surroundx on Jan 5, 2017 10:51:02 GMT
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Post by surroundx on Jan 5, 2017 10:53:58 GMT
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Post by surroundx on Jan 5, 2017 10:55:48 GMT
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Post by RSN on Jan 12, 2017 17:18:23 GMT
Heather Lerner, Les Christidis, Anita Gamauf, Carole Griffiths, Elisabeth Haring, Christopher J. Huddleston, Sonia Kabra, Annett Kocum, Meade Krosby, Kirsti Kvaløy, David Mindell, Pamela Rasmussen, Nils Røv, Rachel Wadleigh, Michael Wink & Jan Ove Gjershaug (2017) Phylogeny and new taxonomy of the Booted Eagles (Accipitriformes: Aquilinae). Zootaxa 4216(4): 301–320. www.mapress.com/j/zt/article/view/zootaxa.4216.4.1 |
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Post by surroundx on Nov 11, 2017 0:37:01 GMT
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Post by surroundx on Jul 15, 2018 1:22:53 GMT
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Post by Melanie on Jul 31, 2018 14:07:33 GMT
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Post by Melanie on Feb 11, 2019 12:40:24 GMT
Michael Knapp, Jessica E. Thomas, James Haile, Stefan Prost, Simon Y.W. Ho, Nicolas Dussex, Sophia Cameron-Christie, Olga Kardailsky, Ross Barnett, Michael Bunce, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, R. Paul Scofield: Mitogenomic evidence of close relationships between New Zealand’s extinct giant raptors and small-sized Australian sister-taxa, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 2019, doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2019.01.026Abstract Prior to human arrival in the 13th century, two large birds of prey were the top predators in New Zealand. In the absence of non-volant mammals, the extinct Haast's eagle (Hieraaetus moorei), the largest eagle in the world, and the extinct Eyles' harrier (Circus teauteensis) the largest harrier in the world, had filled ecological niches that are on other landmasses occupied by animals such as large cats or canines. The evolutionary and biogeographic history of these island giants has long been a mystery. Here we reconstruct the origin and evolution of New Zealand’s giant raptors using complete mitochondrial genome data. We show that both Eyles’ harrier and Haast’s eagle diverged from much smaller, open land adapted Australasian relatives in the late Pliocene to early Pleistocene. These events coincided with the development of open habitat in the previously densely forested islands of New Zealand. Our study provides evidence of rapid evolution of island gigantism in New Zealand’s extinct birds of prey. Early Pleistocene climate and environmental changes were likely to have triggered the establishment of Australian raptors into New Zealand. Our results shed light on the evolution of two of the most impressive cases of island gigantism in the world. www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790318306328?via%3Dihub |
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Post by Melanie on Feb 11, 2019 13:10:34 GMT
Brian J. Gill, Ricardo Palma, Alan J. D. Tenyson, R. Paul Scofield, B. D. Bell, G. K. Chambers, D. G. Medway, Trevor H. Worthy: Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica, 4. Auflage, Checklist Committee Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Te Papa Press in association with the Ornithological Society of New Zealand Inc., 2010, ISBN 978-1-877385-59-9, pgs. 172-173 †Aquila moorei (Haast) Haast’s Eagle Harpagornis moorei Haast, 1872: Trans. N.Z. Inst. 4: 193 – Glenmark, Canterbury. Harpagornis assimilis Haast, 1874: Trans. N.Z. Inst. 6: 64 – Glenmark, Canterbury. Hieraaetus moorei (Haast); Bunce et al. 2004, Public Library Science Biology 39(1) E9: 1. Aquila moorei (Haast); this work. New combination. Holdaway (1990) synonymised Harpagornis assimilis with H. moorei, formalising the treatment that had been in use for some time. Based on a morphological skeletal analysis, Holdaway (1991, 1994a) found Harpagornis to be the sister taxon of Aquila, contra Oliver (1955) who provided reasons for Haliaeetus being the closest relative. Bunce et al. (2005) assessed the phylogenetic relationships of Harpagornis using mtDNA, and obtained data placing it in a clade with a group of small eagles in the genus Hieraaetus, specifi cally the little eagle H. morphnoides and the booted eagle H. pennatus. Bunce et al. (2005) advocated the synonymy of Harpagornis within Hieraaetus and not with Aquila as suggested by Holdaway (1994a). Following publication of several phylogenetic studies (Wink & Seibold 1996, Wink et al. 1996, Wink 2000, Wink & Sauer-Gürth 2000, Roulin & Wink 2004, Wink & Sauer-Gürth 2004, Helbig et al. 2005, Lerner & Mindell 2005, Haring et al. 2007) a reassessment of the taxonomy of Hieraaetus and Aquila eagles has been synthesised which proposes that the species currently included in Hieraaetus and Aquila do not form separate monophyletic groups but a series of minor clades at a level below that of genus. Thus all “booted” eagle taxa, often previously included in Aquilinae, are now widely agreed to belong to a single genus Aquila (see Barthel & Helbig 2005, Sangster et al. 2005, Mebs & Schmidt 2006, Commission de l’Avifaune Française 2007) and, given the genetic evidence of Bunce et al. (2005) and the morphological evidence of Holdaway (1994a), we include H. moorei in this genus. Widespread in South Island in Pleistocene–Holocene sites and in middens. No valid records from the North Island (Worthy 2000). Its range contracted at the end of the Pleistocene so that in the Holocene it was found only in mountainous areas and east of the Southern Alps / Kä Tiritiri o te Moana. www.researchgate.net/publication/272507435_Checklist_of_the_Birds_of_New_Zealand_Norfolk_and_Macquarie_Islands_and_the_Ross_Dependency_Antarctica |
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Post by Melanie on May 1, 2019 23:41:29 GMT
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Post by Melanie on Dec 1, 2021 13:23:52 GMT
A. H. van Heteren, S. Wroe, L. R. Tsang, D. R. Mitchel, P. Ross, K. A. Ledogar, M. R. G. Attaro, D. Sustaita, P. Clausen, R. P. Scofield & G, Sansalone, 2021 New Zealand's extinct giant raptor (Hieraaetus moorei) killed like an eagle, ate like a condor Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 288 (1964): Article ID 20211913. doi:10.1098/rspb.2021.1913 Abstract: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2021.1913The extinct Haast's eagle or harpagornis (Hieraaetus moorei) is the largest known eagle. Historically, it was first considered a predator, then a scavenger, but most recent authors have favoured an active hunting ecology. However, the veracity of proposed similarities to carrion feeders has not been thoroughly tested. To infer feeding capability and behaviour in harpagornis, we used geometric morphometric and finite-element analyses to assess the shape and biomechanical strength of its neurocranium, beak and talons in comparison to five extant scavenging and predatory birds. The neurocranium of harpagornis is vulture-like in shape whereas its beak is eagle-like. The mechanical performance of harpagornis is closer to extant eagles under biting loads but is closest to the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) under extrinsic loads simulating prey capture and killing. The talons, however, are eagle-like and even for a bird of its size, able to withstand extremely high loads. Results are consistent with the proposition that, unlike living eagles, harpagornis habitually killed prey larger than itself, then applied feeding methods typical of vultures to feed on the large carcasses. Decoupling of the relationship between neurocranium and beak shape may have been linked to rapid evolution. |
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Post by surroundx on May 21, 2022 8:06:02 GMT
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Post by koeiyabe on Aug 6, 2023 3:27:24 GMT
 "Atlas of Extinct Animals (in Japanese)" by Radek Maly (2022) |
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Post by Melanie on Jan 1, 2024 16:24:14 GMT
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Post by Sebbe on Oct 27, 2024 8:11:22 GMT
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