1 products
Hundreds of years ago New Zealand was home to a variety of unique animals that are sadly now extinct. The 2016 New Zealand Annual Coin features the fearsome and fantastic Haast’s eagle - the greatest predator to ever grace our skies. Pre-order yours now for late January.
The Haast’s eagle (Harpagornis moorei, known in Māori as the pouakāi) was the world’s largest eagle, with an impressive 2-3 metre wingspan and weighing up to 17.8 kilograms. This imposing predator’s main source of prey was the moa, which it was more than equipped to hunt. It is thought that the Haast’s eagle would perch in the forest waiting for suitable prey to wander into its midst before swooping down with incredible force. It would camp out by its kill until it had devoured it entirely, which in the case of the moa (which could weigh up to 250 kilograms) could easily have taken days.
Unfortunately the reliance on food sources such as the moa could have directly caused the Haast’s eagle’s extinction. After early human settlement resulted in the extinction of the moa, New Zealand goose, New Zealand swan and large rails, numbers of the Haast’s eagle diminished when it was unable to adapt, and it became extinct around 500 to 600 years ago.