Case file · Cryptid
Pouakai and Haast's eagle
Māori traditions of a huge man-killing bird, the pouakai or hōkioi, were matched in 1871 when Julius von Haast described Harpagornis moorei from bones found in a Canterbury swamp.
1871 CE · -43.00, 171.60 · status: explained
The account
With a wingspan near three metres, Haast's eagle was the largest eagle known and preyed on moa; it died out around 1400 after the moa were hunted to extinction. Scholars debate how directly the oral traditions remember the living bird.
Connections in the atlas
- Craigieburn moa sighting
- Pouākai, the man-eating bird