Re: Big birds on Paleoworld

[ornstn@inforamp.net (Ronald Orenstein)]

>
>Someone mentioned Argentavus form South America.  I was wondering if any 
>of you know the name of the large eagle from Australia?  They found it's 
>remains in a cave along with some large flightless birds.  I don't 
>remember what show I saw this on.  Supposedly the flightless birds fell 
>in these big holes and somehow the eagle did too.  Any help would be 
>appreciated.

Are you thinking of Harpagornis moorei, the giant eagle from New Zealand?
This was a Pleistocene/Holocene form.  One of the three known skeletons was
found in a cave in 1989 (cf Brian Gill, New Zealand's Extinct Birds, Random
Century 1991); the largest, a presumed female, had a wingspan estimated at
nearly 3m and weighed an estimated 10-13kg.  The species may have preyed on
moas, and may have survived until c. 500 years ago.

BTW Argentavus is not an eagle but a teratorn; recent work suggests that the
view of teratorns as oversize vultures may be incorrect, though what they
were really doing I am not sure.
--
Ronald I. Orenstein                           Phone: (905) 820-7886 (home)
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