Blog 6: Legends Come True in New Zealand

Image published by The Independent

The Independent published a story about how scientists have proven that a Maori legend about a man-eating bird is actually true.

"Scientists now think the stories handed down by word of mouth and depicted in rock drawings refer to Haast's eagle, a raptor that became extinct just 500 years ago, shows their study in The Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology."

The extinct bird was known to scientists, but they thought it was a scavenger. New studies show that it could attack people and big animals.

New Zealand is the place to go if you are interested in nature. The island was so isolated thousand of years ago, that birds that arrived there evolved in very different ways, because they did not have mammals predators. Just think kiwis, for example. (I watched a video with Sir Attenborough the other day, so I think I know what I am talking about). Unfortunately for the birds, mammals eventually arrived to the island, including us humans.