| Pouākai | |
| Folklore: | Māori |
| Grouping: | Birds of prey |
| Sub Grouping: | Eagles |
| Country: | New Zealand |
| Region: | South Island |
The Maori: '''pouākai''' (also spelled Maori: poukai) is a monstrous bird in Māori mythology.[1] [2]
In some of these legends, the Pouākai kills and eats humans. The myth may refer to the real but now extinct Haast's eagle: the largest known eagle species, which was able to kill an adult moa weighing up to, and which potentially had the capability to kill a human.[3]
Haast's eagles, which lived only in the east and northwest of New Zealand's South Island, did not become extinct until around two hundred years after the arrival of Māori. Eagles are depicted in early rock-shelter paintings in South Canterbury.[4] Large amounts of the eagle's lowland habitat had been destroyed by burning by AD 1350, and it was driven extinct by overhunting, both directly (Haast's eagle bones have been found in Māori archaeological sites) and indirectly: its main prey species, nine species of moa and other large birds such as adzebills, flightless ducks, and flightless geese, were hunted to extinction at the same time.[5]