If you thought eagles nowadays were impressive, best believe they’ve got nothing on Haast’s eagle ( Harpagornis moorei ). The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

Appearing in New Zealand sometime between 700,000 to 1.8 million years ago , everything about this now-extinct beast of a bird was supersized, from its hooked beak down to its tiger paw-sized feet and talons.

In fact, it’s the largest eagle species ever known to have lived, with a wingspan of up to 3 meters (9.8 feet) – that’s about 1.5 times as long as Michael Jordan is tall – and the females weighed a whopping 17.8 kilograms (39 pounds). For reference, the largest living eagle species, Steller’s sea eagle, weighs between 5 to 9 kilograms (11 to 20 pounds).

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