Haast's Eagle (Harpagornis moorei) was a species of massive eagle that once lived on the South Island of New Zealand. The species was the largest eagle known to have existed. Its prey consisted mainly of gigantic flightless birds that were unable to defend themselves from the striking force and speed of these eagles, which at times reached 80 km/h (50 mph). The Eagle's massive size may have been an evolutionary response to the size of its prey, as both would have been much smaller when they first came to the island, and would have grown larger over time due to lack of competition (see Island gigantism). The Haast's Eagle became extinct about 1400, when its major food sources, the moa, were hunted to extinction by Maori living on the island and much of its dense-forest habitat was cleared.

DNA analysis has shown that this raptor is related most closely to the much smaller Little Eagle as well as the Booted Eagle (both of these two species were recently reclassified as belonging to the genus Aquila ) and not, as previously thought, to the large Wedge-tailed Eagle. Thus, Harpagornis moorei may be reclassified as Aquila moorei, pending confirmation. H. moorei may have diverged from these smaller eagles as recently as 700,000 to 1.8 million years ago. Its increase in weight by ten to fifteen times over that period is the greatest and quickest evolutionary increase in weight of any known vertebrate. This was made possible in part by the presence of large prey and the absence of competition from other large predators^{[citation needed]}.

Monsters We Met is a documentary produced by the BBC and later aired on Animal Planet in 2004 (under the title, Land of Lost Monsters). The show used computer-generated imagery to recreate the life of the giant animals that lived during the last ice age and explains how early humans encountered them. It also features humans as the main reason to the extinction of all great animals. It was narrated by Ian Holm.

It starts with mammoths living during the Ice Age. It also shows how humans became top predators and started hunting mammoths. We also had to compete with other predators like the Short-faced Bear and the Saber-toothed cats. We destroyed them by depleting their food supply, and making them starve to death.

It starts by showing how humans migrated to Australia. We also hunted the native wildlife. We encountered the huge birds and the giant lizard, megalania. The reptiles kill two humans and they plan on burning the fields to kill the giant lizard. We then start to colonize other people.