Here's something which has a principle worth applying to the Bigfoot matter:
Quote:
"The science supports Maori mythology of the legendary pouakai or hokioi, a huge bird that could swoop down on people in the mountains and was capable of killing a small child," he said.
Extinct New Zealand eagle may have eaten humans
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090911/ap_ ... ller_eagleQuote:
By MICHAEL CASEY, AP Environmental Writer Michael Casey, Ap Environmental Writer – Fri Sep 11, 3:34 pm ET
BANGKOK – Sophisticated computer scans of fossils have helped solve a mystery over the nature of a giant, ancient raptor known as the Haast's eagle which became extinct about 500 years ago, researchers said Friday. The researchers say they have determined that the eagle — which lived in the mountains of New Zealand and weighed about 40 pounds (18 kilograms) — was a predator and not a mere scavenger as many thought.
Much larger than modern eagles, Haast's eagle would have swooped to prey on flightless birds — and possibly even the rare unlucky human.
Ken Ashwell of the University of New South Wales in Australia and Paul Scofield of the Canterbury Museum in New Zealand wrote their conclusions in the peer-reviewed Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
Using computed axial tomography, or CAT, the researchers scanned several skulls, a pelvis and a beak in an effort to reconstruct the size of the bird's brain, eyes, ears and spinal cord.
They compared their data on the Haast's eagle to characteristics of modern predator birds and scavenger birds to determine that the bird was a fearsome predator that ate the flightless moa birds and even humans.
The researchers also determined the eagle quickly evolved from a much smaller ancestor, ...
That Extinction date is interesting:
Quote:
Scientists believe the Haast's eagle became extinct about 500 years ago, most likely due to habitat destruction and the extinction of its prey species at the hands of early Polynesian settlers. Before the humans colonized New Zealand about 750 years ago, the largest inhabitants were birds like the Haast's eagle and the moa.
Say, how long is it, again, the coelacanth has been "extinct"?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coelacanth Quote:
The coelacanths, which are related to lungfishes and tetrapods, were believed to have been extinct since the end of the Cretaceous period, until the first Latimeria specimen was found off the east coast of South Africa, off the Chalumna River in 1938.
And back to the "Folk Tale" aspect:
Quote:
Scofield said the findings are similar to what he found in Maori folk tales. "The science supports Maori mythology of the legendary pouakai or hokioi, a huge bird that could swoop down on people in the mountains and was capable of killing a small child," he said.
Don't know about you, but I'm curious as to what other "folk tales" may someday be supported by science.
Someday we may well nab a Nessie or bag a Bigfoot.
Anything's possible.
_________________
"Every time you don't follow your inner guidance,
you feel a loss of energy, loss of power, a sense of spiritual deadness."
- Shakti Gawain
14 Sep 2009, 7:57 pm
