Haast’s eagle has come up in the past.
It has gotten some press lately with new data on its history.
This discovery suggested that Haast’s eagle had made a gigantic leap in size from its closest relatives: a 15-fold increase in just 2 million years.
This and other news makes an interesting story on its evolution and evolution in general.
South American canids show a similar radiation.
“We found that all extant canids came from a single invasion that entered South America east of the Andes,”
These species soon spread all over South America, including the thin strip of land west of the Andes, adapting to different environments and becoming more genetically distinct. Today’s 10 species, the researchers found, all emerged between 1 million and 3 million years ago.