Flights of fancy
New Zealand Listener|April 13-19, 2024
Peter Walker cleverly weaves Arabian tales, early Chinese and Persian voyages, eccentric amateur fossil hunters and a colonialist hardman” into one intriguing story.
CHRIS MOORE
Flights of fancy

There once was a time when no thinking person with any claim to being a true intellectual would be without a personal collection of objects biological, zoological or palaeontological, each labelled, catalogued and housed in cabinets of curiosities.

Peter Walker has resurrected this notion in his own literary cabinet. The time has come, he suggests in this intriguing new book, to talk of many things. But instead of cabbages, kings and sealing wax, the returned expat author (The Fox Boy, The Courier's Tale) and journalist focuses his attention on a single fabled creature, one that casts a long shadow throughout the book's myriad twists and turns. The extinct Haast's eagle, Harpagornis moorei, Te Hōkioi, the largest eagle known to have existed, hovers over these pages as it once did from its eyrie in the South Island mountains. With a wing span of 2-3 metres and a body weight of up to 15kg, the formidable hunter preyed on the much larger but flightless moa placidly browsing below. Te Hökioi, also known as Te Pouakai, is thought to have evolved from smaller species of eagles 1.8 million to 700,000 years ago. By the early 15th century, it was extinct, alongside the moa, but it had survived long enough to encounter (and probably alarm) the first Polynesian settlers of Aotearoa, stamping itself into their psyches. European arrivals later dismissed these stories as a folk myth -until the discovery of a small piece of Te Hōkioi that changed everything.

This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM NEW ZEALAND LISTENERView all
First-world problem
New Zealand Listener

First-world problem

Harrowing tales of migrants attempting to enter the US highlight the political failure to fully tackle the problem.

time-read
3 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Applying intelligence to AI
New Zealand Listener

Applying intelligence to AI

I call it the 'Terminator Effect', based on the premise that thinking machines took over the world.

time-read
2 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Nazism rears its head
New Zealand Listener

Nazism rears its head

Smirky Höcke, with his penchant for waving with a suspiciously straight elbow and an open palm, won't get to be boss of either state.

time-read
2 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Staying ahead of the game
New Zealand Listener

Staying ahead of the game

Will the brave new world of bipartisanship that seems to be on offer with an Infrastructure Commission come to fruition?

time-read
4 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Grasping the nettle
New Zealand Listener

Grasping the nettle

Broccoli is horrible. It smells, when being cooked, like cat pee.

time-read
3 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Hangry? Eat breakfast
New Zealand Listener

Hangry? Eat breakfast

People who don't break their fast first thing in the morning report the least life satisfaction.

time-read
3 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Chemical reaction
New Zealand Listener

Chemical reaction

Nitrates in processed meats are well known to cause harm, but consumed from plant sources, their effect is quite different.

time-read
4 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Me and my guitar
New Zealand Listener

Me and my guitar

Australian guitarist Karin Schaupp sticks to the familiar for her Dunedin concerts.

time-read
2 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Time is on my side
New Zealand Listener

Time is on my side

Age does not weary some of our much-loved musicians but what keeps them on the road?

time-read
7 mins  |
September 9, 2024
The kids are not alright
New Zealand Listener

The kids are not alright

Nuanced account details how China's blessed generation has been replaced by one consumed by fear and hopelessness.

time-read
4 mins  |
September 9, 2024