The End of Eden (Episode 4.5)

The End of Eden is the fifth episode of Series 4 and the thirty ninth of *Prehistoric Earth: A Natural History*.

## Synopsis

The team goes back in time to Late Holocene New Zealand at a time when Polynesians were arriving on the island. They go to rescue two species of birds living on the island the first is the South Island Giant Moa, the tallest bird to walk the earth and the other is the Haast's Eagle, the largest bird of prey to fly in the sky.

## Plot

Bringing prehistoric animals back the modern era has been a great success as the park is filled with a large animals from large sauropod dinosaurs to small fish the size of a nail. Allen heads to the park's Aviary where he wears a glove which a Bald Eagle lands on his arm. As staff members lets it eat a salmon which the eagle uses it's hooked beak, Allen had an idea with what he will rescue next. He heads to the office of his boss Joanna and informs her that he is now going to bring the largest eagle that every flew in the sky with talons as big as the claws of a tiger called the Haast's Eagle which lived on the island of New Zealand and will even rescue a large species of moa that is considered to be the world's tallest bird called the South Island Giant Moa from the year 1280 AD during a time when the Māori arrived on the island's shores.

He then explains that every since the Ice Age Homo Sapiens have been migrating throughout the world since leaving Africa starting in Europe where they came into contract with other hominids such as Neanderthals, and then onward towards other locations such as Australia where came weird and dangerous animals such Megalania. Allen then says that until 13,000 years ago was when humans finally arrived in North America where they became the Clovis People. However he tells his boss that for the last few thousand years of Homo Sapiens' wide spread across the globe, New Zealand was left deserted until Polynesians arrived on the island 850 years ago.

Allen goes back 850 years so he and his team can rescue both the Giant Moa and Haast's Eagle during a time when Europe was in the Middle-Ages while New Zealand was covered in forest rather open plains. The team travels through the portal and arrive on the shores of New Zealand 850 years ago when humans arrived on the island. They spot a series of canoes with Polynesians arriving heading towards the island as Allen watches with his binoculars. The team hides while observing the Māori when they finally came to shore where they were unloading tropical plants their canoes as the land was known to them as Aotearoa. The animals, that they brought were Polynesian Rats and an extinct species of domesticated dog called Kurī.

The team watch as the Polynesians plants a stone which they believe that it would protect them from evil spirits. They explore the forests of New Zeland to find the Giant Moa so they can bring it back. As they team travels through the forest they many different kinds of birds such as Kākāpō and a group of Snare Penguins as birds rule the island much like how they ruled the earth during the Early Eocene. Allen suddenly finds one of the two birds they have come to rescue the Giant Moa. The giant bird peers down on the humans before walking away looking vegatation to feast on. The team opens the portal and gets a pair of moas back to the park where they were put to their enclosures. After getting the two moas to the park, Allen now heads out to find the Haast's Eagle so he and the team can bring it back to the park.

He then spots a Tuatara hunting for Giant Wētās on the forest floor. Allen then tells Rebecca that Tuatara was one of a few animals to survive the great extinction of dinosaurs along with mammals, birds, fish, insects, and other animals. He explains that the Giant Wētā are often called Devils of the Night by the Māori due to the insect's nocturnal habits. Allen also says that Māori believe that Tuatara is Punga who is the father of ugly things. Later they came across New Zealand Lesser Short-Tailed Bats that were scampering the forest floor digging for grubs. Allen tells Rebecca that Māori believe that bats are harbingers of doom and fortellers of death and disasters.

The next day the team heads to a small grass field where they spot two Māori residents gathering firewood, until eventually they hear the sounds of an eagle. They suddenly spot the large eagle they come to bring back, the Haast's Eagle sitting on a tree branch peering down on the two Māori. All of a sudden the eagle swopes down on the Māori as they saw the large bird which causes them to run. One of the Māori gets killed by the Haast's Eagle's massive sharp talons. Th eagle eats the flesh from the Māori much like a modern eagle or falcon. Allen tells Rebecca that the Māori believe the Haast's Eagle to be the Poukai, a monsterous bird of mythology. The team gets a pair of Haast's Eagles to the park once they got the portal opened to bring the massive eagles to the present. Once they returned with the Haast's Eagles the team shipped them to the Aviary enclosure where many of the park's resident pterosaurs, birds, and bats reside.

## Animals

* Bottlenose Dolphin
* Giant Wētā
* Haast's Eagle
* Kākāpō
* Kea
* Kelp gull
* Kurī
* Māori
* New Zealand Lesser Short-Tailed Bat
* New Zealand Sea Lion
* Polynesian Rat
* Snares Penguin
* South Island Giant Moa
* Southern Brown Kiwi
* Tuatara