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for kids - harpy eagle facts, fun & pics
The great harpy is the most physically powerful eagle in all the world. Golden-eyed and heavy-beaked, the harpy is a predator at the top of its food web. Its pale gray, crested head, slate black body, banded wings, and pale breast give it a fierce and majestic appearance.
Female harpy eagles are larger than males--sometimes by as much as one-third of their weight. A typical female, mostly muscle, may weigh more than nineteen pounds.
Small numbers of great harpies live in virgin rainforests from southern Mexico to the Amazon River Basin of northern Peru and Brazil. They nest in the forest's emergent layer, in the tallest, most inaccessible treetops, sometimes as high as 150 feet from the ground.
Harpy eagles are reclusive. They shun contact with human beings and are difficult to study. But indigenous peoples, scientists, and other interested observers have learned some things about them.
For rainforest Indians, harpy eagles symbolize power. Shamans collect eagle feathers to perform ritual magic.
What Do Harpy Eagles Hunt?Harpy eagles prey on both tree-dwelling and ground mammals, including howler and spider monkeys, sloths, kinkajoos, porcupines, agouti, and anteaters. They also sometimes eat iguanas (large lizards), snakes, and macaws (large, long-tailed parrots). Their sharp vision allows them to spot animals deeply hidden in the leafy canopy or a hundred feet below on the forest floor. They sneak up on prey, snatching them without warning.
How Can Such Big Birds Sneak Up On Prey?Harpy eagles are heavily muscled birds, about three to three and a half feet from head to tail, with wingspans of six to seven feet. Proportionately short wings and large muscles enable them to fly swiftly and silently between trees and branches--with no more sound than a butterfly. In the open air above the forest, they fly as fast as fifty miles per hour.
How Do They Kill Their Prey?Harpies have strong legs almost as thick as a human wrist and feet bigger than bear paws, tipped with huge, curved talons. These are ideal for pulling monkeys and other large animals from trees. The harpy's heavy, hooked beak is an efficient tool for piercing and cutting. Even powerful, young monkeys may have a hard time defending themselves against harpies once they are caught.
Some observers wear bullet-proof vests when studying harpy eagles!
Are They Always Alone?Like most eagles, great harpies live solitary lives until they are old enough to breed, when they mate with another eagle for life. They travel over large areas seeking food but return with their mates to the same nesting site throughout their breeding lives.
What Are Their Nests Like?Harpies build large platforms, about four feet in diameter, at the tops of the tallest trees in the emergent layer. These are woven from branches and sticks, and then stacked with more sticks to form comfortable, protective shelters for their large chicks.
Like bald eagles, harpies are careful to keep their feet clenched when they in their nests. This prevents their talons from puncturing eggs or harming chicks.
How Many Chicks Do They Have?Great harpies have a slow rate of reproduction. Over twenty years a pair will successfully fledge only three chicks. Mother eagles lay two eggs, only one of which will hatch in about thirty days.
Harpy eagle chicks are entirely dependent on their mothers for the first six weeks after they hatch, and mothers rarely leave nests during this period. Even the most careful mother eagles often lose chicks to other large, predatory birds. Father eagles hunt and return to the nest every few days to share food.
In the seventh week, chicks begin imitating parents' calls and exploring their nests. At five months, they begin exercising their wings and hopping about on nearby branches. When they are six months old, they make their first flights to nearby trees, and when they are a year old, they join their parents' hunting forays. Great harpy chicks are nurtured longer than most other birds and don't finally leave the nest until they are eighteen months old.
The great harpy eagle's whistling and clicking call is described as a loud, lonely-sounding "wheeeeoooooooo." Like most large predatory birds, adult harpies are mostly silent except for a few soft croaking sounds.
Why Are They Called HARPY Eagles?They were named for the Ancient Greek harpies, mythical winged monsters--half woman, half bird--who tormented wrongdoers. The Greek harpies may originally have been the personifications of storm winds. Harpy eagles may have been named after the harpies because of their loud, mournful, frightening call.
Species.Great harpy eagles belong to the Aves class, order Falconiformes, family Accipitridae, genus Harpia, species harpyja.
Are Great Harpy Eagles Endangered?Harpy eagles are seriously threatened by habitat fragmentation. Because they need a large territorial range, even a few birds require many thousands of acres of unbroken rainforest. Where rainforest has been clearcut in swathes, leaving behind unconnected tracts, harpies have mostly disappeared.
Harpies are a traditional source of food and feathers for many rainforest peoples. Now, due to slow reproduction rates, shrinking habitat, and the depletion of animals they feed on, harpy populations are not keeping up with human needs. For this reason, hunting harpies has been banned or restricted in many Central and South American countries.
The harpy eagle is the national bird of Panama, but its population there has been in steady decline since the Panama Canal was opened in 1914. In 1989, the Peregrine Fund in partnership with the San Diego Zoo began a reintroduction program in Panama, which has been somewhat successful.
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