Harpy

Harpy

The plumage of the harpy eagle is black on the upper side and chest, the belly is white and the head and neck are grey. For its size, it has relatively short wings and a long tail. Its legs and claws are also extremely strong. The harpy eagle has a black crest on its head which is raised when excited.

Nutrition

They hunt for large vertebrates in the canopy of the rainforest giants. Harpies are capable of striking prey weighing over 9kg. Their main prey are tree-dwelling mammals such as sloths and monkeys. In addition, reptiles such as snakes and lizards, birds such as parrots and chickens and, finally, ground-dwelling mammals such as pigs and deer are also on their menu. When hunting, the harpy eagle often uses a high perch to look out for prey and then pounce on it from there. Despite its enormous size, it moves very quickly and agilely between the treetops.

Distribution

The harpy eagle lives in the lowland rainforests of South and Central America up to a maximum altitude of 1600 metres. However, it usually stays below 800 metres above sea level.

The harpy eagle's breeding season is between June and November. The eyrie can reach a diameter of up to 150 cm and is built from long branches in very large jungle giants. A clutch usually consists of 2 eggs, very rarely 3, of which only one egg is incubated. The other eggs are ignored and die. Incubation is almost exclusively carried out by the female, while the male is responsible for acquiring prey. The young hatch after about 56 days and need another 140 days to fledge. After this time, the young remain in the vicinity of the nest for a whole year, so that a harpy eagle couple can only breed every 2-3 years.

This is one of the reasons why the harpy eagle is now on the early warning list of the World Conservation Organisation (IUCN). Due to its low reproduction rate, it can only compensate very poorly for the losses caused by direct hunting and the destruction of its habitat. In addition, despite its large distribution area, it is rarely encountered as it needs large territories for hunting. In the long term, the harpy eagle can probably only be saved if forest areas of sufficient size are placed under protection and poaching is decimated.