The
importance of a species or what is necessary for a species to survive is one
very complicated subject. Wild
animals don’t have stores to buy food and apartments to crowd into. While we take this fact for granted
every day, one of the world’s largest raptors is in a whole lot of trouble.
The Philippine Eagle (photo: the wikipedia files)
The
Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) is one gigantic bird! Another name for this bird is the
Monkey-Eating Eagle because, well, it eats monkeys--primarily Macaques.
When I say this bird is gigantic, what
I’m saying is it stands 3 feet tall and weighs around 15 pounds! I can’t even imagine having an eagle of
that size on the glove. It would
be more than half of my height!
This
species is, unfortunately, critically endangered and it is endemic (restricted)
to the Philippines. But, over the
last 20 years it has been completely removed from all but four of the
Philippine Islands: Leyte, Luzon, Mindanao, and
Samar. There are now less than 200
individuals remaining, most of which are located on the islands of Mindanao and
Luzon--with only a few nesting pairs being found on Leyte and Samar. Hunting, habitat loss, and pollution
are the main reasons for their decline.
These
birds have always been prized for their size but locals killed them to protect
livestock as well.
Deforestation
is a major concern; it reduces habitat for their prey, and reduces their
available home range. Philippine
Eagles have been known to have a territory of up to 50 square miles. To date around 80 percent of the
rainforest has been lost to deforestation. Philippine eagles search for the tallest of trees in the
tropical rainforest. Choice trees
rise above the canopy and they need those old growth, very large trees in which
to nest. Newly planted, smaller
trees just don’t work.
We
tend to look around us at all of the trees and think that deforestation isn’t a
problem. We hear about new trees
being planted to replace old ones and believe that we are repairing damage;
that those new trees make up for the damage. However, the fact remains that habitat has been lost. Old growth trees can be hundreds of
years old and these birds don’t have the time to wait around for us to mend our
mistakes.
By
the time our attempts at reparation reach a real habitat gain this animal may
already be gone.
To
learn more about the Philippine Eagle and programs that are currently being
implemented by the Philippine Eagle Foundation to save this magnificent
creature from extinction Click Here.
Submitted
by W. Leigh French, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist/Trainer
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