Historically, giant Philippine eagles have been labeled as purely vicious, but their breeding customs seem contrary to this classification. While Philippine eagles occasionally eat monkeys, the local macaques are about equal in size to the eagles and, therefore, potentially dangerous prey. Their average diet includes flying lemurs, squirrels, fruit bats, rats, snakes, monitor lizards, owls, and hornbills. Sharp, powerful talons further assist in hunting.Īs apex predators, giant Philippine eagles help the rainforest ecosystem thrive by keeping mammal, lizard, and bird populations in check. Giant Philippine eagles have blue-grey eyes that see eight times more clearly than humans paired with a high-arching, bluish beak. The eagle’s back plumage has long, brown feathers with a white underside, and both colors surround its face. Still, the Philippine eagle ranges from 3.6 - 8.2 kilograms (8-18 lb). Only the harpy and Steller’s sea eagles outweighs the Philippine eagle in terms of mass. The giant Philippine eagle is the critically endangered flagship species of the Mindanao Montane Rainforests ecoregion, located in the Philippines & Sulu Sea Tropical Forests ( IM15) bioregion.Ĭonsidered the largest eagle in the world in terms of length and wing surface, the giant Philippine eagle averages one meter in height (3 ft) from the tip of its crown feathers to its tail. While monkey-eating is limited, the giant Philippine eagle does seem to be a creature straight out of folklore with an average wingspan of over two meters (7ft). In the humid rainforests that blanket the mountainsides of the Philippine islands lives what the natives of Bonga, Samar, call the ‘monkey-eating eagle.’ Legend has it that swooping through the thick mist is a bird as big as a man that preys upon the islands’ macaques.
#Golden eagle wingspan series
One Earth's “Species of the Week” series highlights the flagship species of each of the 844 unique ecoregions contained within Earth’s bioregions.
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