Philippine Eagle
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| Philippine Eagle | ||||||||||||||
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| Pithecophaga jefferyi Ogilvie-Grant, 1896 |
The Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) is one of the rarest, largest and most powerful birds in the world. This bird of prey, or raptor, belongs to the family Accipitridae. It is also known as "Haribon" or "Haring Ibon," meaning "Bird King."
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[edit] Morphology
The Philippine Eagle's head is adorned with long brown feathers. These feathers give it the appearance of a lion's mane, which in turn resembles the mythical gryphon. The back of the Philippine Eagle is brown, the underside white; the heavy legs are yellow with large, powerful claws; the prominent large, high-arched, deep bill is a bluish-gray, with blue-gray eyes. The average female is about 1 meter (3.3 feet) long, weighs about 7 kg (15.5 lb), and has a wingspan of 2 meters (6.7 feet). This makes the Philippine Eagle one of the world's largest eagles, with the largest wing surface area. The Harpy Eagle and Steller's Sea Eagle are about the same size as this species. The adult male is about 10-20% smaller and averages at about 5 kg (11 lbs). Life expectancy for a wild eagle is estimated to be around 30-60 years.
[edit] Distribution
The Philippine Eagle can be found in rainforests of four major Philippine islands - Luzon, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao; the largest number of eagles reside on Mindanao.
[edit] Ecology, behavior and life history
Like most eagles, the Philippine Eagle is monogamous. A couple remains together for a lifetime. The nest is normally built on an emergent dipterocarp, or any tall tree with an open crown, and the nest may be nearly 3 metres across and about 30 metres above the ground. The female lays one egg. The parents will care for the egg and the young for twenty months, so they may breed only every other year.
Evolution upon these Philippine islands, without other predators, made the eagles the dominant hunter in the Philippine forests. Each breeding pair requires a large home range (of 25 to 50 square miles) to successfully raise a chick, and thus the species is extremely vulnerable to the regularly occurring deforestation.
Philippine Eagle's food habits vary from island to island, as the food habits of Philippine Eagles in Luzon have a different preference with the eagles in Mindanao. Because of the difference in terms of the faunal composition of Luzon and Mindanao, representing different faunal regions, the eagles there would definitely have a different diet regime. For example, flying lemurs, which are the preferred prey in Mindanao, are absent in Luzon.
[edit] Etymology and taxonomic history
The scientific name commemorates Jeffery Whitehead, father of the English explorer and naturalist John Whitehead, who collected the original specimen.
Upon discovery in 1896, it was first called the Monkey-eating Eagle, based on reports from natives that it preyed exclusively on monkeys; hence its generic name, from the Greek pithecus ("ape or monkey") and phagus ("eater of"). Later studies revealed, however, that they also prey on other animals such as colugo, civets, large snakes, monitor lizards, and even large birds like hornbills. This, coupled with the fact that the same name applied to the African Crowned Hawk-eagle and the South American Harpy Eagle resulted in a presidential proclamation to change its name to Philippine Eagle in 1978, and soon after this name change (in 1995) it was declared a national emblem.
Unique evolutionary history
A recent study of the Philippine Eagles' DNA suggests that the Philippine's national bird is one of a kind. Not only it is found nowhere else, it has a unique evolutionary history, clearly distinguishing it from other giant eagles once thought of as its immediate family. Scientists from the University of Michigan, in the USA, analyzed DNA isolated from blood samples of the Philippine Eagle and those of the Harpy Eagle and Crested eagles of the Americas and the New Guinea Harpy Eagle, all equal heavyweights of the bird world.
All of the last three giants named are close relatives as revealed by DNA sequences, but only remotely related to the Philippine Eagle. Dr. Mindell, the lead researcher, also said that all of the five traditional "harpy eagle group" members live in tropical forests, feeding mainly on medium-sized mammals.
"But based on the genetic analysis, the similarities between the Philippine Eagle and the other harpies resulted not from kinship but from convergent change, driven by natural selection for reproductive success in tropical forests and a shared taste for mammals," Dr. Mindell added. Mindell's team also found that the only distant relatives of Philippine Eagles are snake eagles found elsewhere in Southeast Asia and far Africa. In the Philippines, it is distantly related to the featherweight but equally imposing Serpent Eagle, which breeds in this country but is also common in Asia.
The study of Dr. Mindell's team passed expert reviews and was published in the scientific journal "Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution". A review of the study is here.
[edit] Conservation
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The 2007 IUCN Red List Category (as evaluated by BirdLife International - the official Red List Authority for birds for IUCN) included it as Critically Endangered.[1]
Charles Lindbergh, best known for crossing the Atlantic in 1927, was fascinated by this eagle. As a representative of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) he travelled to the Philippines several times between 1969 and 1972, where he helped persuade the government to protect the eagle.
Its numbers have slowly dwindled over the decades with only an estimated 500 pairs left. A series and floods and mud slides, caused by deforestation, further devastated the remaining population. The Philippine Eagle may soon no longer be found in the wild, unless direct intervention is taken. The Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) of Davao City is one such organization dedicated to the protection and conservation of the Philippine Eagle and its forest habitat. In fact, PEF has been successfully breeding Philippine Eagles in captivity for over a decade now and has also conducted the first experimental release of a captive-bred eagle to the wild. Ongoing research on behavior, ecology and population dynamics is also underway.In recent years protected lands have been established. Cabuaya Forest, at 173,000 acres, is one that specifically protects the eagle.
On August 11, 2007, a breeding pair of Philippine Eagles were discovered nesting in Zamboanga del Norte, and were doing (mutual soaring) courtship flying displays above an old nest tree in Barangay Linay, Baliguian. As of August 2007, the egg was expected to be laid on September, 2007. The Linay nesting site is the lowest recorded for Philippine Eagles in Mindanao (369 meters above sea level); the DENR declared it as a Philippine Eagle "critical habitat" through RA 9147 or the Philippine Wildlife Act.[2]As of September 2007, the Philippine Department of Tourism will construct a new lounge at the Philippine Eagle Center at Baguio district, Davao.[3]
On December 7, 2007, the 22nd eagle bred in captivity at the Philippine Eagle Center, Mindanao hatched, second since 2004.[4] At 11:35 a.m., January 6, 2006, the 20th eagle chick hatched since the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) first successfully bred Philippine Eagles at the Center in 1992. It is a sibling to the only other Philippine Eagle produced for the season, Chick #19 which hatched on November 25. The chicks are the offspring of Princess Maasim and Tsai, one of 3 natural eagle pairs at the Philippine Eagle Center .[5]
[edit] Importance to humans
[edit] In Philippine culture
The Philippine Eagle is now known as the National Bird of the Philippines and this has helped increase awareness of the bird and its plight.
The American bald eagle will be replaced by the Philippine eagle on the logo of Pacific Paint (Boysen) Philippines Inc. per official announcement on August 24, 2007 at the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) center in Malagos, Baguio District, Davao where the company adopted a 7-month-old eagle bred in captivity but which would in time be released to the wild. Boysen named the eagle Pin-Pin (Pinturang Pinoy) the 21st Philippine eagle bred in captivity at the PEF center. In 2004, Vice President Noli de Castro adopted a PEF-bred eagle named Kabayan which was released into the forests of Mt. Apo in North Cotabato, but was electricuted at the reservation of the Philippine National Oil Corp.[6]
To pay homage to the eagle, the Davao team of the Metropolitan Basketball Association was named as the "Davao Eagles."[citation needed]
[edit] Bibliography
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This article or section includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations. |
- BirdLife International (2004). Pithecophaga jefferyi. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006.
http://www.philippineeagle.org/
[edit] References
- ^ Birdlife.org, Philippine Eagle - BirdLife Species Factsheet
- ^ Sunstar, Philippine Eagle found nesting in Zamboanga Norte
- ^ Mindanao News, DOT puts up visitors' lounge at Eagle camp
- ^ Manila Times, Endangered Philippine eagle hatches in captivity
- ^ philippineeagle.org, 20th Eagle chick hatches at Philippine Eagle Center
- ^ Inquirer.net, ‘Pin-Pin’ the eagle roosts on logo, awaits freedom
[edit] External links
- Philippine Eagle Foundation A foundation devoted to saving the Philippine Eagle.
- Haribon.org (The Largest Eagle in the World.)
- Animal Diversity Web - Pithecophaga jefferyi
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- [2] National Geographic Magazine - "The Lord of the Forest"
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