Amazon Rainforests Animals : The Harpy Eagle

Harpy Eagles are among the world's largest and most powerful eagles. Their rear talons are about 3-4 inches long – the same size as a grizzly bear's claws! The harpy eagle is one of the world's largest and most powerful of the fifty species of eagles.

The harpy eagle has a long tail and broad, rounded wings that can span up to two metres across. As in many other forest raptors, its wings are relatively small for its size, giving the harpy eagle great agility and enabling it to dodge through branches and trees while flying below the forest canopy. The harpy eagle’s large black bill is strongly hooked, and its legs and toes are large and robust, with massive talons. Together with its great size, these imposing weapons make the harpy eagle a formidable predator .

Female Harpy Eagles typically weigh 6 to 9 kg (13 to 20 lb). One source states that adult females can weigh up to 10 kg (22 lb). An exceptionally large captive female, "Jezebel", weighed 12.3 kg (27 lb). Being captive, this large female may not be representative of the weight possible in wild Harpy Eagles due to differences in the food availability. 

The male, in comparison, is much smaller and weighs only about 4 to 4.8 kg (8.8 to 10.6 lb). Harpy Eagles are 86.5–107 cm (2 ft 10 in–3 ft 6 in) long and have a wingspan of 176 to 224 cm (5 ft 9 in to 7 ft 4 in). Among the standard measurements, the wing chord measures 54–63 cm (1 ft 9 in–2 ft 1 in), the tail measures 37–42 cm (1 ft 3 in–1 ft 5 in), the tarsus is 11.4–13 cm (4.5–5.1 in) long and the exposed culmen from the cere is 4.2 to 6.5 cm (1.7 to 2.6 in)

• Tweet
• Share
• Share
• Share
• Share

Related Post