The Phillippine Eagle is the country’s national bird and there are fewer than 250 of them left.
Now there’s one less.
One of the few surviving eagles was killed earlier this week after torrential rain at the Philippine Eagle Foundation Centre in the southern island of Mindanao eagle caused a branch to crush the bird in its cage.
Arakan, as the eagle was known, was just 15.
They normally have a life expectancy between 30 to 60 years.
The Phillippine Eagle is the country’s national bird and known for its diet of monkeys. Hence the name they’re better known as: the monkey-eating eagle. One of their hunting techniques is to hunt in pairs with one eagle providing distractions while the other swoops in on an unsuspecting monkey.
Arakan was being kept at the foundation for breeding purposes as conservation groups try to increase their numbers. They’re one of the world’s largest birds of prey and can have a wingspan of two-metres. Here’s a fact you can impress someone with: Philippine eagles are monogamous and they bond for life. They were once thought to remain solo if their mate died, but there’s now evidence that they do take in new mates as replacement.
h/t: Daily Mail and South China Morning Post
Photo credit: Philippine Eagle Foundation
