Other eagles might have bigger wingspans but none has the armoury of the harpy eagle's (Harpia harpyja) fearsome talons - up to 18cm long in some fully-grown females. The harpy uses these to grasp its prey of large, tree-dwelling animals such as sloths, green iguanas and birds. It has been wiped out across much of its historical range - from southeast Mexico to northern Argentina and southern Brazil - though destruction of nesting sites (it nests a dizzying 40m high in trees), forest fragmentation and shooting. Recovery is hampered by the fact that it has the longest breeding period of any raptor: sometimes three years pass between the production of a chick and the next nesting attempt. Captive breeding and release programmes have had limited success although a handful of birds reintroduced in the Chiquibul Forest of Belize have prospered.
Gallery[]
.jpg "HarpyEagle (Wild Kratts).jpg (256 KB)")
