The mighty Philippine Eagle faces extinction

DAVAO CITY — The Philippine Eagle is on the brink of extinction. 

Declared in 1995 as the national bird, the Philippine Eagle is one of the largest and most powerful eagles in the world. It is also one of the world’s rarest and certainly among the most critically endangered species.

Currently, only 1,500 pairs of Philippine Eagle are estimated to exist. They are found only in Luzon, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao.

Hunting has been blamed as a major culprit, and that is true enough. But it is the destruction of their natural habitat that is the principal cause of their rapid disappearance. 

The Philippine Eagle primarily thrives in rainforests. Its natural habitat consists mainly of old-growth forests from 100 meters to 1,000 meters above sea level. Unfortunately, these are the habitats that are also fast disappearing due to deforestation.

"Deforestation is terrible," says Dennis Salvador, executive director of the Philippine Eagle Foundation. "The Philippine Eagle has become a critically endangered species because forest destruction has made it lose its natural habitat."

As late as the 1950s, three-fourths of the country was covered with forests. In 1972, this area had shrunk to half, and by 1988 only one-fourth of the country’s total land area was wooded. Less than a million hectares are now considered virgin forest.

Today, the country is losing 119,000 hectares of its forest cover a year, according to the Worldwide Fund for Nature. By 2014, there could be no more forest to speak of.

"Small patches of forest may not be able to sustain the needs of the people and wildlife in the long run. What we need to do is to protect the large, contiguous forests and expand the smaller patches by rehabilitating the surrounding areas and developing forest corridors," Salvador points out.

In the 1970s, the Philippine Eagle was declared an endangered species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Several laws were since passed prohibiting the hunting and collection of the Philippine Eagle and protecting its sanctuaries.

It is now on the watch list of the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna which regulates and prohibits the commercial import of wild animals and plants threatened by trade. 

About an hour’s drive 30 kilometers northwest from downtown Davao is the Philippine Eagle Center in Malagos, Calinan. It is the transient home of the Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) where they are being induced to breed in captivity before released to the wilds.

"By using the Philippine Eagle as the focal point of our conservation, we are in the process of saving wildlife and the eagle’s habitat, the biodiversity it represents and the sustainable use of our forest resources for future generations to enjoy," says Salvador.

The Philippine Eagle is one of the world’s largest and most powerful birds. It stands a meter high and weighs four to seven kilograms. With a wingspan of nearly seven feet and a top speed of 80 kilometers per hour, it can gracefully swoop down on an unsuspecting monkey and other animals and carry them off without breaking flight.

Formerly known as the monkey-eating eagle, the name was changed to Philippine Eagle in 1978 after it was learned that monkeys comprise an insignificant portion of its diet, which consists mainly of flying lemurs, squirrels, snakes, civets, hornbills, rodents and bats.

Unlike most animals and humans, the Philippine Eagle is monogamous. Once an eagle reaches sexual maturity — five years for females and seven years for males — it is bound for life with its mate. They can be seen soaring in pairs in the skies.

Each pair nests only once every two years and the females lay only one egg at a time. The parents incubate the egg alter-nately for about 60 days. Once hatched, the eaglet remains in the nest for about five months. The parents continue to look after the young for 17 to 18 months, teaching it how to fly, hunt and survive. — InterNews&Features