The Battle to Save the Philippine Eagle

The Philippine eagle is the largest living eagle in terms of length (roughly 1 meter) and wing area (around 2.3 square meters). Because of its size, it can hunt larger animals like the Philippine deer, monkeys, and monitor lizards, but its main diet consists of flying lemurs, which are roughly the size of a small house cat.

The Philippine eagle’s geographical range is limited to parts of the Philippines. It is most closely related to snake eagles, such as the Bateleur or Southeast Asian serpent eagles, with divergence occurring millions of years ago.

Unfortunately, the Philippine eagle is on the Critically Endangered list, with only 400 breeding pairs left in the wild. The main factors in the eagle’s population decline have been:

• Habitat loss due to deforestation from logging, mining, and agricultural expansion, with only 32% of the eagle’s natural habitat protected.
• A low reproductive rate, with each fertile female eagle producing only one egg every two years, and a fledgling period of up to 17 months. These factors severely hamper the eagle’s ability to rebound.

Thankfully, one conservation group—the Philippine Eagle Foundation—has been working to save the Philippine eagle since 1987. Among their many achievements, they have:

• Built a world-class conservation, breeding, and education facility, called the Philippine Eagle Center (PEC).
• Launched conservation programs to empower local communities to help protect eagle habitats.
• Helped establish additional sanctuaries and conservation areas.
• Rescued scores of eagles and helped them recover, which is critical when population levels are so low.
• Pioneered captive breeding for the Philippine eagle, including artificial insemination.
• Educated countless people in the Philippines and around the world about the eagle’s plight and the need for help.

As one example of this organization’s heroic work, here is the release of one breeding pair of Philippine eagles, Carlito and Uswag, to reintroduce the eagles to the island of Leyte:

This is just one example of how humans can help repair a world that we have so badly damaged. Click this link to learn more about the Philippine Eagle Foundation. You can find more videos like the one above at https://www.youtube.com/@PhilEagleFdn/featured.