The harpy eagle is a Neotropical species of eagle. It is also called the American harpy eagle to distinguish it from the Papuan eagle, which is sometimes known as the New Guinea harpy eagle or Papuan harpy eagle. It is the largest and most powerful bird of prey in the rainforest and is among the largest extant species of eagles in the world.
Typically inhabits tropical lowland forests in the upper (emergent) canopy. The destruction of its natural habitat has resulted in its disappearance from many parts of its former range, and in Central America it is nearly extinct.In Brazil, the harpy eagle is also known as the king falcon.
The harpy eagle's upper surface is covered with slate-black feathers and the underside is mostly white except for the feathered tarsi, which have black stripes. A wide black band across the upper chest separates the gray head from the white belly. The head is light gray and crowned by a double crest. The upper part of the tail is black with three gray bands while the lower part is black with three white bands.The iris is gray, brown, or red, the cherry and bill are black or blackish, and the tarsi and toes are yellow. The plumage of males and females is identical. The tarsus is up to 13 cm long.
Female harpies typically weigh 13 to 20 pounds (6 to 9 kg).One source claims adult females can weigh up to 10kg. An exceptionally large captive woman, "Jezebel", weighed 12.3 kg. In captivity, this large female may not be representative of the weight possible in wild harpy eagles due to differences in food availability. The male is much smaller in comparison and can weigh between 4 and 6 kg (8.8 to 13.2 pounds). The average weight of adult males is given as 4.4 to 4.8 kg
(9th7 to 10.6 lbs) versus an average of 16 to 18 lbs (7.3 to 8.3 kg) for adult females, a difference of 35% or more in mean body mass. Harpies can measure from 86.5 to 107 cm (2 ft 10 in to 3 ft 6 in) long and have a wingspan of 176 to 224 cm (5 ft 9 in to 7 ft 4 in). Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 54-63 cm (1 ft 9 in - 2 ft 1 in), the tail is 37-42 cm (1 ft 3 in - 1 ft 5 in), the tarsus is 11.4-13 cm (4 .5 to 5.1
inches) long, and the exposed culmen of the cere is 4.2 to 6.5 cm (1.7 to 2.6 in). The average claw size is 8.6 cm in males and 12.3 cm in females.
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