This Is The Harpy Eagle, A Bird So Big You May Mistake It For A Person In Costume
The harpy eagle is a majestic bird which gets its name from a mythical monster.
In Greek mythology, harpies were half-bird, half-human hybrids with the body of a bird and the face of a human.
The harpy eagle, thankfully, doesn’t have a human face, but its sheer size makes it easy to understand why it’s been given such an evocative name.
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Harpy eagles usually weigh between 4 and 9 kilos (the males tend to be about half the size of the females) and sport a wingspan of 176 to 224 cm.
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The harpies’ massive size and eerily expressive faces make them both wonderful and unsettling to look at. Some people claim that they almost look unreal – like they’re just human beings parading around in bird costumes.
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The harpy eagle is most commonly found in Brazil, but can also be found throughout Central America and various parts of South America.
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They’re formidable hunters, have the largest talons of any now-living eagle, and are pretty much at the top of the food chain.
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They mainly keep a diet of monkeys – such as capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys, and spider monkeys – and other tree dwellers. They’re also fond of eating sloths, which they snatch right off the trees with the help of their long, sharp talons.
