#polemaetus

[ridiculousbirdfaces]

Martial Eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus)

[raw-wild]

Martial Eagle & Bat-eared Fox | Shani Smarady

[gergarnero]

ÁGUILA MARCIAL

POLEMAETUS BELLICOSUS POLEMAETUS BELLICOSUS LONGITUD: 78 A 86 CENTÍMETROS. PESO: 3 A 6 KILOS. PLUMAJE: SEIMILAR PARA AMBOS SEXOS. MIGRACIÓN: NO MIGRATORIA. ESTADO: VULNERABLE. UBICACIÓN: ÁFRICA ( SUR DEL SAHARA ). ÉSTA ES EL ÁGUILA MÁS GRANDE DE ÁFRICA Y UNA DE LAS MÁS GRANDES DEL MUNDO. SE LE PUEDE ENCONTRAR EN UNA AMPLIA VARIEDAD DE HÁBITATS ABIERTOS, DESDE SEMIDESIERTOS Y ESTEPAS HASTA PIES DE…

[xtruss]

In Kenya, Martial Eagles Hunt Lion Cubs For Lunch

Martial eagles, with wingspans that can exceed six feet, can take out young impalas or gazelles. Recently, researchers have seen them targeting another species’ young.

— By Joshua Rapp Learn | October 3, 2024

Martial Eagles (One Shown in Serengeti National Park) Occasionally Hunt Lion Cubs, New Rsearch Shows. Photograph By Klaus Nigge, National Geographic Image Collection

In December 2012, tour guides in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve witnessed a series of killings targeting one of the savannah’s top predators. An adult martial eagle followed a pride of lions for weeks, waiting for the right time to swoop in and kill three cubs in total.

“This is an eagle really looking at these lions and thinking, ‘I’m going to systematically hunt these lions,’” says R. Stratton Hatfield, a Ph.D. candidate at Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands.

A Juvenile Martial Eagle snatched this three-week-old lion cub on March 15, 2019, in the Mara North Conservancy, Kenya. No one saw the bird kill the cub. Based on the fledgling eagle's behavior, researchers suspect that an adult female gave the cub to the fledgling. Photograph By Jes Lefcourt

While the supposed kings of the jungle may dominate the land around them, this incident and others like it show that African lions (Panthera leo) may not always sit on top of the food chain when it comes to the skies. In fact, martial eagles (Polemaetus bellicosus) likely prey on lion cubs when the opportunity arises, Hatfield and his colleagues recently reported in Ecology and Evolution.

“It’s really a testament to the predatory nature of martial eagles,” Hatfield says.

Queen of the Skies

Martial eagles’ wingspans can exceed six feet. Adult females weigh more than 10 pounds, while adult males typically weigh around seven pounds. Though comparable in size and ecology to golden eagles, the species often kills larger prey. The birds swoop in and dig their razor-like talons into their prey’s spine at the back of their skull, sometimes taking out young impalas or gazelles far above their weight class. “[Their talons] are just massive killing utensils,” Hatfield says. “From a predator perspective, they are impressive in what they’re able to do.”

Hatfield’s team only recently realized the birds also preyed on other predators. The team collected seven records, including the 2012 incident, that describe martial eagles preying on lion cubs, resulting in the deaths of nine cubs and one near miss. Most of these episodes probably involve larger females, Hatfield suspects, though two records included juveniles preying on cubs.

The earliest case comes from 2008, when a photographer captured an image of an eagle feeding on a freshly killed cub, while the most recent was in 2023, when a safari guide saw a juvenile eagle hunt and kill a cub large enough that the raptor couldn’t fly off with it.

Risk Versus Reward

Despite their aerial antics, martial eagles are typically risk averse. “When they go to take a lion cub, it’s with a lot of recognition of the risks,” Hatfield says. But not all records seem to show this careful calculation.

In the one failed killing, a martial eagle swoops in to snatch a six-week-old cub right next to its mother. The lioness spots the approaching danger, and “literally leaps in the air to try to take the martial out of the sky,” Hatfield describes. “You can just see the lioness’s eyes lock onto something, then she crouches and launches.”

The eagle dodged the counterattack, and didn’t get the cub, but the whole maneuver “was just stupid.” Hatfield speculates that the raptor didn’t see the lioness. Episodes like this are so dangerous for the eagle, “you wonder if they are doing something ever just for fun,” he says.

Amy Dickman, a conservation biologist at Oxford University in the U.K., isn’t surprised that eagles will go after cubs again and again if the strategy proves successful. She also leads Lion Landscapes, a nonprofit focused on coexistence of humans and wildlife in Kenya and Tanzania, and says the conclusions of Hatfield’s team “seem sound.”

As far as the lions are concerned, “it’s just another kind of risk that lions have to deal with,” Dickman says, like predation from hyenas or male lions from competing prides. While she doesn’t think the eagles pose a conservation threat to the big cats, an individual pride in a given area might feel pressure if a martial eagle has honed in on their cubs as a food source. “It shows you how interesting and diverse the natural world is,” Dickman says.

Predators or Prey?

Martial eagles aren’t picky when it comes to big cats. Some have taken cheetah and leopard kittens, as well. Hatfield also notes the risk probably goes both ways—lions could and probably have hunted adult eagles or nests. At least one YouTube video shows a leopard killing a martial eagle.

“The relationships between top predators at the top of the [food] pyramid are complicated,” Hatfield says.

Martial eagles are considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and Hatfield hopes that studies like this bring more attention to their plight. Like other large raptors in Africa, the species faces habitat loss, poaching for parts, electrocution on power lines and persecution.

“We are all so focused on the elephant and lion and rhino,” Hatfield says. “A lot of these big eagles and vultures are going to go extinct right in front of our eyes.”

[lord-allo]

Kampfadler | Martial eagle

Polemaetus bellicosus

[Etosha]

[birdblues]

Martial Eagle

[nature-and-biodiversity-blog]

Martial Eagle Polemaetus bellicosus

[birds-with-pants]

Martial Eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus)

© Donald Lipmanson

[vsvanbergen]

The queen of sub-Sarahan Africa and the fear of many mammals and birds. Martial eagle, #Polemaetus bellicosus, #Kenya, January, 2018 #martialeagle #raptor #birds #birding #bird_of_prey #bird #nature #birdsofinstagram #wildlife #naturephotography #birdphotography #photography #birdwatching #wildlifephotography #animals #birding #canon #aves #birdlovers #captures #nikon #perfection #naturelovers #art #birdlife #birdstagram #bestbirdshots #eagle #africa https://www.instagram.com/p/B7wfGfBgCYv/?igshid=18p9yqbnz2qom

[squawkoverflow]

A new variant has been added!

Martial Eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus) © Valeria Pellicer

It hatches from brown, juvenile, keen, martial, massive, pale, prominent, short, similar, solitary, whitish, and woodland eggs.

squawkoverflow - the ultimate bird collecting game          🥚 hatch    ❤️ collect     🤝 connect

[daybreak-academy-fanfic]

Every step forward: Entry 7

Summary: In a canon divergent mini-series that will probably never end; Sabrina’s Nobody is told by Xemnas to keep watch on Antiform Sora in the days leading up to the Keyblade War. Through journal entries, the nihilistic Nobody relates how Antiform struggles to be between light and darkness, how they dodge the remaining members of the Guardians of Light, and how weirdly attached the two get over the course of several months. First | Previous | Next ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆

VII: Animal Instincts

Imagine being forced to reside in a body seeped in darkness, then being further forced to take on a body completely different than your original. It would be very disorienting, I’d wager. Sometimes, the need to keep world order can work to your advantage.

The beast has taken on the same form the keyblade bearer did on his last visit; a young lion. I have taken the form of a Polemaetus bellicosus; a martial eagle. Having plumage makes me feel quite vain. A powerful bird of prey is exactly the type of creature I’d describe my Other as well. The lion form will also help suit our needs for the beast as well. The dissociation of what is known and what is different will help in drawing out its inner rage.

Because our forms have radically changed in this world, it may make due to stay here for a bit longer. With abilities of flight, it would be far easier to terrorize the beast into rage as well. The classic ‘you can’t touch me’ technique. On top of this, the beast will get used to walking on all fours. It will become faster when we shift back into our natural bodies. All of this will allow the beast to further disassociate from its original designation as Sora.

I just had the revelation that I can actually preen my feathers. How droll. The world order can be such a novelty under the right circumstances. This will be an interesting world indeed.

[zhi-bde]

Martial eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus)

  Martial Eagles are the largest of the African eagles and incredibly powerful, capable of knocking an adult man off his feet. They reputedly have enough power in one foot to break a man's arm. The largest eagle in Africa, the Martial eagle weighs in at almost 14 pounds (6.5 Kg.) and has a wingspan of about 6 feet 4 inches. It is 32 inches long.

The martial eagle is a magnificently large raptor with a menacing appearance, and its name is derived from the latin word Martialis, meaning ‘from Mars’, who was the Roman god of war. This bird is a powerful hunter that spends hours of the day engaged in exploratory soaring or sitting secretly perched in a foliaged tree ready to ambush its next victim.

Crowned as the largest eagle in Africa and the fifth heaviest eagle (on average) in the world, the martial eagle has a wingspan of up to 2.6 metres, and it can lift prey weighing up to 8kg (although typically they lift only 1-4 kg). The martial eagle even occasionally preys upon the adult kori bustard, which may well be the heaviest flying animal alive today.

Martial eagles have extremely keen eyesight (3.0-3.6 times human acuity) and can spot potential prey up to five kilometres away!

The martial eagle can be found in most of Sub-Saharan Africa, wherever food is abundant and the environment favourable. Greater population densities exist in Southern Africa, especially in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Generally, these birds are more abundant in protected areas, such as the Kruger National Park and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa, or Etosha National Park in Namibia.

[nedsecondline]

Let’s save the wildlife – Martial eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus)

The martial eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus) is a large eagle native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of few eagle species known to hunt primarily from …Let’s save the wildlife – Martial eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus)

[purplehawkcaptain]

The martial eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus)

Tell me your favorite species of bird now

[anthonydevineart]

Warm up sketches/studies. Martial Eagle (Polemaetus Bellicosus).

[nunoxaviermoreira]

the powerful Martial Eagle by cirdantravels (Fons Buts) near adulthood in Kafue National Park, Zambia IUCN RED LIST STATUS: VULNERABLE a massive African eagle that rules the skies above open and semi-open areas in sub-Sahara Africa. The diet consists of birds ( francolins, guineafowl, bustards, waterfowl...), mammals (hares, hyraxes, mongooses, monkeys, small antelopes.....) and large lizards and snakes. The length is up to 90cm (35 inch), the wingspan up to 2,6m (8,5 ft) and the weight up to 6,2kg (13 lbs) polemaetus bellicosus vechtarend aigle martial Kampfadler Many thanks for your views, favorites and supportive comments. All rights reserved. ButsFons©2019 Please do not use my photos on websites, blogs or in any other media without my explicit permission. https://flic.kr/p/2htZBxZ