Designed by Paul Smith 2006. This website is copyrighted by law.
Material contained herewith may not be used without the prior written permission of FAUNA Paraguay.
Photographs on this page were taken by Arne Lesterhuis and are used with their permission.
HARPY EAGLE Harpia harpyja
The world´s largest eagle this species is an icon of the South American humid forest. Harpy Eagles hardly ever soar, preferring to fly below the forest canopy and making them difficult to observe. They feed mainly on arboreal mammals such as monkeys and sloths, which they pluck from the tree-tops with its huge talons. The lack of sloths in eastern Paraguay means that the population here probably sustains itself almost entirely on monkeys. There are very few wild records of the bird in Paraguay and very few areas of natural habitat capable of sustaining a viable population of the species remain.
Click on the images to enlarge them.
FIGURE 1 - (FPAVE1913PH) Adult captive individual, location unknown (Arne Lesterhuis undated).
FIGURE 2 - (FPAVE1914PH) Head detail of same individual (Arne Lesterhuis undated).
This individual was a wild bird found injured and brought into captivity for its recovery.
FIGURE 1

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 2

FIGURE 2