African Crowned Eagle

This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the 12th edition of Systema Naturae, published in 1766, as Falco coronatus, which is mistaken for true falcons rather than an eagle.

A crested eagle, huge and vividly marked, with broad wings and a long tail, resembling a gigantic goshawk. The adult's underparts are barred and blotched in black and white, and the breast has a varied rufous wash. The underwings of the pale immature are creamy-tan. Hunting monkeys and other small-to-medium-sized vertebrates, it lives in lowland, montane, and riverine forests as well as dense woodland. It frequently attracts attention with its loud "wheee-yooo, wheee-yooo, wheee-yooo" call and undulating display flight. Although juvenile Crowned and Martial eagles appear similar, the Crowned has spotted flanks, larger bars on the tail, and buffier underparts (and underwings).

Although they typically weigh much less, crowned eagles have been reported to feed on ungulates as large as bushbuck, which may weigh up to 30 kg (66 lb). The crowned eagle can kill by simply crushing the head of its prey. It has strong legs and extremely huge talons. The remains of a huge male sooty mangabey weighing 11 kg (24 lb) have been recorded from beneath a nest, demonstrating the eagle's audacity and fierceness.

One other living eagle, the martial eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus), has been confirmed to take a human child in a possible predation attempt, a four-year-old boy in Ethiopia. Unlike the crowned eagle, the martial eagle is not a specialized primate hunter, and preys mainly on large ground-dwelling birds. The eagle in question attacked three children, killing one of them, before being shot by a villager.

In the famed Taung deposit in South Africa, a skull from a child Australopithecus africanus, a possible ancestor of human beings, led to considerable speculation. Ultimately referred to as the Taung Child and estimated to weigh 9 to 11 kg (20 to 24 lb), the child became the type specimen for its species. The child appeared to have died from a clean row of piercing to its skull. Scholarly examination of the piercings has led scientists to believe that the specimen was seemingly killed by an eagle, of which the crowned eagle is the most likely candidate.

This predatory relationship has led to much hypothesizing as to whether Stephanoaetus eagles may have partially shaped human evolution, with small early primate ancestors having evolved towards larger body sizes and larger brains due to the reduced probability of eagle predation with these features.

Lifespan

Scientists estimate that crowned eagles have an average life expectancy of only 14 years.

Diet

The majority of the eagle's food comes from mammals. Throughout its wide range, the primary prey species vary; prominent prey groups include rodents, hyraxes, antelopes, monkeys, and viverrids. Bats, pangolins, and bushpigs are among the other wild creatures that have been observed as prey. In certain populations, birds also make up a sizable portion of the diet. Camera traps at nest sites in an urban population in Durban, South Africa, showed that birds made for 25% of the prey items, with hadada ibis juveniles accounting for 17% of the total. Eight percent of the prey at Taï, Côte d'Ivoire, were trumpeter hornbills. Sometimes they eat carrion and reptiles.

Some animals that are taken include antelopes, dogs, cats, wolves, rodents, sheep, goats, and chickens. With 11 nests and 836 prey items—of which 3% were chickens—domesticated animals, however, made up only 6% of the diet in Durban, South Africa. At least one reliable account exists of an attack on a 19.6 kilogram human kid, most likely an attempt at predation.

Although a few smaller raptors will attack people if they approach the nesting location too closely, the victim will often suffer just minor injuries. In the post-fledging stage, mother-crowned eagles will attack any human who approaches the nest. Although it happens infrequently, adult males may sometimes assault people prior to fledging. Despite their height and strength, eagle assaults can also have modest effects because they are merely intended to evict the intruding animal and do not cause death or major injury. Nest-defense assaults, however, have the potential to cause deep, painful, open wounds that may require sutures or increase the risk of infection.

The crowned eagle is a common bird in sub-Saharan Africa. It can be found in southern Nigeria and Cameroon, through Gabon, into Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, south to north-western Angola, east to Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, south-east through Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique, to northern and eastern Zimbabwe, north-eastern, eastern, and south-eastern South Africa, and Swaziland.

The eagle's range in Malawi is thought to be shrinking, and habitat removal there is anticipated to have an effect on the species. The eagle's range has also shrunk in southern Mozambique as a result of coastal forest destruction. The introduction of exotic plantations and the afforestation of urban greenspace in wealthy metropolitan suburbs are thought to somewhat offset the detrimental consequences of habitat loss in South Africa.

In addition to some modified habitats like plantations and secondary forests, the crowned eagle can survive in small forest fragments, such as urban greenspace forests. Its habitats include forest, woodland, savanna, and shrubland.  In certain places, it exhibits a high degree of resilience to severe deforestation and degradation; yet, it is believed that these changes result in local population density drops. Persistence in damaged and mosaic settings is made possible by the employment of exotic invasive trees (such as pines or eucalyptuses) for nesting.

• Movement Pattern: Not a Migrant

• Individual Type: Solo

• Population Trend: Decreasing

• Population: ???

• Locomotion: Versatile

• Habitat: Temperate Coniferous Forests; Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests; Temperate Deciduous Forests; Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands; Subtropical Coniferous Forests; Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests; Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests; Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands; Salt Flats; Tropical Coniferous Forests; Tropical Moist Broadleaf Forests; Tropical Dry Broadleaf Forests; Tropical Grasslands; Tropical Savannas and Shrublands; Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Scrub; Mushroom Forests; Mushroom Fields; Deserts and Xeric Shrublands; Badlands; Flooded Grasslands and Savannas; Swamp; Bayous/Billabongs; Riparian; Wetland; Mangrove Forest; Cold Bamboo Forests; Tropical Bamboo Forests; Air-breathing Coral Reefs; Graveyard Vale; Mountain; Sky; Radiated Citadel; Volcano; Lava Trench; Basalt Delta; Warm Ghost Town; Cold Ghost Town; Ruined Skyscraper.

• Earth:

  • Extant (Resident): Angola; Burundi; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Congo Republic; DR Congo; Côte d'Ivoire; Equatorial Guinea; Eswatini; Ethiopia; Gabon; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Kenya; Liberia; Malawi; Mozambique; Nigeria; Rwanda; Senegal; Sierra Leone; South Africa; South Sudan; North Sudan; Tanzania; Togo; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe

  • Extant & Vagrant (non-breeding): Benin; Botswana

• Berbania: 

  • Extant & Introduced (Resident): worldwide

• Reinachos: 

  • Extant & Introduced (Resident): worldwide

• Sawintir: 

  • Extant & Introduced (Resident): worldwide

With fish oil or gilded salmon meat, eagles can be attracted and domesticated. Like many other beasts, a domesticated bald eagle can be ordered to stay, follow, or wander. They can also be trained for falconry and trained to fly like unmanned aerial vehicles.

Project Pashneia, a scientific project by the Terran branch of Deities to construct any creatures, monsters, or humans in terms of their own, found that there were relatively few animals without the aurorium neurotransmitter on their brains and developed the bald eagle during the year 30000 BCE.

• Afrikaans: Kroonarend

• Čeština: Orel korunkatý

• Deutsch: Kronenadler

• English: Crowned Eagle

• Español: Águila coronada

• Magyar: Koronás sas

• Navajo: Naakaii Łizhiní Bikéyahdę́ę́ʼ atsátsoh bijáád łikizhígíí

• Nihon: カンムリクマタカ

• Macedonian: Крунест орел

• Nederlands: Kroonarend

• Polski: Wojownik wspaniały

• Português: Águia-coroada

• Western Elvish: Ehrá Nokrova

• Eastern Elvish: Ehréo Nokrova

• Terran Saurfolk: Atlanór Hikroi

• Sawintiran Saurfolk: Tlon'gór Likroi

• This is second known living species of eagle after the bald eagle.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowned_eagle

• https://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stephanoaetus_coronatus

• https://ebird.org/species/crheag1

• https://www.deviantart.com/ognimdo2002/art/Crowned-Eagle-992747195

• https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/sol_campbell_1100207?src=t_eagle