Eagle Facts

About the eagle

Of the 68 eagle species, most come from Eurasia and Africa. Just 14 live elsewhere, including two North American species, three Australian ones and nine spread through Central and South America. They range from the Great Nicobar serpent eagle, about 450 g (1 lb), to giants that only condors and some Old World vultures outsize. In every known species, the female is bigger than the male.

Eyesight is their great tool. The wedge-tailed eagle is thought to see about twice as sharply as a person, thanks to very large pupils. Diets differ by group: some eagles take fish, snake eagles hunt snakes in tropical Africa and Asia, and forest eagles go after mammals and birds in the trees. Nests, called eyries, go high on cliffs or up in tall trees. One bald eagle flew carrying a 6.8 kg (15 lb) fawn.

Did you know?

• A martial eagle once killed a 37 kg duiker, roughly 7 to 8 times its own weight.
• Eagles do not fly above the clouds, despite the old saying.
• Hawks tend to glance over their shoulders before striking prey, but eagles do not.