title: Mutatis mutandis

text: "Mutatis mutandis" was first borrowed into English in the 16th century, but continues to be italicized as a foreign phrase. Although many similar adverbial phrases are treated as part of the sentence, "mutatis mutandis" is usually set apart by commas or in some other fashion. The nearest English equivalent to an ablative absolute is the nominative absolute, so that a literal translation will either use the nominative case ("those things which need to be changed having been changed") or a preposition ("with the things needing to be changed having been changed"). More often, the idea is expressed more tersely ("with the necessary changes") or using subordinating conjunctions and a dependent clause ("once the necessary adjustments are made").


title: Mutatis mutandis

text: The phrase has a technical meaning in mathematics where it is sometimes used to signal that a proof can be more generally applied to other certain cases after making some, presumably obvious, changes. It serves a similar purpose to the more common phrase, "without loss of generality" (WLOG).


title: Mutatis mutandis

text: The legal use of the term is somewhat specialized. As glossed by Shira Scheindlin, judge for the Southern District of New York, for a 1998 case: "This Latin phrase simply means that the necessary changes in details, such as names and places, will be made but everything else will remain the same." In the wake of the Plain English movements, some countries attempted to replace their law codes' legal Latin with English equivalents.


title: Mutatis mutandis

text: The phrase appears in other European languages as well. A passage of Marcel Proust's "Remembrance of Things Past" includes "...j'ai le fils d'un de mes amis qui, mutatis mutandis, est comme vous..." ("A friend of mine has a son whose case, "mutatis mutandis", is very much like yours.") The German Ministry of Justice, similar to the Plain English advocates above, now eschews its use. Their official English translation of the Civil Code now reads:


title: Mutatis mutandis

text: "Section 27 (Appointment of and management by the board). ...(3) The management by the board is governed by the provisions on mandate in sections 664 to 670 "with the necessary modifications.""


title: Mutatis mutandis

text: The phrase is used as the motto of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters from the X-Men Marvel Comics.


title: Crowned eagle

text: The crowned eagle, also known as the African crowned eagle or the crowned hawk-eagle (Stephanoaetus coronatus), is a large bird of prey found in sub-Saharan Africa; in Southern Africa it is restricted to eastern areas. Its preferred habitats are principally riparian woodlands and various forests. The crowned eagle is the only extant member of the genus "Stephanoaetus". A second species, the Malagasy crowned eagle ("Stephanoaetus mahery") became extinct after humans settled on Madagascar.


title: Crowned eagle

text: At least 90 percent of the diet is mammalian; the usual prey taken by populations shows pronounced regional differences. Throughout its range the principal prey items are small ungulates (such as duikers, chevrotains), rock hyrax and small primates such as monkeys. Birds and large lizards are barely taken.


title: Crowned eagle

text: Although the crowned eagle's long tail imparts an overall length up to , it is somewhat less massive and has a considerably shorter wingspan than Africa's largest eagle, the martial eagle ("Polemaetus bellicosus"). It is nevertheless considered Africa's most powerful eagle when measured in terms of the weight of its prey items. It often preys on mammals such as bushbuck ("Tragelaphus scriptus"), exceptionally weighing up to albeit usually much less. The crowned eagle possesses unusually large talons and strong legs, and may kill by crushing the skull. The eagle is also ferocious; some records from beneath a nest show the remains of a large, male Sooty mangabey weighing .


title: Crowned eagle

text: Due to their ecological similarities, the crowned eagle is considered to be the African counterpart of the harpy eagle ("Harpia harpyja"). Thanks to its bold and highly conspicuous behavior, it is exceptionally well-studied for a large, forest-dwelling eagle. Due to a relatively high level of habitat adaptability, it was until recently considered to be faring well by the standards of large, forest-dependent raptors. However, today it is generally thought that it is decreasing far more than was previously perceived due to the almost epidemic destruction of native tropical African forest. It is now listed by the IUCN as Near Threatened.


title: Crowned eagle

text: This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the 12th edition of "Systema Naturae", published in 1766, as "Falco coronatus". Since birds were grouped largely on superficial characteristics at that time, many unrelated species were grouped by Linnaeus in the genus "Falco". The actual taxonomic alignment of the crowned eagle is apparent due to its feathering over its tarsus, which is generally rare in unrelated accipitrids. The crowned eagle is actually part of the diverse "booted eagle" group, which has sometimes been considered a distinct subfamily (Aquilinae). Included in this grouping are the genus "Aquila" and all species described as "hawk eagles" including the genera "Spizaetus" and "Nisaetus". Other assorted monotypical genera included amongst "booted eagles" are "Lophaetus", "Polemaetus", "Lophotriorchis" and "Ictinaetus".


title: Crowned eagle

text: At one time, the genus "Stephanoaetus" was considered a "specialized offshoot" of the "Spizaetus" hawk-eagles based on morphological attributes. DNA sequences utilizing one mitochondrial and three nuclear genes indicated the crowned eagle is a sister species to the Asian hawk-eagles, which are now considered a separate genus, "Nisaetus", that are not closely related to the neotropical hawk-eagles, which are retained in "Spizaetus". However, another recent study, this time of sequences of two mitochondrial and one nuclear genes, did not reveal a close relationship of this eagle to any other accipitrid, including the "Nisaetus" species, and the genus was found to be genetically highly divergent from other "booted" eagles". In a case of convergent evolution, the much heavier harpy eagle, which is outside of the "booted eagle" group, has a similar skeletal morphology to the crowned eagle. Two less well-known, probably distantly related species, the mountain hawk-eagle ("Nisaetus nipalensis") and the black-and-chestnut eagle ("Spizaetus isidori"), have also been found comparable to the crowned eagle. While both are slimmer and smaller, these eagles are also large-bodied, strong-footed offshoots of the evolutionary radiation of forest-dwelling booted eagles, respectively distributed in East Asia and South America. The adult crowned eagle even has somewhat intermediate appearance between these birds, sharing the variable patterning of the mountain hawk-eagle and some of the colouring of the black-and-chestnut. Until possibly up to 1500, another crowned eagle species, the Malagasy crowned eagle ("S. mahery") existed. Similar in size and form to the extant crowned eagle, the Malagasy crowned eagle probably filled a similar niche in Madagascar, but was likely to have preyed on lemurs in place of monkeys. Apparently, the Malagasy crowned eagle became extinct due mainly to the loss of prey and habitat change, attributable to early humans on the island. To date, the living crowned eagle has no recognized subspecies. However, Simon Thomsett noted from field experience possible racial differences between crowned eagles in limited woodland habitats in East and South Africa (called by him the "bush eagles"), which have historically been the main populations studied, and those that live in denser West African rainforest, in the central part of the species distribution. The latter population, he noted, appeared smaller but relatively larger footed, seemed chestier in build and appeared to have deeper eyebrows than the bush eagle; behaviorally the rainforest eagles seemed bolder and louder, which is reinforced in other accounts of the species.


title: Crowned eagle

text: The crowned eagle is a very large eagle. Measuring from in length, it is the fifth longest extant eagle in the world. The female, at a weight of , is around 10–15% larger than the male, at a weight of . An average body mass of was given in one account. Elsewhere, an average of has been claimed. Slightly smaller weights were found in a South African survey where 5 males averaged and 8 females averaged . Overall, they are the 9th heaviest living eagle species. The wingspan typically ranges from . The largest authenticated wingspan for a female was , with a claim of wingspans of up to needing confirmation. This eagle's wingspan is quite short for the bird's size, being around the same mean width as that of a tawny eagle ("Aquila rapax") or a short-toed snake eagle ("Circaetus gallicus"), species that weigh about half as much as a crowned eagle. However, the somewhat boxy and rounded wings are quite broad, being broader than, for example, the much longer-winged golden eagle ("Aquila chrysaetos"). The wing morphology of the species gives it maneuverability in its densely wooded environment. The wing chord measures , with a median of in males and in females. In South Africa, 5 males averaged in wing chord length and 7 females averaged . While it, on average, is less heavy and has a smaller wingspan than the often sympatric martial eagle, its average total length exceeds that of the martial eagle thanks to its much longer tail. The crowned eagle's tail is from long, with a median of in males and in females. South African males averaged in tail length in a sample of 4 and females averaged . The bill is of a medium size relative to its body size, with one large museum specimen's bill measuring in length from the gape, in culmen length and in bill depth. In South Africa, culmen length averaged in 4 males and in 7 females, with a range in both .


title: Crowned eagle

text: The tarsus is of a modest length for a raptor of its size, at , and is clearly shorter than that of martial eagle. However, the feet and legs are visibly thicker and heavier than those of the martial eagle and the talons are apparently quite massive in both length and width. While few comprehensive measurements of the talon size of wild crowned eagles are known, one female museum specimen reportedly had a hallux-claw (or hind claw, which is the largest talon on accipitrids) of , while another female was measured at 5 years of age, the age of sexual maturity, in the hallux-claw and an adult male measured . In South Africa, hallux-claw length averaged in 5 males and in 7 females with a range in both of . These figures put their talon size as around the same size as the largest golden eagles and close to those of a mid-sized harpy eagle. Some captive crowned eagles have been credited with a hallux-claw length of up to , although, much like a single report of captive harpy eagles with a hallux-claw, no such outsized talons are known to have been confirmed. In a small sampling of large, forest-dwelling raptors, the front-left talon of the crowned eagle, at , was around one cm less than that of a harpy eagle or the huge, recently extinct Haast's eagle ("Hieraaetus moorei") and slightly smaller than those of the Philippine eagle ("Pithecophaga jefferyi"). Considering a big female of these species can weigh up to twice as much as an average crowned eagle may illustrate the relative largeness of the crowned eagle's talons.


title: Crowned eagle

text: The adult crowned eagle is quite strikingly plumaged. Its crown is dark to rufous-tinged brown with a prominent, oft-raised black-tipped double crest, which can give the head a somewhat triangular appearance. The upperparts of an adult are a blackish brown-grey color, with a variable tinge of blue. The throat is brown while the belly and breast are white overlaid densely with blackish bars and blotches, variably marked with cream or rich buff-rufous coloration. The wing primaries are white at the base, broadly tipped with black and crossed by two black bars. The tail is black with brownish-grey bands. The thighs and legs are barred and closely spotted with black and white. The underwing coverts of adults have a bold chestnut coloration, spotted lightly with black. The adult crowned eagle has eyes that can range from yellow to almost white, a cere and feet of an ochre-yellow color and black talons. In the wild, misidentification of an adult is improbable thanks to the species' bearing and voice. The strongly barred outer wings and tail are all diagnostic in flight. Further simplifying identification, details such as the crest, the bird's upright perching posture and large size are unique to this animal. While they do differ somewhat in size, the genders' sexual dimorphism by size is relatively modest and eagles are unlikely to be sexed by this alone. However, the male may be distinguished by his more rapid wing beats (4 or 5 per second) from the more sluggish female (3 or 4 per second).


title: Crowned eagle

text: As seen in about half of the "booted eagle" group, the juvenile crowned eagle has strikingly different looking plumage compared to the adults. Much variation occurs as the maturation process occurs. A great majority of juveniles have a white head and underside, which contrast with the thighs and legs, which are heavily spotted with black. The juvenile eagle's back is light brown or grayish-brown, with pale feather edgings that often give the back a scaled appearance, especially on the upper-wing coverts. There is often a pinkish red wash on the upper chest. Just-fledged chicks tend have dark patched faces, freckled bibs and slightly barred chests and spotted legs. Less common juvenile crowned eagle plumages, possible even when they are under a year of age and still under parental care, may include eagles so stripy that they which one could easily have aged as two- to three-year-olds. The tail of the juvenile is black with three pale bars and a narrow black tip. The juvenile eagle's cere is grey and the feet are dull yellow. By 4 months post-fledgling, the inner thighs, previously poorly covered with downy type feathers, are covered with small feathers. While the pale 'morph' young just prior to leaving the nest usually have unmarked tarsus, they soon get spots on the front part of the tibio tarsal joint. The tibio tarsal pad is still bare and obvious up until it is a year old, whereupon it vanishes only to return to incubating females. Eye color is variable too with some having khaki light brown just prior to fledging and others with adult-like yellow ochre eyes. Up to 15 months after leaving the nest, the immature eagles more closely resemble the plumage they have at first independence than the adult's plumage. The juvenile may be confused with the similarly colored juvenile martial eagle, especially in flight. It is distinguished from the martial species in having a much longer, more heavily barred tail, much shorter wings and spotted thighs.


title: Crowned eagle

text: The crowned eagle is found only on the continent of Africa. In East Africa, the crowned eagle's range extends from central Ethiopia, to Uganda, forested parts of Kenya and Tanzania to as far south as eastern South Africa, with a southern distribution limit around Knysna. In western and central Africa, the crowned eagle's range extends through much of the (once) vast African rainforest. They may be found from Senegal, The Gambia, Sierra Leone and Cameroon, where they inhabit the Guinean forests, to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they live in the Congolian forests, and down south to as far Angola. Despite its large distribution there, the crowned eagle is now rare in many parts of West Africa.


title: Crowned eagle

text: The crowned eagle inhabits mainly dense woodlands, including those deep within rainforest, but will sometimes also be found in relict patches, wooded escarpments, riparian strips of "Acacia", heavily wooded hillsides, and rocky outcrops throughout its range. The crowned eagle may be found from an altitude of sea-level to at least . Owing to lack of current suitable habitat, the eagle's range is often somewhat discontinuous. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the crowned eagle has been confirmed to survive at relatively high densities in protected areas that maintain dense, old-growth rainforests. In Kenya, 84% of the crowned eagles range is within rainforest with an annual rainfall amount of more than . Around stretches of East Africa where protected areas mostly consist of fairly open habitat, crowned eagles usually live in wooded areas of rocky hills and narrow riverine strips, only rarely ranging into savanna surrounding the hills. Southern Africa has been subject to the most comprehensive study of crowned eagle habitat, largely since many areas there would seem inhospitable to a large raptor often associated with old-growth forest. In southern Africa, its distribution south of the Limpopo River coincides largely with montane forest, although it is not restricted to that habitat and may range secondarily into plantations, usually of eucalyptus. In South Africa, it occurs in both lowland and montane evergreen forest, dense woodland, and forested ravines and gorges in open savannas and thornveld. In Zimbabwe, the crowned eagle can be found in quite open woods with "Adansonia" trees and may occasionally forage in savanna and secondary growth. In Malawi, highland birds forage in lower miombo woodland, and lower altitudes, breeding occurs in deciduous forest, more locally in dense miombo, tall riparian woodlands, and in remnants close to cultivation. Crowned eagles in Zambezi, occurs in evergreen forest in the eastern highlands, in rugged, hilly terrain over the central plateau, in hills and escarpments in the southeastern portions of the central watershed, and in riparian habitat along the larger rivers.


title: Crowned eagle

text: Typical of most raptors that breed in Africa, the crowned eagle is non-migratory and is largely sedentary. This species usually inhabits a fixed territory throughout the year during its adult life. There is evidence that the birds move about to some degree when circumstances require it, for example when they need to change mates in isolated breeding areas. The greatest movement of any notable distance is usually associated with juvenile birds, which wander relatively widely before maturation. Forty-four birds of various ages that were ringed in southern Africa and recovered were all found near the ringing localities. Small movements by crowned eagles has resulted in them being sighted in improbable habitats, such as on an open savanna hill in Kenya, an open river bed in Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and even a golf course in Nairobi.


title: Crowned eagle

text: The crowned eagle is highly vocal and has a noisy, undulating display flight. In Equatorial Africa, they often call year-around, while elsewhere they may vocalize mainly in the context of breeding and nesting activities. The call is a series of loud whistles that rise and fall in pitch. The male performs an elaborate rise-and-fall display over the forest canopy both during the breeding season and outside it as a territorial proposition. Usually, territorial displays, which outnumber breeding displays, occur around the periphery of the bird's home range while breeding displays are likely to be over or at least near the nest. Displays consists of a series of steep dives and ascents, with a few wing-flaps at the top of each climb and descending circles and figures of eight. During descents, eagles can drop as much as at a time before circling back up. During this display, the male is noisy, uttering a shrill "kewee-kewee-kewee" while throwing his head back, often calling for a spell of approximately 30 seconds. The displaying male may reach heights exceeding , sometimes even near cloud level at over above the ground. The adult female may also perform independent display flights, uttering a lower "kooee-kooee-kooee". The female seems to display less often and tends to have a mellower voice. Pairs also perform visually striking mutual displays, sometimes arising from the first type or when the pairs come together after a brief absence. Spectacular tandems, interlocking talons and falling some distance from the sky are typical of mutual displays. Despite the spectacular and conspicuous nature of their display flights, the crowned eagle is sometimes considered a "clumsy" flier out in the open, lacking the grace and speed attributed to other eagles in a high-flying context, such as large "Aquila" species. While awaiting food at the nest, both the female and the young call out a penetrating, high "kwee-kwee-kwee", that can border on incessant.


title: Crowned eagle

text: In disposition, the crowned eagle is considered nervous, constantly alert and on edge. They are quite different from the oft-stately open country eagles such as the "Aquila" species. In their training and management, crowned eagles are perhaps more reminiscent of northern goshawks ("Accipiter gentilis") than "Aquila" eagles. Some linkage has been made between forest-dwelling habits and having a curious and edgy disposition amongst various raptorial birds. Ironically considering their otherwise hyperactive behavior, the main hunting techniques of crowned eagle require long periods of inactivity, spent sitting on a perch. Mature crowned eagles are reportedly nearly fearless towards humans and, unless shy from prior interactions, unusually prone to treat humans aggressively. Crowned eagles can nest around developed areas, including in the vicinity of quite suburban, developed areas (such as in view of apartment or office buildings), so long as prey is abundant and accessible and the habitat provides enough mature vegetation to facilitate nest building and hunting activities. Some biologists consider this species highly intelligent, cautious, independent and inquisitive when compared to other accipitrids. In falconry, crowned eagles cannot be induced to direct their hunting instinct towards large prey by increasing their hunger, as is done with "Aquila" eagles, for example. In the context of human interaction, wild, adult crowned eagles are quite the opposite of the martial eagle, which are typically very wary and tends to shun any variety of human activity. However, young crowned eagles in their post-fledging stage differ greatly in behavior from independent or adult eagles. Amongst post-fledging eagles in a semi-captive state, it has been noted that they border on helpless in terms of feeding and defending themselves compared to other accipitrids and are even described as "cowardly", unwilling to even simulate attacking prey until many months after fledging. This implies a learning element occurs in wild crowned eagles during their exceptionally long post-fledging period. Crowned eagles are reportedly variable in temperament as individuals to a degree greater than that found in most other raptors.


title: Crowned eagle

text: Crowned eagles have one of the most prolonged breeding cycles of any bird. It is common for raptors that live around the tropics to have a relatively elongated breeding period. Crowned eagle pairs breed once every two years; a single breeding cycle is approximately 500 days in duration. Most other eagle species complete a breeding cycle in under six months, or in about 35% of the time it takes the crowned eagle. While the incubation and nestling stages are about average for a tropical eagle (for example the black-breasted snake-eagle ("Circaetus pectoralis"), about half the weight of this species, has an incubation/nestling cycle of a similar length), it is the extraordinary post-fledging period of 9–11 months that makes the crowned eagles' breeding cycle so long. In harpy and Philippine eagle, although these are less extensively studied, it may take a similar or even longer amount of time for the young to attain full independence. A case of crowned eagle pairs that reportedly bred every year in South Africa are unsubstantiated but may be due to an apparently high population loss rate among juvenile eagles near areas that are heavily populated by humans. Breeding can occur almost year-around throughout the range, though egg laying seems to peak roughly around the end of the African wet season or the early dry season, from July to November. Territories or home ranges are maintained vigorously. In Zimbabwe, individual home ranges can vary from in size. Near the city of Nelspruit in South Africa, home ranges averaged in size. In southern Africa, the mean distance between active nest sites can range from .


title: Crowned eagle

text: After engaging in the breeding display described above, the pair collaborate in building a massive nest in a fork of a large forest tree, typically from above the ground. While the female fetches more nesting material, the male tends to be more active in nest construction. In East Africa, many nests appear to be close to a forest river. Generally, crowned eagles seem to be attracted to the taller trees in the forest. On the Nyika Plateau in Malawi, the favorite nesting trees are the large emergent "Pouteria adolfi-friedericii" and "Gambeya gorungosana", and a pair in the Lower Shire used a "Sterculia appendiculata" tree. In Zimbabwe, "Newtonia buchananii" are reportedly one of the most used tree species for nesting. Exceptional crowned eagle nests have been observed on sheer cliff faces. In southern Africa, the species nest in drier and denuded terrain than expected such as "Adansonia" stands on semi-arid hillsides. Despite the relative sparseness of this habitat, these sites have a varied and convoluted terrain, with nooks and crannies, valleys, overhangs and hideaways that allow a crowned eagle to exercise its particular hunting skills. In Kenya, similar fractured landscapes can also be utilized by crowned eagles, such as the black gigantic volcanic rubble fields of Tsavo West National Park, the lower Chyulu Hills, Kibwezi and Soysambu Conservancy. These are jungles of boulders covered with low growth interspersed (in the past) with high trees. A nest built from scratch may take up to 5 months to construct, however existing nests are often repaired and re-used during successive breeding seasons, a process that can take as much as 3 months. It is typical for an eagle pair to use a nest for more than five years and, unlike several other booted eagles, crowned eagle pairs rarely build more than one nest for alternative use. Most large eagles build a very large nest and the crowned eagle is no exception, as it builds one of the largest nests of any eagle. In the first year they build a nest, it may measure across and deep. However, a larger nest, usually after several years of usage, may measure up to across and up to deep. The nest consists of both dead and greener branches and has a light coverage of leaves and animal matter. Copulation takes place in the nest, several times a day. Reportedly copulation can occur up to a year before laying, although these may be exceptional cases of mating for non-fertilization purposes (which, in other eagles, has been thought to be related mainly to strengthening pair bonds). A pre-copulation display typically occurs, wherein the male runs repeatedly around the crouching female with wings upraised, which displays the chestnut of the under-wing coverts and beautiful barring.


title: Crowned eagle

text: In South Africa the crowned eagle lays its eggs from September to October; in Zimbabwe, it lays from May to October; mainly nearer to October around the Congo River; anywhere from June to November in Kenya, with a peak in August through October; in Uganda from December to July; and in West Africa, laying peaks in October. The clutch of the crowned eagle either contains 1 or 2 eggs. Often in East Africa, just one egg is laid. Eggs are usually just white, though may sometimes be overlaid with sparse red-brown markings. The eggs are moderate in size, averaging , with ranges of in length and in width. When a natural disaster befalls a nest, a replacement may be made in 2 months time. Incubation lasts for approximately 49 days. 80–90% of egg incubation is done by the female during the day. Food is mainly brought to the nest by the male in the early stages of breeding, though sometimes both sexes may deliver food. The male brings food to the incubating female every 3 to 5 days. When they initially hatch, the young tend to be quite quiet. If two eggs are laid, the younger one dies by starvation after being outcompeted for food by the older one or even directly killed by its older sibling. No nest of wild crowned eagles has been known to successfully produce more than one fledgling, though in captivity two have been known to survive with human assistance (supplementally feeding the younger chick or taking it out of the nest). In cases where the older nestling dies, the younger one may be fed more regularly and survive.


title: Crowned eagle

text: After hatching, the male kill rate rises to one kill every 1.5 days. Pair behavior while raising chicks is very variable, some males are very attentive to their young, while others leave virtually all brooding to the female. After 40 days of age, the young is capable of feeding itself, though is often still fed. The first feathers through the white down emerge when the crowned eagle chick is 40 days old, with the feathers ultimately covering the down in 76 days. After 76 days, the main feather development is in the tail or the wings. Wing flapping begins at 45 to 50 days, increasing after around 75 days. The young fledge at 90 to 115 days, with an average 110.6 days and any period of time less than 100 days is considered unusually soon. On average, male chicks tend to be more active wing-flappers and usually will first fly around 10 days earlier than female chicks. After fledging, females are attentive 95% of the day and brood 50–75% of the day, the amount decreasing slightly with each day. The female does much of the prey capture and a majority of the nest defense after the young fledge. After fledging, the young remain in the neighborhood of the parent's nest and are fed every 3 to 5 days by either parent for their first 270–350 days of life. The rate of food-delivery varies from several times a day to every 3 days on average during the post-fledging period. The fledged juvenile will solicit adults (apparently even unrelated adults) for food but does not actually take the prey unless this occurs around the nest site. The first recorded kill for a young crowned occurred 61 days after fledging, although this is considered exceptionally early by the standards of this species. Flights increase incrementally through the post-fledging period, although the young do not engage in rising flights until they are fully independent. Independence appears to be triggered by the increased indifference of parents to bringing food. Due to the loud vocal interplay between the parents and the fledging eagle, the adults seem to take it as a sign that their offspring has sought independence if they return to the nesting area and hear no begging auditory response. The young eagle usually remains in the care of its parents for a total of up to 11 months after it fledges, longer than is known in almost any other raptor. The advantage of this prolonged stretch to independence is that it may make for a stronger young eagle when compared to other accipitrids which have almost no post-fledging dependency period. In 34 possible cases, 18 resulted in eggs being laid. Fledging success is approximately 83% and almost all young that leave the nest also reach independence.


title: Crowned eagle

text: It is estimated that most crowned eagles will reach breeding maturity at around five years old, as is typical for other large eagle species.


title: Crowned eagle

text: The crowned eagle is often described as the most powerful raptor in Africa, even more so than the two slightly heavier species endemic to Africa, the martial eagle and the Verreaux's eagle ("Aquila verreauxii"). One listing included the crowned eagle as the only bird in a ranking of the 10 strongest living land creatures (pound for pound). Elsewhere, the harpy eagle is listed as the overall most powerful living eagle and bird of prey. Since there are no known actual tests in any African raptor of the pressure exerted via their grip, as has been done with some other large eagles, their power has been estimated from the size of the feet and talons and from the prey they typically select.


title: Crowned eagle

text: The crowned eagle's staple diet is mostly mammalian. One estimate of the typical prey range posited that the weight range is from , which is, based on the species ecology in Kenyan hillside woodland. This prey weight range is roughly the same weight range that's typically attributed to martial or Verreaux's eagles. Perhaps unsurprisingly, that is the weight range of the rock hyrax, which all three large eagles are known to hunt regularly in East Africa. In a large collection of bones in the South African Museum, it was found that 51.2% of the bones collected from Nature's Valley in South Africa were from smallish species which weigh under in adulthood, 26.3% from "medium-sized" species with an adult weight of and 22.5% were from larger species with an adult weight of over . However, about 91% of 87 bones that were from the relatively large antelope species, amongst those that could be accurately sized, were from juvenile specimens. On the other hand, in the rainforest community of Taï National Park in the Ivory Coast, the estimated average weight of prey for crowned eagles was clearly higher at . Of all other living eagles, only the female harpy eagle has been credited with an average prey weight range that is comparably high and, at the species level, the crowned eagle's prey size from the latter study is the largest of any known for all extant accipitrids. The crowned eagle is perhaps the only living accipitrid to routinely attack prey weighing in excess of . According to some authorities typical prey sizes for crowned eagle may be considered to range to at least in body mass. Reportedly, the crowned eagle can lift more than its own body weight in flight, though verified accounts of this are sparse.


title: Crowned eagle

text: In a deep forest, an adult eagle may cover a hunting range of up to , with the home ranges being smaller for those that inhabit rocky hills and cliffs abounding in hyraxes. Eagles start hunting soon after dawn and mainly kill early in the morning and in the evening prior to sundown. Being a forest-dwelling species, the crowned eagle has no need to travel great distances to hunt, nor employ a great deal of active hunting flight (such as soaring seen in savannah-dwelling species). Rather, it tends to hunt passively. Crowned eagles may locate a suitable hunting spot by listening (such as via the call of the noisy vervet monkey) or watching for prey activity, though may also use habitual hunting perches where they've previously had hunting successes. Although this behavior is unconfirmed, some crowned eagles have been reported to let out a soft whistle, unlike their other vocalizations which, for some reason, is attractive to monkeys and will then attack the first monkey to enter their line of sight. These eagles often still-hunt, wherein they drop or stoop onto prey from a branch perch. Following the sighting of suitable prey, the eagle quickly and stealthily maneuvers itself through the forest towards its prey, a certain element of surprise inherent in its final approach. A majority of the crowned eagle's kills are made on the forest floor. Arboreal prey may be forced to the ground during an attack. The sharp, powerful talons may produce sufficient force to kill the prey on impact; if not, death from trauma or asphyxiation soon follows. Several prey items have been killed by ramming the talons into the skull and penetrating the brain. Having killed on the ground, it has the ability to fly almost vertically upwards to a branch while carrying its prey before feeding, though it will tear up prey into manageable pieces on the ground when it is exceedingly heavy. While they both attack somewhat similar prey in often similar habitat, the considerable difference in body weight and wing-loading between crowned and harpy eagles have been attributed to load-carrying while hunting, as harpies tend to capture and carry off most prey in active flight rather than an attack on the ground and dismember if necessary.


title: Crowned eagle

text: On rare occasions, crowned eagles may also hunt on the wing, flying slightly over the canopy and causing a cacophony amongst monkey groups until they detect and capture their prey, often a monkey or tree hyrax. Crowned eagles are believed to take uneaten portions of prey up into the trees to cache around the nest or habitual perches so that the pieces can be consumed over the course of the next several days. If the prey is too heavy for taking flight with, even after dismemberment, for example, a bushbuck, crowned eagles have been known to cache food at the thickly vegetated base of a tree and only carry limbs to the nest. Pairs may collaborate in capturing prey, with one bird flushing the prey so the other can glide in unseen and ambush it. Female eagles may target male monkeys more often than males, which are more likely to hunt female or young monkeys. In one case, a female crowned eagle stalked a bushbuck calf over the course of two days but was repeatedly foiled when it went in for the attack, either by the mother bushbuck or an associating troop of yellow baboons ("Papio cyanocephalus"). However, the crowned eagle one day assaulted the bushbuck calf quickly, leaving it with a gaping wound on its flank, and flew off to observe from a distance. Within a few more days, the bleeding, wounded calf was unable to keep pace with its mother and was tracked and killed by the assaulting eagle. Another assault, this one on an adult male vervet monkey ("Chlorocebus pygerythrus") apparently had a similar outcome as the bushbuck attack. This type of strike-and-wait hunting technique may be used by diverse predators, from Komodo dragons ("Varanus komodoensis") to great white sharks ("Carcharodon carcharias"), which tend to track their victims by scent after biting them rather than sight and sound, but is virtually unprecedented in birds. Crowned eagles have been recorded to consume carrion but this behavior has only rarely been observed.


title: Crowned eagle

text: The crowned eagle occupies a unique niche, as it is the only bird in which primates are the most commonly taken prey at the species level. While at least a dozen other accipitrids opportunistically hunt small or young monkeys, only the harpy eagle and, possibly, crested eagle of the neotropics have diets where primates may locally outnumber other prey. However, New World monkeys are generally smaller and less formidable than Old World monkeys. Also, both other eagles may prefer different prey where available: harpy eagles primarily take sloths, which can be as heavy as a colobus or mangabey but are much slower and less able to defend themselves, while crested eagles take a variety of tropical birds and arboreal mammals. Other large eagles have been confirmed to hunt adult Old World monkeys, including martial eagles, Verreaux's eagles, mountain hawk-eagles and Philippine eagles, whose generic scientific name and old common was even the monkey-eating eagle, but all are believed to rely on non-primate prey for the majority of their diet.


title: Crowned eagle

text: The favored group in the crowned eagle's diet is certainly the genus "Cercopithecus". In Kibale National Park, Uganda, the red-tailed monkey ("Cercopithecus ascanius") was the most represented prey species, making up 40% of the remains. Slightly larger monkeys, such as western red colobus ("Piliocolobus badius"), mantled guereza ("Colobus guereza") and grey-cheeked mangabey ("Lophocebus albigena") were secondary in the prior study and, altogether, primates made up 82.2% of the remains from two nests there. A total of 88% of the remains found around crowned eagle nests in the Ituri Rainforest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were from primates: blue monkey ("Cercopithecus mitis"), red-tailed monkey, Wolf's mona monkey ("C. wolfi"), western red colobus and a mixture of mangabeys and black-and-white colobus. In 16 nests in the Ivory Coast's Taï Forest, more than 60% of remains around the eyries were monkeys and more than 45% of remains were from "Cercopithecus" monkeys. About half of the "Cercopithecus" remains were from Diana monkey ("C. diana"; 44 items from 28 adults and 16 immatures), with the other half from Campbell's mona monkey ("C. campbelli") and lesser spot-nosed monkey ("C. petaurista"), which were indistinguishable as remains. Other represented monkeys in the Taï Forest included the Western red colobus, the olive colobus ("Procolobus verus") and the king colobus ("Colobus polykomos"). The diet is, by necessity, more diverse in Kiwengwa/Pongwe Forest Reserve in the Matumbi Hills of Tanzania but the blue monkey was still the most represented prey species, making up 20% of the remains. In one nest in the prior study, the Blue monkey made up more than 90% of the remains. Where they overlap in range, the vervet monkey can be quite prominent as prey for crowned eagles, as their relatively small size, diurnal and terrestrial habits may make them more vulnerable.


title: Crowned eagle

text: Struhsaker and Leakey found that adult male monkeys were often better represented in the diet than adult females. This may be a result of the behavior of male primates. In some species, only adult males often travel separately from social groups, only adult males take aggressive action against eagles, and only adult males have loud calls that may attract the attention of eagles. The variation in behavior of primates is illustrated so that in red colobus species, in which adult males patrol in mixed groups, the males are rarely attacked; meanwhile in the black-and-white colobus, in which adult males often patrol alone, male are regularly attacked and killed by crowned eagles. However, adult monkeys (52%) were found in almost equal measure as juvenile monkeys (at 48%) in Uganda.


title: Crowned eagle

text: As various species and ages of primates are taken, primate prey varies in size. All diurnal African monkeys weigh in excess of in adulthood. African primates weighing under , are almost entirely arboreal and nocturnal. However, such primates, are actually allies of lemurs rather than monkeys, may occasionally also be hunted by crowned eagles. Potto ("Perodicticus potto") are notable secondary prey in the Tai Forest and various galagos have been found across the range, such as in the Kiwengwa/Pongwe Forest Reserve where they made up 7.5% of the remains. Although no one has seen the eagles catch these primates, it is thought pottos and galagos are likely to be taken if discovered by an eagle while sleeping in dense foliage during the day. Among monkeys, Cercopithecine monkeys are on the small side. Full-grown female "Cercopithecus" can range in average weight from and males from depending on species. Other major prey, such as vervet monkeys typically weighing in males and in females, but up to . Mangabeys and most colobus monkeys are larger, weighing considerably in excess of at maturity. The adults of these species taken by crowned eagles usually weigh in males and in females, but olive colobus are smaller, weighing less than , and large adults of western red colobus and Sooty mangabeys can weigh up to . Larger king colobus, mantled guereza and black-and-white colobus can weigh up to in adult males. Based on observation and literature, any monkey of a weight of up to may reportedly be hunted.


title: Crowned eagle

text: The crowned eagle's diet may extend to the young and juveniles of baboons and similar species. yellow baboons, olive baboons ("Papio anubis"), chacma baboons ("P. ursinus"), drills ("Mandrillus leucophaeus") and mandrills ("M. sphinx"), all falling into the above maximum primate weight bracket and all have been successfully hunted. In South Africa, remains of three adults chacma baboons were found in the nest remain, suggesting adult female baboons can be possibly preyed upon. In many cases, baboons and drills may be actively avoided, as the adult males of these species, at up to twice as heavy as the female, are probably invulnerable to hunting and tend to be notoriously violent-tempered. In one case, olive baboons destroyed the nest of a crowned eagle pair after one of the eagles killed a baby in the baboon group. When experimentally exposed to an image of a crowned eagle, a dominant male mandrill reacted aggressively towards it, implying that they will keep eagles at bay to protect the more vulnerable members of their troop. The crowned eagle is considered a potential predator of infant chimpanzees ("Pan troglodytes") and bonobos ("P. paniscus"), although this is unconfirmed. Although rarely observed, some monkeys will "bait" crowned eagles, which harass and provoke them. Leslie Brown described Sykes' monkeys ("Cercopithecus albogularis") as rarely baiting eagles "with the insolent impunity of an expert tolero with a bull".


title: Crowned eagle

text: Outside of the rainforest, the crowned eagle's diet tends to be somewhat more diverse. While they may take monkeys on a relatively small scale, other families, largely the antelopes are the leading prey. In some wooded hillside nests in Kenya, about half of the remains were from small antelope. The predominant prey species there is the Suni ("Neotragus moschatus"). In the Matumbi Hills of Tanzania, antelope make up about 30% of the dietary intake at nests, much of this being the Suni again. Adults antelope of a similarly small size to the Suni, around or slightly less, are readily hunted, such as Kirk's dik-dik ("Madoqua kirkii") and the blue duiker ("Philantomba monticola"). Larger antelopes, often weighing around as adults, may be attacked (mainly calves but also an occasional adult), including klipspringer ("Oreotragus oreotragus"), steenbok ("Raphicerus campestris"), Sharpe's grysbok ("R. sharpei") and about a half dozen smallish duikers (especially the red forest duiker ("Cephalophus natalensis")). National Geographic recorded a video depicting a crowned eagle stalking a water chevrotain ("Hyemoschus aquaticus") (the only African representative of a small-bodied, deer-like family) along a rainforest river but show the chevrotain evading the eagle by submerging and swimming away from it. Amongst even bigger antelope species that may be hunted, such as bushbuck, Thomson's gazelle ("Eudorcas thomsonii"), grey rhebok ("Pelea capreolus") and impala ("Aepyceros melampus"), calves are usually taken but sometimes small adult females may be hunted. The biggest duikers to have been killed weighed an estimated . The heaviest accurately weighed bushbuck to be killed by a crowned eagle scaled , but other ones killed by eagles that have been larger include one around and another estimated at , or about eight times the eagle's own weight. Furthermore, the remains of another adult-sized bushbuck estimated to weigh were found as the prey of crowned eagles in South Africa. An even more extreme body size estimated for a bushbuck kill was .


title: Crowned eagle

text: The taking of ungulates on a large scale, unlike primates, is not unique to the crowned eagle. The martial eagle was reported in Tsavo East National Park to hunt mainly dik-diks and elsewhere has exceptionally killed large duiker weighing up to . Equally or even more impressive feats of ungulate-hunting have been credited to the wedge-tailed eagle ("Aquila audax") and especially the golden eagle, despite these being considered less powerful than the crowned eagle. Both "Aquila" take mainly neonatal lambs and deer fawns but can attack adult sheep and other large prey (i.e. full-grown kangaroos, emus, pronghorns, reindeer, etc.). Even a bald eagle ("Haliaeetus leucocephalus"), usually target aquatic preys, was reportedly witnessed killing a pregnant adult sheep ewe. The largest prey attacked by any living raptor is probably the up to domestic calves attacked and killed by golden eagles. All four currently recognized species of hyrax have been hunted by crowned eagles. The greatest level of predation for this family has been directed at Southern tree hyrax ("Dendrohyrax arboreus"), but when they become locally abundant, rock hyrax ("Procavia capensis") can become the species' preferred prey.


title: Crowned eagle

text: Hyraxes are known to be a major source of prey outsides of the rainforest. Other mammals have been recorded as opportunistic prey, including bats, hares ("Lepus" sp.), springhares ("Pedetes" sp.), cane rats ("Thryonomys" sp.), sun squirrels ("Heliosciurus" sp.) and four-toed elephant shrew ("Petrodromus tetradactylus"). Despite their obvious defenses and nocturnal habits, small Cape porcupines ("Hystrix africaeaustralis") have reportedly been taken in South Africa. These assorted mammals, generally smaller than primates and ungulates, are typically taken when preferred prey species are locally scarce. Mammalian carnivores are sometimes also hunted ranging from smaller types such as yellow mongoose ("Cynictis penicillata"), banded mongoose ("Mungos mungo"), cusimanses, African palm civet ("Nandinia binotata") or genets to larger varieties such as adult African wildcats ("Felis lybica") and black-backed jackals ("Canis mesomelas").


title: Crowned eagle

text: Adult eagles will only resort to hunting large birds when mammals are scarce, but in southern Africa, they can be a fairly common component of the diet. Bird prey can include guineafowl, francolins, ibis, pigeons, ostrich chicks ("Struthio camelus") and the fledglings of herons and storks. One nest even had the remains of a marabou stork ("Leptoptilos crumeniferus"), which is a formidable species not usually susceptible to avian predators. Hornbills may be the most widely represented bird in the diet and the black-casqued wattled hornbill ("Ceratogymna atrata") reacts strongly to both the call of crowned eagles and the alarm calls of monkeys specified to the eagles (which are separately identifiable from the monkey's leopard-related alarm calls to both humans and, apparently, hornbills). In Kenya, snakes, including venomous varieties, may regularly supplement the diet. Monitor lizards may also be hunted and, as in the martial eagle, the crowned eagle may attack even the largest African monitors, the adult Nile monitor ("Varanus niloticus") and the rock monitor ("V. albigularis").


title: Crowned eagle

text: Domestic animals, including chicken ("Gallus gallus domesticus"), turkeys ("Meleagris gallopavo"), cats ("Felis catus"), small to medium-sized dogs ("Canis familiaris"), small pigs ("Sus domesticus"), lambs ("Ovis aries"), and goats ("Capra hircus"), are taken only when wild prey is greatly depleted. Juveniles and subadults, may take unconventional prey more frequently than adults.


title: Crowned eagle

text: In the rainforest interior, the crowned eagle occupies a unique niche and it is, by far, the largest and most dominant raptorial bird in such areas. Other large predators that may exploit similar prey in the same forested habitats include leopard ("Panthera pardus"), African golden cat ("Profelis aurata"), Nile crocodile ("Crocodylus niloticus"), dwarf crocodile ("Osteolaemus tetraspis"), African rock python ("Python sebae"), chimpanzee and larger monkeys, like mandrill and baboons. All of these competitors are much heavier bodied than a crowned eagle, ranging in size from the golden cat to the Nile crocodile. While the reptiles usually hunt on the ground or near water, felids, large monitor lizards and baboons can be assured thieves who will climb trees and take crowned eagle kills. In a comparison of the monkey-based diets of rainforest crowned eagles with leopards and chimpanzees, the big cat was estimated to take prey averaging , about twice the average estimated prey weight for crowned eagles in the same ecosystem, and the great ape , about a kilogram more than that of the crowned eagle. In South Africa, it is reported that Cape porcupines and bushpigs ("Potamochoerus larvatus") are attracted to trees used for prey consumption by crowned eagles, in order to scavenge the sinew and bone that's discarded to the ground. In more mixed eastern and southern habitats, the diversity of large predators is higher and the crowned eagle, despite its great power, is not assured at the top of the avian food chain. Amongst the more formidable raptors, the martial, the Verreaux's, and the crowned eagles, may live on the same hillside and all hunt hyraxes. While the Verreaux's eagle is something of a rock hyrax specialist, the martial eagle, even more so than the crowned eagle, has an extremely broad prey base. All these eagles will readily steal the prey caught by the other raptors. However, the great eagles are segregated by both their habitat preferences and main hunting techniques, which make it possible for the species to successfully nest within a few kilometers of one another. While the crowned eagle lives in denser woods and hunts from a perch, the martial eagle tends to live in more open wooded savanna habitats and tends to hunt on the wing at a high flying height (thanks to its superb vision) and the Verreaux's eagle lives in precipitous mountain habitats and tends to contour-hunt, hugging the uneven contours of the rocks while flying, only a few meters high. Like the martial eagle, the crowned eagle has been known to prey on smaller raptorial birds.


title: Crowned eagle

text: Young and inexperienced crowned eagles may be killed as prey by large carnivores. Two eagles reintroduced into the wild were killed by predators, one by a leopard that surprised a male on a monkey kill in the rain, and the other by a crocodile that took a female as she ate a young bushbuck kill near the water's edge. In Kenya, cases of predation on nestlings and fledglings have reportedly involved honey badgers ("Mellivora capensis") and cobras. In one extraordinary case, an adult male Sanje mangabey ("Cercocebus sanjei"), estimated to weigh , attacked an adult female crowned eagle that was trying to hunt his troop, jumping onto her back when she was in mid-flight and killing her with a strong bite. This is the first confirmed instance of a monkey killing an adult crowned eagle. In one case, a female who tried to hunt an adult female baboon was found seriously wounded after a male baboon interceded, though the eagle was captured, medically treated, and lived in captivity. In another case involving potential prey turning the tables, an eagle that was trying to hunt an incubating female Egyptian goose ("Alopochen aegyptiacus") was quickly attacked by her mate, who flew at the eagle and bit repeatedly at it, causing the eagle to quickly withdraw. The average life expectancy for crowned eagles is 14 years.


title: Crowned eagle

text: While several smaller raptorial birds will attack humans if they come too close to the nesting site, usually these have minor consequences for the human victim. Mother crowned eagles, in the post-fledging stage, readily attack any human who comes close to the nest. Adult males may also attack humans before fledging but only do so rarely. Despite the size and power of the eagle, attacks by the eagles may have minor consequences as well since the attacks are meant only to displace and not kill or seriously maim the intruding animal. However, nest-defense attacks may nonetheless possibly result in deep, painful, open wounds, which can lead to risk of infection or the need for stitches.


title: Crowned eagle

text: The crowned eagle is perhaps the only extant raptorial bird which has been believed to attack human children as prey. In one case, a 7-year-old boy, of a weight of approximately , was ambushed by a crowned eagle, who gouged its talons through the boy's throat and chest. The attack was ended by a woman who came upon them and rescued the child by bludgeoning the eagle to death with a hoe. In another case, the skull of a human child was found in the nest of a crowned eagle pair. In yet another instance, when assisting in the investigation of the disappearance of a four-year-old girl, Simon Thomsett came to believe she was the victim of a crowned eagle after the severed arm of a child was found in a tall tree that was inaccessible to leopards and known to be used as a crowned eagle cache.


title: Crowned eagle

text: 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 , 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.


title: Crowned eagle

text: The crowned eagle is fairly common in suitable habitat, though at the population level, its numbers have shown a decline in sync with deforestation. Declines appear to be widespread and may be increasing due to the often fevered pace of clear-cutting. This species main habitat is rich, high-canopy forest, which is a major target of timber companies, agriculturists, palm oil and biofuel plantations and miners as well as slash and burn farmers. A charcoal-based economy outdoes mineral-based economics in Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zaire, both fuel wars and makes inroads deep into previously virgin forests. As two of central Africa's largest businesses, this has a devastating effect on forests and wildlife. Charcoal taken from Kenya and Ethiopia is often thought to finance Somali warlords. Tanzania, which is more heavily developed for agriculture (largely today for biofuel) than adjacent Kenya, has even more reduced forest habitat. The crowned eagle is far more common in protected areas and reserves than elsewhere in its range, though is still recorded consistently outside of these areas. Biologists in Africa now suspect that the crowned eagles adaptability to small, fragmented tracts of woodland has been exaggerated in the past. Some habitat losses have been offset by the establishment of exotic tree plantations, where this species can nest, but which generally lack a sufficient prey base. The crowned eagle in Ethiopia is certainly at very low density and restricted to protected areas. It may be obliged to utilize exotics stands, but it is unlikely to ever be capable of surviving in the complete absence of indigenous (and thus prey productive) forests. Certain southern African countries, such as Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi, have almost no extensive stands of native forest today, while other countries such as Namibia were never heavily forested. In 2012 the species status was changed to Near Threatened by the IUCN. Like the martial eagle, the crowned has throughout modern history been persecuted by farmers, who maintain that the bird is a threat to their livestock. In fact, both the crowned and martial eagles only rarely attack livestock. In some cases, however, crowned eagles have actually been killed while attempting to hunt domestic animals. Another cause for persecution of the species is that crowned eagles are considered competitors in the illegal bushmeat and poaching trades. Within the forest land-locked countries of Africa, the bushmeat trade is the largest source of animal protein for humans. It is a multibillion-dollar business with some 5 million tons (mostly small antelopes and monkeys, the crowned eagle's staple diet) being killed each year. In just 500 million acres of the Congo Basin owned by 8 countries the weight equivalent to 40.7 million humans is removed each year (or 740,000 bull elephants). The effect of this unsustainable culling is to severely depress or remove the large, medium and small wildlife species of the forests. Crowned eagles require some of "bush meat" a year and thus directly compete with the industry. The red colobus, a monkey that typifies the optimal forest quality and is a main food species for crowned eagles, has been singled out as one of the fastest declining and most endangered monkeys in the world due primarily to the bushmeat trade. In some cases, crowned eagles have reportedly even been shot by primate conservationists in a misguided attempt to mitigate their predation of declining primate species. It is estimated that 90% of the global distribution of the crowned eagle may be subject to habitual persecution or is even killed and eaten itself as bushmeat. On the other hand, some educated foresters and fruit-growers actually encourage protection of populations, due to the controlling effect crowned eagles have on populations of potentially harmful mammals. In April 1996 the world's first captive-born crowned eagle hatched at the San Diego Zoo. Among ISIS registered zoos, only San Diego Zoo, San Francisco Zoo, Los Angeles Zoo, Fort Worth Zoo and Lowry Park Zoo house this species. Several wildlife rehabilitation centers in Africa house crowned eagles. Due to their high-strung dispositions, tendency for aggression towards humans and resistance to hunting prey via coercion and hunger, the crowned eagle is often considered to be poorly suited for falconry. However, there are several eagles of this species used as such in England and sometimes in Africa, where they have been reportedly used to cull locally overpopulated feral dogs.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: Dead Space is a 2008 survival horror video game developed by EA Redwood Shores and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows as the debut entry in the "Dead Space" series. Set on a mining spaceship overrun by deadly monsters called Necromorphs following the discovery of an artifact called the Marker, the player controls engineer Isaac Clarke as he navigates the spaceship and fights the Necromorphs while struggling with growing psychosis. Gameplay has Isaac exploring different areas through its narrative, solving environmental puzzles and finding ammunition and equipment to survive.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: "Dead Space" was pitched in early 2006, with an early prototype running on Xbox. Creator Glen Schofield wanted to make the most frightening horror game he could imagine, drawing inspiration from the video game "Resident Evil 4" and films including "Event Horizon" and "Solaris". The team pushed for innovation and realism in their design, ranging from procedural enemy placement to removing HUD elements. The sound design was a particular focus during production, with the score by Jason Graves designed to evoke tension and unease.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: "Dead Space" debuted to slow sales but eventually sold over a million copies worldwide. Critics praised its atmosphere, gameplay and sound design. It won and was nominated for multiple industry awards and has been ranked by journalists as one of the greatest video games ever made. The series spawned two numbered sequels ("Dead Space 2" in 2011 and "Dead Space 3" in 2013), several spin-off titles, and other related media, including a comic book prequel and an . A remake is in development by EA's Motive Studios and set for release in 2023.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: "Dead Space" is a science fiction survival horror video game. Players take on the role of Isaac Clarke, controlling him through a third-person perspective. Players navigate level-based sections of the spaceship "Ishimura", completing narrative-driven missions, solving physics puzzles within the environment, and fighting monsters called Necromorphs. In the vacuum Isaac has a limited air supply, which can be replenished by finding air tanks within the environment. Some areas are subject to zero-G, with both Isaac and specific enemy types able to jump between surfaces; these areas have dedicated puzzles. During exploration of the "Ishimura", Isaac finds ammunition, health pickups, and Nodes that are used to both unlock special doors and upgrade weapons and Isaac's suit. At certain points in the ship, Isaac can access a store to buy supplies and ammunition. Isaac can use a navigation line to find the next mission objective.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: Isaac can stomp to break supply crates and attack enemies, and punch to kill smaller enemies and repel larger ones. Two more abilities unlocked during the game are Kinesis, which can move or pull objects in the environment, and Stasis, which slows movement for a limited time. All gameplay displays are diegetic, appearing in-world as holographic projections. Isaac's health and energy levels are displayed on the back of his suit, and ammunition count appears when weapons are raised. All information displays—control prompts, pick-ups, video calls, the game map, inventory, store fronts—appear as holographic displays. While the player is browsing menus, time in the game does not pause.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: While exploring, Isaac must fight Necromorphs, which appear from vents, or awaken from corpses scattered throughout the ship. The various types of Necromorphs have different abilities and require altered tactics to defeat. Depending on how they are wounded, Necromorphs can adopt new stances and tactics, such as sprouting new limbs or giving birth to new enemies. Isaac can access multiple weapons to combat the Necromorphs, which can only be killed by severing their limbs. To do this, Isaac uses weapons designed for cutting. The initial weapon is picked up during the first level, while others can be crafted using blueprints discovered in different levels. Workbenches found in levels can be used by Isaac to increase the power or other attributes of his weapons and suit. Beating the game unlocks New Game+, which gives Isaac access to a new outfit, extra credits and equipment, as well as new video and audio logs. It also unlocks a higher difficulty setting.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: "Dead Space" is set in the year 2508, a time when humanity has spread throughout the universe. Following near-extinction of humans on Earth due to resource shortages, ships dubbed "Planetcrackers" are being used to harvest resources from barren planets. The oldest Planetcracker is the USG "Ishimura", which is performing an illegal mining operation on the planet Aegis VII. The backstory reveals that Aegis VII was the home of a "Red Marker", a manmade copy of the original alien Marker monolith discovered on Earth. Attempts to weaponise the Marker and its copies led to the creation of a virus-like organism that infected corpses and transformed them into undead creatures called Necromorphs. Two key factions in "Dead Space" are the Earth Government, which created and then hid the Red Markers, and Unitology, a religious movement that worships the Markers. Unitology was founded in the name of original researcher Michael Altman.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: In the events leading up to "Dead Space", the colony on Aegis VII discovers the Red Marker hidden there. Following its discovery and the "Ishimura"s arrival, first the colonists, and then the ship's crew, begin suffering from hallucinations and eventually severe mental illness, climaxing in the emergence of the Necromorphs. By the time the maintenance ship "Kellion" arrives, the entire Aegis VII colony, and all but a few of the "Ishimura" crew, have been killed or turned into Necromorphs.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: The game's protagonist is Isaac Clarke, an engineer who travels on the "Kellion" to find out what happened to his girlfriend Nicole Brennan, the "Ishimura"s senior medical officer. Aboard the "Kellion" with Isaac are chief security officer Zach Hammond, and computer technician Kendra Daniels. Unbeknownst to the "Kellion" crew, Kendra is an Earth government agent sent to control the situation. Other characters encountered by Isaac on the "Ishimura" are Challus Mercer, an insane scientist who believes the necromorphs are humanity's ascended form; Dr. Terrence Kyne, a survivor who wants to return the Marker to Aegis VII; and Nicole, who mysteriously communicates with and appears to Isaac at various points through the ship.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: Isaac arrives at Aegis VII on the "Kellion" with Kendra and Hammond. During the journey, Isaac has been repeatedly watching a video message from Nicole. A docking malfunction crashes the "Kellion" into the "Ishimura"s landing bay, and the ship's quarantine is broken. Necromorphs kill all the "Kellion" crew but Isaac, Kendra, and Hammond. Isaac navigates the ship, restoring systems and finding parts with which to repair the ship, so that they may escape. They almost succeed, but the "Kellion" is destroyed in a further malfunction. During these events, all three survivors begin experiencing escalating symptoms of psychosis and dementia, ranging from hallucinations to paranoia.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: During his exploration, Isaac learns through audio and video logs about the ship's presence and Necromorph invasion. The "Ishimura"s illegal mining operation on Aegis VII, which was designated off-limits by the Earth Government, was meant to find the Red Marker for the Church of Unitology. The Aegis VII colony was almost wiped out by mass psychosis triggered by the Marker, causing killings and suicides. The Marker was brought aboard the "Ishimura", along with survivors and bodies from the colony. A combination of the Marker's influence, factional fighting and the emerging Necromorph invasion resulted in the deaths of nearly everyone aboard. Isaac finds the two remaining survivors of the "Ishimura" crew: Dr. Terrence Kyne, who has abandoned his belief in Unitology, and Dr. Challus Mercer, who has gone insane and worships the Necromorphs.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: Despite Isaac's efforts, Hammond is killed by a Necromorph, and Mercer allows himself to be transformed by them. Another ship, the "Valor", arrives and is infected through an "Ishimura" escape pod containing a Necromorph; records show that the "Valor" was dispatched to remove all traces of the "Ishimura"s presence. Kendra kills Kyne before revealing her Earth Government allegiance, as the deranged Kyne threatened to return the Marker to the Necromorphs' controlling "Hive Mind" on the planet. The Marker was left on Aegis VII as part of an experiment, and Earth wants it retrieved. Reunited with Nicole, Isaac sabotages Kendra's attempt to escape the "Ishimura", returns the Marker to Aegis VII, neutralising the Necromorphs and initiating Aegis VII's collapse.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: Kendra retrieves the Marker and reveals to Isaac that his encounters with Nicole were hallucinations created by the Marker to return it to the Hive Mind. Nicole's message had ended with her committing suicide to avoid becoming a Necromorph. Kendra is killed by the awoken Hive Mind before she can escape with the Marker. After killing the Hive Mind, Isaac leaves on Kendra's shuttle as both Aegis VII and the Marker are destroyed. In the shuttle, a distraught Isaac mourns Nicole, and is attacked by a violent hallucination of her.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: "Dead Space" was the creation of Glen Schofield, at the time working at EA Redwood Shores. Schofield wanted to create what he felt would be the most frightening horror game possible. His concept drew influence from "Resident Evil 4" (2005), and the "Silent Hill" series. EA Redwood Shores had established itself as a studio for licensed game properties, and the team saw an opportunity to branch out into original properties, establishing themselves as "a "proper" game studio", according to co-producer Steve Papoutsis. During this early stage, the game was known as "Rancid Moon". "Dead Space" was described as a project that multiple staff at Redwood Shores wanted to work on for many years. Co-director Michael Condrey described it in 2014 as a grassroots-style project where the team were eager to prove themselves, but not expecting the game to become anything large-scale. When they pitched the game to parent company Electronic Arts in early 2006, they were given three months to create a prototype.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: In order to get a playable concept ready within that time, the prototype was developed on the original Xbox hardware. The team decided that it would be better to get something playable, before planning how to make the game work on next-generation hardware. Their twin approaches of early demos and aggressive internal promotion ran counter to Electronic Arts practises for new games at the time. Electronic Arts eventually approved the game after seeing a vertical slice equivalent to one level, by which time all the basic gameplay elements had been settled upon. According to co-producer Chuck Beaver, this pre-greenlight work lasted 18 months. After approval, and using their experience creating the vertical slice, the team built eleven more levels in ten months. The team reused the game engine they had designed for "The Godfather", which was chosen because it had been tailored to their development style, supported the necessary environmental effects, and implemented the Havok physics engine.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: Schofield wanted to create a game that ran counter to Electronic Art's usual output. To help guide the team, Schofield often described "Dead Space" as ""Resident Evil" in space". There are different accounts of the game's relationship with the "System Shock" series. Condrey said that "Dead Space" was influenced only by "System Shock" and "System Shock 2". Co-designer Ben Wanat stated that the team were originally planning a third entry in the "System Shock" series, and played through the originals for reference, but when "Resident Evil 4" was released, they decided to make their own intellectual property based around its gameplay. While greatly influenced by "Resident Evil 4", Schofield wanted to make the game more active, as the necessity to stop and shoot in "Resident Evil 4" often broke his immersion. The gameplay balance was aimed somewhere between the faster pace of third-person shooters and the slower pace of horror games. Resource management underwent constant tuning and balancing to make the game tense, but not unfair or frustrating.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: Immersion was a core element of the game, with HUD elements being in-universe, and story sequences like cutscenes and audio or video logs playing in real-time. In addition, the standard HUD elements were incorporated into the environment with suitable contextual or overt in-game explanations. In the team's opinion, the setting was better realised and conveyed as a side effect of this approach. A quick turn option was implemented and removed several times during production; it was finally removed because mapping the feature to the last available controller buttons caused test players to turn, accidentally, during dangerous situations. The Microsoft Windows version of the control scheme went through several different configurations, with the team wanting the best possible configuration for mouse and keyboard.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: One of the founding gameplay principles was "strategic dismemberment", the focus on severing limbs to kill enemies. This distinguished "Dead Space" from the majority of shooters, which instead placed focus on headshots, or allowed volleys of weapons fire against enemies. Weapons accuracy and enemy behaviour were adjusted around this concept. For example, enemies became enraged by traditional headshots and charged at the player, rather than being killed instantly. A two-person co-op multiplayer option was prototyped over a three month period, but was eventually cut so that the team could focus on making a polished single-player experience.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: A procedural element was created for enemy placement, such that enemies would appear at random points within a room; thus, players could not memorise and counterattack against patterns. There was a mechanism for controlling where enemies would spawn from places like vents, depending on the player's position. One gameplay sequence, where Isaac is ambushed and dragged down a hallway by a large tentacle, stalled development for a month. The team initially planned it as an instant death, then changed the attack to be an interactive one that Isaac had to escape. A dedicated set of mechanics and animations had to be created for the sequence, and Schofield admitted that the way and order he assigned tasks stopped the sequence working properly. To make the sequence work, the team shifted to a "layered" production structure which focused on finishing one section at a time, so that they could pinpoint problems with ease. The team had to cut two other unspecified pieces to allow the tentacle sequence to work. Ultimately this problem helped build up team confidence, allowing them to tackle other problems in the game and add more content.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: The character animation was designed to be realistic, with extensive transitional animations to smooth out shifts between different stances for both the player, other characters and enemies. The zero-G sections were in place alongside the setting, and the team performed extensive research on real space exploration and survival to get the atmosphere and movement right. Implementing zero-G was difficult, with Beaver describing the process as "months and months and months of work". While technically easy to achieve by switching off gravity values in Havok, reprogramming sections to be convincing and fun to play presented different challenges. Isaac needed a separate series of animations for zero-G environments, with his sluggish movement achieved by animation director Chris Stone doing an exaggerated stomping walk with bungee cables strapped to his legs. Due to the number of ways Isaac could die, his model was given dozens of points where he could be torn apart, and the death scenes became a part of the game's visual identity. A key issue for the team when designing the horror elements was not reusing the same scares too many times, and allowing for moments of safety for the player without completely losing the tension. In earlier builds, the team made extensive use of jump scares, but as they grew less frightening they were thinned out, and more emphasis was placed on the in-game atmosphere.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: When the game was still titled "Rancid Moon", Schofield envisioned a scenario similar to "Escape from New York", set on a prison planet in outer space. The team liked the "space" element, but disliked the prison setting. In contrast with many game productions at the time, where the story had a low priority, the team chose to have the story defined from the outset, then build the levels and objectives around it. The first solid concept was the mining of planets by humans, with the twist that one planet they mine holds something dangerous. Due to the focus on player immersion, there were little to no traditional cutscenes, with all the narrative being communicated through real-time interaction.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: The themes of religion and rogue states outside Earth's control were decided upon to ground the science fiction narrative. Unitology emerged five months into development, as Schofield felt that something was missing. After reading up on the Chicxulub crater, Schofield wrote the original Marker as the object which caused the crater, and built Unitology around it. The specifics of Unitology were created by Wanat and Beaver, who created pieces of the religious lore as needed to fit the scenario's needs. The main concept behind Unitology was examining the effects of a religion or cult when it grows out of control, in addition to the corruptive influence of bad people on people through religion. In response to a later comparison of Unitology with scientology, it was described as representing irrational thought and action prompted by the unknown. Creating Unitology was an easy part of development, and the team were fairly relaxed about the themes surrounding it as it was intended as an analogy of religion as a whole rather than specific criticism of a single belief system.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: A key early inspiration for the game's tone was the film "Event Horizon". Schofield cited the film's use of visual storytelling and camera work, referencing a particular scene where the audience sees a scene of gore missed by the on-screen character, as an early inspiration. Another strong influence on Schofield was the French horror film "Martyrs". Several elements made reference to other science fiction movies: Isaac's struggle was compared to that of Ellen Ripley from "Alien"; the dementia suffered by characters referenced "Solaris"; the sense of desperation mirrored that in the story of "Sunshine". How the story was conveyed was a mechanical challenge, due to both the real-time elements and the ability to complete some objectives out of order.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: The scenario was a collaborative effort between Warren Ellis, Rick Remender and Antony Johnston. Ellis created a lot of the background lore and groundwork. This draft was given to Remender, who wrote out planned scenes, added some scenes of his own, and performed rewrites before the script was handed to Johnston. Johnston, who was involved in writing the game's additional media, worked references to those other works into the game's script. While the scripting process lasted two years, Johnston only worked on the game for the last eight months of that time. Much of his work focused on the dialogue, which had to fit around key events which had already been solidified. Johnston also contributed heavily to the audio logs, which he used to create additional storyline and flesh out the narrative. The organizations referenced in the story were described by Beaver as "really rough tent poles in the background story so it could stand on its own".


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: Isaac, with his non-military role and backstory, was meant to appeal to players as an average person who was not trained for combat or survival. His armour and weapon design followed the principle of him being an untrained engineer; the armour is a work suit for conditions compared by staff to an oil rig in space, while the weapons are mining tools. Isaac's name made reference to two science fiction authors, Isaac Azimov and Arthur C. Clarke. The design of the ship environments deliberately moved away from traditional science fiction, which they saw as being overly clean and lacking function. The large number of familiar environments and designs, in addition to making the "Ishimura" a believable living environment, increased the horror elements, as they would be familiar to players. To achieve the realistic feel, they emulated Gothic architecture, which fit their vision both practically and aesthetically. The lighting was based on light from the strong lamps used in dentistry.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: The Necromorphs were designed by Wanat. Similar to the ship design, Wanat designed the Necromorphs to be realistic and relatable. His approach to them was to illustrate how the human form looked after it was "ravaged by a violent transformation that literally ripped it inside out". They retained elements of their original human form, increasing their disturbing nature. As reference, the team used medical images and scenes from car crashes, copying injuries and incorporating them into the monster designs. Those images were also used as reference for the dead bodies scattered round the environment. The Necromorphs' multi-limbed or tentacled appearance was dictated by the dismemberment gameplay, as having enemies without limbs would not work in that context. Their in-universe naming drew inspiration from the kind of code naming that happens in war zones among soldiers.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: Schofield insisted from an early stage that emphasis be placed on the music and audio design to promote the horror atmosphere. The sound work was led by Don Veca, and the team included Andrew Lackey, Dave Feise and Dave Swenson. Each member's work often overlapped with others. Feise, the first member to join, mostly worked on weapon designs and the "tweaky futuristic synth" elements. Swenson was described as a jack of all trades, working on a wide array of elements and in particular creating impact sounds and handling the more scripted linear sections. Lackey's contributions focused on boss fights and the opening sections. Despite Veca's executive role, he "stayed in the trenches" as much as possible and worked on every aspect of the sound design. For one of the areas in the game, which had no enemies but relied on sound and lighting, audio director Don Veca used sounds recorded from a Bay Area Rapid Transit train; the results were described by Schofield as a "horrible sound". The monster noises used a base of human noises; as an example, the small Lurker enemies used human baby sounds as a base mixed in other noises such as panther growls.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: As with other elements of production, the team wanted to emphasise realism. When it came to zero-G environments, they muted and muffled any sound and focused on noises from within Isaac's suit, as these mirrored actual experiences in a space vacuum. The sounds played into gameplay, as the team wanted players to use sound cues to help anticipate enemy attacks while also stoking their fear. The team wanted to recreate the scripted sound design of linear horror films in an interactive environment. They watched their favorite horror films, noting their use of sound effects and music, and implementing them into "Dead Space". One of the constant issues was optimising the limited amount of RAM the team had for both music and sound effects, which partly inspired the development of specific tools rather than using popular sound design systems.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: The dialogue and voice implementation was handled by Andrea Plastas and Jason Heffel. The voice audio was recorded during motion capture sessions with the actors. The cast included Tonantzin Carmelo as Kendra, Peter Mensah as Hammond, and Keith Szarabajka as Kyne. Isaac is a masked silent protagonist, so the team worked to incorporate personality into his appearance and movements, with a large number of animations for his various conditions and actions. This approach was based on the portrayal of Gordon Freeman in "Half-Life 2". A vetoed suggestion from Electronic Arts in early production was that a famous actor should portray Isaac.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: To control the sound design elements, the team created custom software tools. One of the tools they created was dubbed "Fear Emitters", which controlled the volume of music and sound effects based on distance from threats or key events. Other sound tools included "Creepy Ambi Patch", which acted as a multitrack organiser for the various sound layers and added randomised internal sounds to create a greater sense of dread; "Visual Effects", which incorporated sound effects naturally into the environment and to specific areas; and "Deadscript", a scripting language developed as a replacement for a sound language later used for "Spore" that was taking up too much space in the game's code.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: The music of "Dead Space" was composed by Jason Graves. Graves worked with Veca to create a soundtrack that was dark and "Aleatoric in style", taking inspiration from the work of Christopher Young and the music of "The Shining". When Graves got the job, he was told that the team wanted "the scariest music anyone had ever heard". As part of his research, Graves listened to a lot of modern experimental orchestral music. He based the musical style on the name Necromorph itself, with "Necro" meaning "death" and "morph" meaning "to change"; he wanted to make a musical version of that concept.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: The music recording sessions took place at the studio of Skywalker Sound, with different sections recording for Graves to create multiple layers of sound. The final in-game score for "Dead Space" was three hours long and recorded over five months, several times more than Graves had composed for previous video game titles. Graves described it as the most challenging and enjoyable composing job he had undertaken for a game, praising the amount of freedom he was given by the sound team.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: "Dead Space" was announced in September 2007. "Dead Space" formed part of a strategy formed under Electronic Arts's new management to push new original intellectual properties over their previous licensed properties. The website went live in March 2008, featuring screenshots from the game, an animated trailer, a developer blog, and a dedicated forum. The game received a large amount of marketing support from Electronic Arts. Initially, "Dead Space" Community Manager Andrew Green stated that Germany, China and Japan banned the game. However, it was confirmed that this was a marketing ploy and that "Dead Space" was not banned in any country.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: In North America, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of "Dead Space" released on October 13, 2008, with the PC version releasing on October 20. All versions released in Australia on October 23, and in Europe on October 24. The PC version was one of the Electronic Arts releases protected by the controversial digital rights management product SecuROM. Electronic Arts released an Ultra Limited Edition of the game limited to 1,000 copies. The package includes the game, "Dead Space: Downfall", a bonus content DVD, the "Dead Space" art book, a lithograph and the "Dead Space" comic. The people who bought the game within the first two weeks of its release could download the exclusive suits for free: the Obsidian Suit for the PlayStation 3 version and the Elite Suit for the Xbox 360 version. After release, additional gameplay perks in the form of suits and weapons were released as paid downloadable content.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: Alongside the video game, the "Dead Space" team and Electronic Arts created a multimedia universe around the game to both promote it and show off different elements of its lore and story referenced in the game. This positive response and development was prompted by enthusiasm for the vertical slice demo. The first media expansion was a limited comic series written by Johnston and illustrated by Ben Templesmith, running between March and September 2008. The next was an animated film, "", produced by Film Roman and released in October 2008. The comic covers the five weeks following the Marker's discovery on Aegis VII, while "Downfall" reveals how the "Ishimura" was overtaken.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: In addition, Electronic Arts launched an episodic alternate reality game with a dedicated website titled "No Known Survivors". "No Known Survivors" was developed by web creator Deep Focus. The challenge for Deep Focus was creating an immersive experience which would excite potential players, while being unique to the online environment. According to Creative Director Nick Braccia, the aim was to take pieces of the "Dead Space" lore and "blow [them] up" in ways that could only work in this environment. The production lasted fourteen months. While more interactive events were considered, the production timeline meant several concepts were cut. The point and click interface style, and the limited exploration space of a single room per scenario, was chosen due to technical limitations and to create an experience impractical on mainstream consoles. The scenario of "No Known Survivors" was written by Johnston.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: Over the nine weeks prior to the game's release, players could open the different episodes using graphics of mutated human limbs. Exploring in the style of a point and click adventure game, the story was split across two episodic stories, told through a combination of audio logs, short animations and written documents found in each environment. The two episodes were "Misplaced Affection", which told of a hiding medical technician remembering his attempted affair with another crewperson; and "13", which focused on a government sleeper agent planted aboard the "Ishimura". It began its release on August 25. The final episode of content was released on October 21, alongside the game. Signing up on particular dates unlocked a discount for the game, with the top prize being a reproduction of Isaac's helmet.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: On review aggregate website Metacritic, the 360 version scored 89 out of 100 based on 79 reviews. The PS3 version scored 88 out of 100 based on 67 reviews, while the PC version scored 86 out of 100 based on 28 reviews. All scores denoted "generally favorable reviews" from critics.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: Upon release, "Dead Space" earned critical acclaim from many journalists. Matt Leone of "1Up.com" praised its innovations in third-person gameplay, though faulted several elements that felt like padding. "Computer and Video Games"s Matthew Pellett was similarly positive about the gameplay and lore, though wishing for more zero-G sections and again faulting its length. Dan Whitehead, writing for "Eurogamer", enjoyed the experience despite some frustrating design elements and other parts that clashed with the horror aesthetic. Andrew Reiner of "Game Informer" enjoyed his time with the game, praising its committent to horror elements and gameplay elements. In a second opinion, Joe Juba called it "the premiere accomplishment in survival horror since "Resident Evil 4"". "GamePro" gave the game a perfect score, praising almost every aspect of the experience except for a lack of additional gameplay modes.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: Lark Anderson of "GameSpot" praised the enemy design and behavior, praising it as being able to stand out within the survival horror genre. "GameTrailers" was positive about the game's use of both many horror tropes and its references to other horror and science fiction properties, saying players would be compelled to push on despite the disturbing atmosphere. "IGN"s Jeff Haynes faulted some overpowered mechanics and frustrating New Game+ elements, but generally praised it as an enjoyable new title in the genre. Meghan Watt, writing for "Official Xbox Magazine", was less positive due to several mechanical frustrations and a lack of scary elements. Jeremy Jastrzab of "PALGN" summed the game up as "easily the most atmospherically intense, genuinely scary and well-built survival horror experience of this current generation".


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: The storyline saw a mixed reaction; many praised its atmosphere and presentation, but other critics found it derivative or poorly written. Where mentioned, the graphics and environmental design were praised. The voice acting and sound design were also well received, with the latter being praised for reinforcing the horror atmosphere. The twist on combat mechanics and enemy behavior design met with much praise, but repetitive level and mission structure were often faulted. The complete lack of a HUD was also positively noted.


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: Several retrospective journalistic and website articles have ranked "Dead Space" as one of the greatest video games of all time, pointing out its innovations in the survival horror genre. A 2011 "GamePro" article noted that the game promoted Electronic Arts as a potential home for original IPs, and generally found a balance between action and horror despite some contemporary reviews having mixed reactions. In an article on the series from 2018, "Game Informer" said the title stood out for its unique gameplay gimmicks and atmosphere compared to other video games of the time. Magazine "Play", in a 2015 feature on the game's production, said that "Dead Space" distinguished itself by incorporating more action elements into established genre elements, and positively compared its atmosphere to "BioShock" from 2007 and "" from 2013. In a 2014 article concerning the series' later developments, "Kotaku" cited it as "one of the best horror games of the seventh generation of consoles".


title: Dead Space (2008 video game)

text: At release, "Dead Space" reached tenth place in North American game sales, compiled in November by the NPD Group. Recording sales of 193,000 units, it was the only new property to enter the top ten. It was the only Electronic Arts property within that group. In early analysis, low sales of the title were attributed to strong market competition at the time, though sales improved over time due to positive critical reception. By December, the game had sold 421,000 units across all platforms. The game, along with "Mirror's Edge", was considered a commercial disappointment following its extensive marketing. Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello said that the company would have to lower its expected income for the fiscal year due to multiple commercial disappointments including "Dead Space". In February 2009, Electronic Arts CFO Eric Brown confirmed that all versions of "Dead Space" had sold one million copies worldwide.