page_title: Harpy eagle
section_title: Feeding
hierarchical_section_title: Harpy eagle / Behavior / Feeding
caption_attribution_description: Harpia harpyja English: An adult Harpy Eagle feeding at Miami Metrozoo, USA.
context_page_description: The harpy eagle is a neotropical species of eagle. It is also called the American harpy eagle to distinguish it from the Papuan eagle, which is sometimes known as the New Guinea harpy eagle or Papuan harpy eagle. It is the largest and most powerful raptor found in the rainforest, and among the largest extant species of eagles in the world. It usually inhabits tropical lowland rainforests in the upper canopy layer. Destruction of its natural habitat has caused it to vanish from many parts of its former range, and it is nearly extirpated in Central America. In Brazil, the harpy eagle is also known as royal-hawk. The genus Harpia, together with Harpyopsis and Morphnus form the subfamily Harpiinae.
context_section_description: Harpy adults are at the top of a food chain and are rarely preyed on. However, two young eagles that were being released into the wild as part of a reintroduction program were caught by a jaguar and the much smaller ocelot. Its main prey are tree-dwelling mammals and a majority of the diet has been shown to focus on sloths and monkeys.
  Research conducted by Aguiar-Silva between 2003 and 2005 in a nesting site in Parintins, Amazonas, Brazil, collected remains from prey offered to the nestling by its parents. The researchers found that 79% of the harpy's prey was accounted for by sloths from two species: 39% brown-throated sloth (Bradypus variegatus), and 40% Linnaeus's two-toed sloth (Choloepus didactylus). Similar research in Panama, where two captive-bred subadults were released, found that 52% of the male's captures and 54% of the female's were of two sloth species (brown-throated sloth and Hoffmann's two-toed sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni).
  Monkeys regularly taken can include capuchin monkeys, saki monkeys, howler monkeys, titi monkeys, squirrel monkeys, and spider monkeys. Smaller monkeys, such as tamarins and marmosets, are seemingly ignored as prey by this species. At several nests in Guyana, monkeys made up about 37% of the prey remains found at the nests. Similarly, cebid monkeys made up 35% of the remains found at 10 nests in Amazonian Ecuador. Other partially arboreal and even land mammals are also preyed on given the opportunity, including porcupines, squirrels, opossums, anteaters, armadillos,  and even relatively large carnivores such as kinkajous, coatis, and tayras. In the Pantanal, a pair of nesting eagles preyed largely on the porcupine (Coendou prehensilis) and the agouti (Dasyprocta azarae).
  The eagle may also attack bird species such as macaws: At the Parintins research site, the red-and-green macaw made up for 0.4% of the prey base, with other birds amounting to 4.6%. Other parrots have also been preyed on, as well as cracids such as curassows and other birds like seriemas. Additional prey items reported include reptiles such as iguanas, tegus, and snakes. A recent literature review lists a total of 102 prey species.
  The eagle has been recorded as taking domestic livestock, including chickens, lambs, goats, and young pigs, but this is extremely rare under normal circumstances. They control the population of mesopredators such as capuchin monkeys which prey extensively on bird's eggs and which (if not naturally controlled) may cause local extinctions of sensitive species.
  Harpy eagles possess the largest talons of any living eagle, and have been recorded as lifting prey up to equal their own body weight. This allows them to snatch a live sloth from tree branches, as well as other proportionately huge prey items.
  Males usually take relatively smaller prey, with a typical range of 0.5 to 2.5 kg (1.1 to 5.5 lb) or about half their own weight. The larger females take larger prey, with a minimum recorded prey weight of around 2.7 kg (6.0 lb). Adult female harpies regularly grab large male howler or spider monkeys or mature sloths weighing 6 to 9 kg (13 to 20 lb) in flight and fly off without landing, an enormous feat of strength.
  Prey items taken to the nest by the parents are normally medium-sized, having been recorded from 1 to 4 kg (2.2 to 8.8 lb). The prey brought to the nest by males averaged 1.5 kg (3.3 lb), while the prey brought to the nest by females averaged 3.2 kg (7.1 lb). In another study, floaters (i.e. birds not engaging in breeding at that time) were found to take larger prey, averaging 4.24 kg (9.3 lb), than those that were nesting, for which prey averaged 3.64 kg (8.0 lb), with prey species estimated to weigh a mean of 1.08 kg (2.4 lb) (for common opossum) to 10.1 kg (22 lb) (for adult crab-eating raccoon). Overall, harpy eagle  prey weigh between 0.3 kg to 6.5 kg, with the mean prey size equaling 2.6 ± 0.8 kg 
  Most commonly, harpy eagles use perch-hunting, in which they scan for prey activity while briefly perched between short flights from tree to tree. Upon spotting prey, the eagle quickl
caption: Feeding at Zoo Miami in Florida, United States
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XSi", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "QuickTime 7.5.7", "Image DateTime": "2009:01:02 15:59:04", "Image HostComputer": "Mac OS X 10.5.6", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "260", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "9680", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6520", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/160", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:01:01 22:29:56", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:01:01 22:29:56", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "59/8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "55", "EXIF SubSecTime": "62", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "62", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "62", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4272", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2848", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "2136000/439", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "356000/73", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}