Proud Eagles — lords of the heavens. They fly where most other birds do not go, but even from such a height, their phenomenal vision allows them to see potential prey running along the ground. Smart, long-living, hardy, these birds — perhaps the most perfect creations of mother nature.
Interesting facts about eagles
- The wingspan of an eagle’s wings can reach 2.5 meters with a bird’s body length of up to 88 cm.
- In most languages, including the dialects of the Slavs, Greeks and British, the word “eagle” came from the Indo-Europeans. In Latin, however, this word was replaced by a derivative of the word “water”, as they believed in its magical essence.
- Eagles spend their whole lives with one chosen one, remaining faithful to him. Dwarf eagles, for example, hibernate separately, but in the spring the pair reunite at a common nest, and the return of the male looks very impressive – he slowly rises to a height of up to 800 meters, and then falls like a stone and soars up to heaven again, sometimes performing a dead loop.
- Eagles can prey on venomous snakes by piercing their heads with their beaks with a single, precise strike. True, in Asia and Africa, such attacks sometimes end in failure – the bird dies or loses its sight from poison.
- During wintering, up to 20% of the diet of eagles can be insects – these birds are especially fond of termites.
- The largest species of eagles and one of the most famous birds of prey in the world is the golden eagle. Its wingspan reaches 240 cm, and its body length is 93 cm. In size, females are much larger than males – they can weigh up to 6.7 kg, while their partners have a maximum weight of only 4.6 kg.
- The golden eagle, like other eagles, has incredibly sharp eyesight – for example, it is able to spot a hare from a distance of several kilometers. True, in the dark, the exceptional vision of eagles turns into the most ordinary.
- If you show an eagle a color photograph, he will see not the picture as a whole, but millions of multi-colored dots that make up the image.
- Eagles, like owls, are able to turn their heads 270 degrees, which significantly increases their field of view (interesting facts about vision).
- Eagles are able to combine the images coming to the brain from two eyes into a single stereoscopic image. Only a few animals, including humans, have this ability.
- During the hunt, eagles are able to dive at a potential prey at a speed of 240-320 km/h, only slightly inferior to falcons in this (interesting facts about falcons).
- The voiced scream that the eagles make is a bit like a dog barking.
- American scientists have found that golden eagles need about 1.5 kg of meat per day, but if necessary, they can go without food for up to 5 weeks.
- Young eagles catch an average of one hare in twenty, but with age they learn to attack prey even before it notices them.
- The Imperial Eagle received such a dissonant name, since these birds bury their dead relatives. Experts believe that it would be more correct to call this predator a solar or imperial eagle.
- Rock eagles are able to catch flamingo-sized birds in flight (interesting facts about birds).
- Eagles often steal or take prey from other birds.
- They look out for prey, flying and hovering at an altitude of at least 700 km, and only immediately before the attack they go lower – then they are separated from the ground by 30-60 meters.
- The eagle has been a symbol of power and unlimited power since ancient times, so it has been and remains one of the most popular birds to be depicted on coats of arms – for example, Russia and the United States.