In Colombia, a long and dangerous romance to save the harpy June 27, 2024
- Ana Cunha-Busch
- Jun 26, 2024
- 2 min read
By AFP - Agence France Presse
In Colombia, a long and dangerous romance to save the harpy
By Andrea TOSTA
Wounded and cautious, the young couple seem to be interested in each other: their arranged romance, which has been building for years, aims to preserve the harpy eagle, one of the world's largest birds of prey, which is rapidly disappearing.
In a huge dome in Colombia, biologists have recreated a rainforest where they have slowly introduced monogamous birds in the hope that they will get along, mate, and produce an eagle.
That is if the female doesn't become territorial and kill her suitor.
"A wrong decision on our part could lead to an attack," said Luisa Escobar, research coordinator at Biopark La Reserva, a foundation on the outskirts of Bogotá that works to preserve Colomia's rich biodiversity.
One of the largest and most powerful eagles in the world, capable of hunting monkeys and sloths, the harpy was hunted to near extinction in some parts of its territory in Central America.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies it as vulnerable, stating that the species is "in rapid decline" due to deforestation and hunting.
Most of the estimated 100,000 to 250,000 individuals remain in the Amazon, which covers nine countries.
Colombia's only captive harpy couple was rescued separately in the southern state of Amazonas in 2018.
- 'Lots of hope'.
The female, with a prominent gray crest, still has projectiles in her body from when she was shot. They cannot be removed without risk of death.
The male, normally smaller, has a broken left wing that vets have been unable to repair.
They were separated for two years by a metal fence, but it was finally opened three weeks ago after they were seen tapping their beaks and feeding.
In other words, their keepers explained, they like each other.
Monitored by security cameras, the next test will be whether they mate. Harpies are notoriously slow breeders, raising only one offspring every few years.
The couple's behavior is "so calm... that it generates a lot of hope that they will have a baby," said Escobar, 26.
With a height of one meter and a wingspan of up to two meters, the harpy is the symbol of Colombia's air force and the national bird of Panama.
Its habitat stretches from Mexico to northern Argentina, but in some countries, such as El Salvador, the birds have disappeared completely.
Poachers "kill them... because they want them as trophies. They want to sell them, eat them or take a photo with their remains," said Mateo Giraldo, from Colombia's Large Birds of Prey Project.
In 2021, the Colombian authorities seized 94 harpy eagles at Bogotá's international airport.
The armed conflict that has haunted Colombia for six decades also makes it difficult for scientists to study the bird of prey deep in the forests where it lives, said Giraldo.
Captive breeding has been successful in Panama and Brazil.
atm/fb/des
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