Latest news with #raptors
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Like a Tom Cruise stunt: hawk uses traffic patterns to target prey
It is a tactic worthy of Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt: wait until a beeping pedestrian crossing indicates a traffic queue has formed then use the line of cars as cover to reach your target. But this isn't a scene from Mission: Impossible – it's the behaviour of a young hawk. The discovery is not the first time birds have been found to make use of an urban environment. Crows, for example, are known to drop foods such as walnuts on to roads for cars to crush them open. However, the researcher behind a new study says it is the most advanced case so far of raptors making use of traffic patterns. 'When I figured out what was going on, I was really impressed. I didn't expect that,' said Vladimir Dinets, a zoologist at the University of Tennessee and author of the study. 'On the other hand, every time I study some animal species it proves smarter than I expect.' Dinets made the discovery during the school run in West Orange, New Jersey, when he spotted a young Cooper's hawk emerge from a tree near a road junction. The bird flew close to the pavement behind a queue of traffic that had stopped at a red light before crossing the road and taking a dive near one of the houses. After seeing the behaviour for a second time, Dinets realised the hawk was pouncing on a flock of birds that had gathered in front of a house where a family often ate dinner outdoors. Writing in the journal Frontiers in Ethology, Dinets describes how he then carried out 12 hours of observations from his car over 18 days during the winter of 2021-22. These were made on weekday mornings and only when the flock was present and there was no rain or snow the day before – weather that would prevent the residents of the house from eating alfresco. Dinets recorded six attempted attacks by the same hawk, identifiable by its plumage, and on one occasion saw it fly away with a house sparrow in its grip. He found the hawk only emerged from the tree when a long queue of traffic had built up, offering sufficient cover for its approach – something that depended on the pedestrian crossing being activated. Dinets also noticed the bird took up its position in the tree when the crossing's sound signal began, suggesting the hawk used the sound as an indication that a longer traffic queue was to form and that it was time to prepare for attack. 'This behaviour required having a mental map of the area and understanding the connection between the sound signals and the change in traffic pattern – a remarkable intellectual feat for a young bird that likely had just moved into the city,' Dinets writes, noting Cooper's hawks tend to be winter visitors to urban areas. Related: California town investigates mystery of 'exploding' bird deaths The following winter he twice saw an adult hawk, possibly the same bird, hunting in the same way. But the following summer the sound signals stopped working and the residents that ate alfresco moved out of their house. 'No hawks were ever observed at the intersection after that,' he wrote. Dinets added that while it is known social birds such as crows and parrots can be very clever, intelligence in more solitary species is more difficult for humans to recognise and so probably underestimated. 'Cities are extremely dangerous places for wild animals,' he added. 'Anything that can survive here must have some special abilities and deserves our respect.'
Forbes
18-05-2025
- Science
- Forbes
Meet The Amazonian Bird Of Prey That Can, And Does, Attack Humans
Very few birds in the world have been known to attack humans. One rare example is the Australian magpie, a bird that has been known to swoop down and peck at people, sometimes delivering serious injuries. But the idea that birds of prey — hawks, eagles and other raptors — have ever looked towards humans as a credible food source is more the stuff of mythology than reality. Until now. A new study published in Ecology and Evolution reports a scientifically documented case of a Harpy Eagle (Harpia harpyja) attacking an adult human in the Amazon rainforest. This represents the first such instance on record, challenging long-standing assumptions about human-raptor interactions in the Neotropics. The incident occurred in the interior of French Guiana, where a 29-year-old woman was attacked by a Harpy Eagle while walking with a tourist group near a remote ecotourism camp. The eagle, perched roughly six meters above the trail, had been observed by guides in the area in the days leading up to the incident. Although it initially showed no signs of distress, the raptor suddenly launched a targeted attack as the woman lingered behind the group, seemingly fixated on her movement. The eagle struck her scalp with its powerful talons, causing several puncture wounds that required medical attention. The woman's companion managed to intervene, forcing the eagle to release its grip, after which the bird flew away. Though she recovered without lasting injuries, the event shocked both researchers and conservationists. Harpy Eagles, among the world's largest and most powerful raptors, are capable of preying on large arboreal mammals such as sloths and monkeys. Females can weigh up to 20 pounds and have been observed carrying prey of comparable size. However, such predation typically occurs high in the forest canopy. Direct attacks on humans in the wild have remained, until now, anecdotal and largely unverified. (Sidebar: Māori legends speak of a monstrous bird capable of killing humans and carrying them away. Scientists now believe these stories may be rooted in real encounters — learn more here.) What makes this case especially noteworthy is the context: there were no clear signs of nest defense, no evidence that the bird had been previously imprinted on humans, and no nearby eaglets to protect. While a predatory motive cannot be definitively proven, the absence of other typical triggers suggests this was not a defensive act. It raises the possibility that large raptors may opportunistically view smaller humans as potential prey under certain conditions, especially if isolation or vulnerability is perceived. These findings provoke a deeper consideration of how large raptors may have historically influenced primate behavior and evolution. The role of predation in shaping sociality among primates is well established, and this incident reinforces the theory that group living offers significant protection against aerial predators. Had the woman been entirely alone, the consequences might have been far more severe. Furthermore, parallels can be drawn between this modern case and prehistoric examples like the Taung Child — a juvenile hominin from Africa believed to have been killed by an eagle. That evidence, along with the documented predation capabilities of extinct raptors such as Haast's Eagle of New Zealand or the Cuban Ornimegalonyx, suggests that birds of prey likely exerted selective pressures on early human ancestors. Despite their rarity, such attacks warrant scientific attention — not to provoke fear or demonize these majestic creatures, but to better understand the dynamics between humans and apex avian predators. As ecosystems become more fragmented and human-wildlife interactions more frequent, nuanced understanding of these behaviors is all the more important. Are you an animal lover who owns a pet? Take the science-backed Pet Personality Test to know how well you know your little friend.
Forbes
17-05-2025
- General
- Forbes
A Biologist Reveals The Biggest Eagle To Have Ever Lived — And Why It Went Extinct In 1445
There are over 60 species of eagles in existence today — some of which are massive by bird standards. The Philippine eagle, for example, has an average weight of 18 pounds and measures over three feet from head to talon. The white-tailed eagle has the one of the largest wingspans, averaging seven feet and two inches. Harpy eagles, Stellar's sea eagles and wedge-tailed eagles are also among the biggest present-day raptors. But to find the biggest known eagle, you'd have to search back to the 1400s, when the behemoth Haast's eagle was still circling the skies of New Zealand. Here's its story, and the reason why it went extinct. Weighing up to 33 pounds and boasting a wingspan of 8 to 10 feet, Haast's eagle (Hieraaetus moorei) was not only the largest eagle to have ever lived, it was also one of the most formidable. Its massive talons were comparable in size to those of a tiger, and its powerful beak could pierce through thick muscle and bone. Unlike many modern raptors that target smaller prey, Haast's eagle hunted on a much larger scale. Its primary target? The moa — a giant flightless bird that could stand up to 12 feet tall and weigh more than 500 pounds. (Sidebar: While extinctions of birds like the moa and Haast's eagle were often unintended consequences of human activity, Australia once launched a deliberate campaign to wipe one out. See here to learn why the government declared war on the emu in 1932 — and lost.) Haast's eagle evolved in isolation on New Zealand, where it reigned as an apex predator in a land with no mammalian carnivores. The island's unique ecosystem, free of natural eagle competitors and with an abundance of slow, ground-dwelling birds, gave Haast's eagle the perfect conditions to grow to the size it did. One of the most fascinating aspects of Haast's eagle's enormous size is what its ancestry reveals. While it was once thought to descend from Australia's largest living eagle, the wedge-tailed eagle (Aquila audax), ancient DNA analysis told a different story. Haast's eagle actually evolved from one of the world's smallest eagles — Australia's little eagle (Hieraaetus morphnoides), which weighs just two pounds. This dramatic transformation is among the most extreme cases of island gigantism in birds, likely unfolding in under two million years as the eagle adapted to New Zealand's ecosystem. Given its massive size, researchers have long debated whether Haast's eagle was an active predator or more of a scavenger, like vultures and condors. Current evidence favors the predator role — biomechanical studies suggest it could kill prey several times its own weight, striking with explosive force and subduing victims using its powerful talons. Though it hunted like a modern eagle, its feeding behavior likely resembled that of a vulture, tearing into large carcasses with techniques adapted for consuming animals far bigger than itself. But in a land ruled by birds, this delicate ecological balance was not built to last. Even the most powerful predator can be vulnerable to sudden ecological change — and for Haast's eagle, that change came swiftly with the arrival of humans. Around the 13th century, Polynesian seafarers arrived in New Zealand, bringing with them fire, rats, dogs, and eventually the devastating impact of human hunting. The moa, never having known a predator like man, were hunted to extinction in less than two centuries. This was a catastrophic blow for Haast's eagle, whose survival depended almost entirely on moa populations. Without its main food source, the eagle's numbers plummeted. By the mid-1400s, it too had vanished. Interestingly, Haast's eagle played a significant role in early Māori culture. Oral traditions and ancient rock art describe a monstrous bird called the Pouakai or Hokioi — a giant creature capable of killing humans and carrying them away. Given the eagle's size, strength, and hunting behavior, many scientists now believe that these stories were based on real encounters with Haast's eagle before it went extinct. Today, all that remains of this apex raptor are fossilized bones and stories, pieced together by biologists, anthropologists, and paleontologists. Does thinking about the extinction of a species instantly change your mood? Take the Connectedness to Nature Scale to see where you stand on this unique personality dimension.
