Children under threat from eagles

[STYRBJORN]

Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . . It should be borne in mind that the idea of eagles taking children is not to be dismissed out of hand. The Taung Child, an infant Australopithecus africanus, lived ~2.5MYA. Its skull bears the characteristic marks of an eagle pecking the eyes out, with scarring round the eye sockets. As I said earlier, the WTSE is too small to represent a credible threat but the idea is not totally ridiculous.

Ric

[Jason Claxton]

Originally Posted by STYRBJORN

Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . . It should be borne in mind that the idea of eagles taking children is not to be dismissed out of hand. The Taung Child, an infant Australopithecus africanus, lived ~2.5MYA. Its skull bears the characteristic marks of an eagle pecking the eyes out, with scarring round the eye sockets. As I said earlier, the WTSE is too small to represent a credible threat but the idea is not totally ridiculous.

Ric

In the article "Eagle Ancestors Hunted Early Humans,Skull Study Suggests" from the National Geographic News.Suzanne Shultz says"African Crowned Eagles have been known to attack or eat Human children...there is one report of a small child's skull being found in a nest..." she adds.

The threat from some eagle species is real Styrbjorn.
There is also the suggestion that,eagles make light of their prey by dismemberment.

[tcvarlh]

Originally Posted by Jason Claxton

In the article "Eagle Ancestors Hunted Early Humans,Skull Study Suggests" from the National Geographic News.Suzanne Shultz says"African Crowned Eagles have been known to attack or eat Human children...there is one report of a small child's skull being found in a nest..." she adds.

The threat from some eagle species is real Styrbjorn.
There is also the suggestion that,eagles make light of their prey by dismemberment.

Taung Baby weighed in at about 10 to 15 pounds max! The size of a small lamb.

Haast's Eagle (Harpagornis moorei). The largest Eagle ever to grace the skies. It's prey was the giant flightless birds (Moas) of South Island New Zealand. Maori legends tell of Women and Children (never Men, although as the Eagles natural prey was on average 200 kilo and therefore it was quite capable of knocking a male human to the ground, and therefore the legends are possibly akin to the Grimm fairy-tales warning kids not to wander the forest) being attacked by the bird in dive flight (50mph) They averaged out at about 10 to 15 kg for females with the males being somewhat lighter. The wingspan was around the 8 and a half to 10 foot, not much different to the extant Stellar's sea Eagle or the Golden Eagle. Their body weight however was about 40% more. These became extinct around 1400AD due to human predation of its food supply, destruction of habitat and outright direct hunting. It was designed to hunt upright bipedal prey, landing on the Moas back, sinking talons into the hip area and skull so it is very possible a few humans did end on the Eagle's menu card given that a human bent to a task presents a very similar landing area. But of the White Tailed Eagle, what is its natural diet? Upright bipedal animals? There are none except Man in this part of the world. The prey for these creatures is mostly fish, small mammals and birds. However, mostly it steals from Otters and Foxes. It is very well adapted for a Robber Baron lifestyle, big, impressive and scary.
In the case of the African Crowned Eagle it preys mainly on Primates and tree dwelling rodents. I would believe the odd child has ended as lunch. It is also possible that the child was disposed of (a common enough custom in certain areas of Africa) and the Eagle snatched the opportunity. The modern child’s skull in question comes from a report of the ‘air burial’ disposal of a ‘deformed’ child abandoned by the mother some years earlier. The skull (fragment) was used as part of the nest. Possibly it was scavenged after other carrion feeders had had their way. Dr Schultz seems to have been the victim of ‘Journalism’. I agree that the Crowned will attack humans. Those that venture too close to its nest; read Simon Thomsett’s articles of this species. He has worked with these birds for many years.

European raptors.org has some decent articles on the WTE
Interview with Alv Ottar Folkestad about the White-tailed Eagle in Norway
European Raptors: White-tailed Eagle
Both worth a read

Dr Susanne Schultz of Oxford Uni. is an anthropologist researching biology, studying the Asian vulture population and behavioural complexity and flexibility in humans. Her work on African Crowned Eagles stems from 2001/2,
Journal of Raptor Research 36 , 2002, pp. 300-308.
Ibis 144 , 2002, pp. 135-139
Proceedings of the Royal Society London B 269, 2002, pp. 1797-1802.
Folia Primatologica 72, 2001, pp. 248-250

h

[Jason Claxton]

Originally Posted by Jason Claxton

In the article "Eagle Ancestors Hunted Early Humans,Skull Study Suggests" from the National Geographic News.Suzanne Shultz says"African Crowned Eagles have been known to attack or eat Human children...there is one report of a small child's skull being found in a nest..." she adds.

The threat from some eagle species is real Styrbjorn.
There is also the suggestion that,eagles make light of their prey by dismemberment.

Yes H, "maybe small child's skull"fragment was what they were meant to write?,it wasn't so in the N G N article ,futhermore it looks like African Crowned Eagles have been known to attack or eat human children is actually an inference by the article writer ,it just misleadingly seems to have a Shultz says tagged on the end of the paragragh but I should have spotted this as it not in quotation marks!The Shultz says... leading on to..."there is one report of a small child's skull being found in a nest".

It would be interesting to dig deeper(not a pun,not by me at least) and see her original work.

[STYRBJORN]

Are we arguing here or agreeing? Harpy Eagles are the most powerful surviving apex predator birds. They are, or were, outclassed by Haasts Eagles but it remains the case that a female Harpy could weigh >10kg and, able to lift more than her own bodyweight, easily take home a human sprog as a snack. Whether with chips or rice is an open question.

Ric

[Jason Claxton]

Originally Posted by STYRBJORN

Are we arguing here or agreeing? Harpy Eagles are the most powerful surviving apex predator birds. They are, or were, outclassed by Haasts Eagles but it remains the case that a female Harpy could weigh >10kg and, able to lift more than her own bodyweight, easily take home a human sprog as a snack. Whether with chips or rice is an open question.

Ric

Hi Ric,I was picking up on the "journalism" bit mentioned by h ,and also showing that some species of Eagle can be a threat to children in the present,let alone the Taung babies.But of the threat posed from the White-tailed Eagle,this appears to be much ,much less.

[eeyore]

The other posssibility of course is that the harpy eagle could have taken a child as carrion - they do live in parts of the world where dead children are much more common than they are here

I would suspect this would be the case because if they had learned to prey on humans reports would be far more common - human children being much less alert than most animals

[tcvarlh]

I have it on good authority that the Harpy Eagle always prefers chips, the reverse talon makes chopsticks almost impossible to handle.

h

[Jason Claxton]

Originally Posted by eeyore

The other posssibility of course is that the harpy eagle could have taken a child as carrion - they do live in parts of the world where dead children are much more common than they are here

I would suspect this would be the case because if they had learned to prey on humans reports would be far more common - human children being much less alert than most animals

Yes Eeyore the skull/skull fragment? could be from the eagles search for carrion,a valid point!I'm still getting through the" journalism" bit,whipped cream on bull doo it can be sometimes,or selective and such like
I hope to read some of scientific material by Dr Shultz.

[Tringa]

To divert this thread somewhat have a look at this -

World largest eagle lands on a car - part 1 - YouTube

I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'm a bit worried about anything with a beak and feet that big, but it walks like a cartoon animal.

Then have a look at this -

World's largest eagle attacks Kittiwake birds - Blue Planet - A Natural History of the Oceans - BBC - YouTube

The eagle is brilliant, but watch the falcon that mirrors the eagle's attack down the cliff.

Dave