Classroom lesson 路 Wildlife馃嚨馃嚟 Philippines

The Philippine eagle

One of the biggest eagles in the world, with a wingspan as wide as a car

A Philippine eagle perched in a forest tree, showing its pale spiky head feathers

Photo 路 Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

The Philippine eagle is the country's national bird. It is one of the largest and most powerful eagles on the planet. From beak to tail it is about a metre tall - the size of a small child - and its wings stretch over two metres across. It only lives on a few Philippine islands.

Tell me more

If you saw a Philippine eagle up close, the first thing you would notice is its head. It has a crown of long, brown, spiky feathers, like a wild rock-star haircut. The feathers can stand up when the eagle is alert, making it look even more spectacular.

Philippine eagles live in the tops of giant rainforest trees. They build huge nests of sticks, often 30 metres above the ground - higher than the height of a ten-storey building. A pair will use the same nest year after year, building it up bigger each time.

An eagle pair only raises one chick every two years. The chick hatches from an egg about the size of an avocado. Both parents feed it, taking turns to fly off and bring back food. The young eagle stays with its parents for over a year while it learns to fly and hunt.

The Philippine eagle is very rare - probably fewer than 400 pairs are left in the wild. So scientists and rangers work hard to protect them. There is a special centre on the island of Mindanao where injured eagles are looked after and where children visit to learn how to keep the species safe for the future.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01The Philippine eagle is the country's national bird. What is your country's national animal or bird, and why was it chosen?
  2. 02An eagle pair only raises one chick every two years. Why do you think that affects how rare they are?
  3. 03What can a school class do to help an animal that lives far away from where they are?
Try this

Classroom activity

On the playground, mark out 2 metres of wingspan with chalk. Have the class stand with their arms out: how many pupils side-by-side would equal one Philippine eagle's wingspan? Then research one other large eagle in the world and compare.

More about Philippines

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