Moose
Class: Mammalia: Mammals Diet: Plants
Order: Artiodactyla: Even-toed Ungulates
Size: body: 2.5 – 3 m (8 1/4 – 9 3/4 ft), tail: 5 – 7.5 cm (2 – 3 in)
Family: Cervidae: Deer Conservation Status: Non-threatened
Scientific Name: Alces alces Habitat: coniferous forest, often near lakes and rivers
Range: Northern Europe and Asia: Scandinavia to Siberia; Alaska, Canada, Northern U.S.A.; introduced in New Zealand
The largest of the deer, the moose is identified by its size, its broad, overhanging muzzle and the flap of skin, known as the bell, hanging from its throat. The massive antlers of the male are flattened and palmate, with numerous small branches. The moose is less gregarious than other deer and is usually alone outside the breeding season. In winter, it feeds on woody plants, but in summer, water plants provide the bulk of its food. It wades into water to feed and swims well. Following an 8-month gestation, the female gives birth to a single calf, very rarely to twins. The calf is suckled for about 6 months but stays with its mother for a year.
The bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), our national bird, is the only eagle unique to North America. The bald eagle’s scientific name signifies a sea (halo) eagle (aeetos) with a white (leukos) head. At one time, the word „bald“ meant „white,“ not hairless. Bald eagles are found over most of North America, from Alaska and Canada to northern Mexico. About half of the world’s 70,000 bald eagles live in Alaska. Combined with British Columbia’s population of about 20,000, the northwest coast of North America is by far their greatest stronghold for bald eagles. They flourish here in part because of the salmon. Dead or dying fish are an important food source for all bald eagles.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was proposing the bald eagle be declared fully recovered by July 2000, but the decision was delayed until they figure out how they will manage the species once it is taken off the list. Even if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removes the bald eagle from the „threatened“ species list, it will still be protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. The Bald Eagle Protection Act prohibits the take, transport, sale, barter, trade, import and export, and possession of eagles, making it illegal for anyone to collect eagles and eagle parts, nests, or eggs without a permit. Possession of a feather or other body parts of a bald eagle is a felony with a fine of up to $10,000 and/or imprisonment, although federally recognized Native Americans are able to possess these emblems which are traditional in their culture. The bald eagle is still listed as „threatened“ in the United States.
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Bald eagle body description
Color – Both male and female adult bald eagles have a blackish-brown back and breast; a white head, neck, and tail; and yellow feet and bill.
Juvenile bald eagles are a mixture of brown and white; with a black bill in young birds. The adult plumage develops when they’re sexually mature, at about 4 or 5 years of age.
The bald eagle is the only eagle confined to North America, and there are no other large black birds in North America with white heads and tails.
Size – The female bald eagle is 35 to 37 inches, slightly larger than the male. With a wingspan which varies from 79 to 90 inches.
The male bald eagle has a body length from 30 to 34 inches. The wingspan ranges from 72 to 85 inches.
Bald eagles weigh from ten to fourteen pounds. Northern birds are significantly larger than their southern relatives.
The golden eagle is larger than the bald eagle in average height and wingspan, but there isn’t much difference in their average weight.
Longevity – Wild bald eagles may live as long as thirty years, but the average lifespan is probably about fifteen to twenty years. A captive eagle at West Stephentown, NY lived to be at least 48 years old.
Eagles sit at the top of the food chain, making them more vulnerable to toxic chemicals in the environment, since each link in the food chain tends to concentrate chemicals from the lower link.
Body Temperature – 102 degrees Fahrenheit (38.8 degrees Celsius)
Harpy eagles are the largest and most powerful birds in the world. They inhabit the tropical forests of Central and South American, ranging from Southern Mexico to Argentina. The female harpy averages three and a half feet in length and weighs about twenty pounds. Her wingspan is about six and a half feet. Typically, the male is about one third smaller than the female.
Being a preditor, the harpy’s diet consists of mostly monkeys and sloths, which live high in the canopy. Their talons can be up to five inches long. A female can kill prey weighing twenty pounds, but has to tear it apart to transport it.
Harpy eagles reproduce every three years. The four to five feet in diameter nest of a harpy is usually built in a tall tree, about 150 to 225 feet above
the ground. Typically, two eggs are laid, but only one eaglet will be raised. The incubation cycle is about eight weeks. The male brings food for them and their eaglet. It will be another six months before the eaglet is able to leave the nest, but remains near the nest for about a year. Harpy eagles will not abandon their nest or young as other eagles sometimes do. Instead, they will attack intruders.