HOME | DD

Description
High up in the canopy of a montane rainforest on the island of Mindanao, Philippines, a Philippine colugo (Cynocephalus volans) sleeping on a branch of a tree wakes up when it realizes it is under attack. The colugo is nocturnal, but when a Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) is suddenly swooping towards it with intention to kill it for food, the gliding mammal flees for its life by jumping off the branch, with its limbs outstretched to expand its large skin membranes for gliding, barely escaping the claws of the large raptor.

Drawing made since it is National Save The Eagles Day (January 10), and while this day was started to raise awareness for bald eagles, there's quite a few other species of eagles including some more endangered and threatened than the bald eagle. Also I wanted to draw a Philippine eagle for some time because they are cool.

Capable of growing over a meter long and with a wingspan approaching 2.2 meters, the Philippine eagle (locally known as the háribon) is one of the largest extant birds of prey, though some open-country eagles have greater wingspans but are smaller since the forest-dwelling háribon has comparatively short wings to navigate around branches. As suggested by its name, this bird is endemic to the Philippines, where it is the National Bird, and is found on the four major islands of Luzon, Mindanao, Samar and Leyte in the Philippine archipelago. This eagle is a rainforest species inhabiting only in dense primary forest, flying in and above the tree crowns in the canopy layer and rarely coming down to the ground. Like all eagles it is a carnivore, and while it is also called the monkey-eating eagle as it was once thought to eat exclusively monkeys, these make up only part of its diverse diet.

On Mindanao, the háribon preys mainly on the Philippine colugo, a nocturnal mammal under 40 centimeters long that eats leaves. While also called flying lemurs, colugos are neither lemurs nor can they truly fly. They belong in their own order, Dermoptera, which is related to primates such as lemurs though. And although they cannot fly, they have large skin membranes between their limbs enabling them to glide over 100 meters in a single leap, the longest known gliding of any mammal (so it’s practically a living parachute). While good gliders, their skin membranes make their poor at walking so they rarely come down from the treetops, where they can potentially come across the predatory eagle, but they will use their gliding to evade predators. While the colugo is found on the Philippine islands of Mindanao, Bohol, Samar and Leyte, it is absent on Luzon, where the Philippine eagle instead preys on monkeys, large rodents, large bats, birds and monitor lizards.

Unfortunately the reliance on large areas of dense rainforest means that the Philippine eagle is one of the most critically endangered eagles, threatened mainly by deforestation, and it is believed only around 400 nesting pairs remain. On a more positive note, captive breeding of this bird seems to be slowly increasing their numbers to be released into the wild, and it is also protected by Philippine law, killing one being punishable with a 12-year prison sentence and some heavy fines. Plus it's quite a cool and beautiful bird, I like the golden brown head plumage.

Description
High up in the canopy of a montane rainforest on the island of Mindanao, Philippines, a Philippine colugo (Cynocephalus volans) sleeping on a branch of a tree wakes up when it realizes it is under attack. The colugo is nocturnal, but when a Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) is suddenly swooping towards it with intention to kill it for food, the gliding mammal flees for its life by jumping off the branch, with its limbs outstretched to expand its large skin membranes for gliding, barely escaping the claws of the large raptor.

Drawing made since it is National Save The Eagles Day (January 10), and while this day was started to raise awareness for bald eagles, there's quite a few other species of eagles including some more endangered and threatened than the bald eagle. Also I wanted to draw a Philippine eagle for some time because they are cool.

Capable of growing over a meter long and with a wingspan approaching 2.2 meters, the Philippine eagle (locally known as the háribon) is one of the largest extant birds of prey, though some open-country eagles have greater wingspans but are smaller since the forest-dwelling háribon has comparatively short wings to navigate around branches. As suggested by its name, this bird is endemic to the Philippines, where it is the National Bird, and is found on the four major islands of Luzon, Mindanao, Samar and Leyte in the Philippine archipelago. This eagle is a rainforest species inhabiting only in dense primary forest, flying in and above the tree crowns in the canopy layer and rarely coming down to the ground. Like all eagles it is a carnivore, and while it is also called the monkey-eating eagle as it was once thought to eat exclusively monkeys, these make up only part of its diverse diet.

On Mindanao, the háribon preys mainly on the Philippine colugo, a nocturnal mammal under 40 centimeters long that eats leaves. While also called flying lemurs, colugos are neither lemurs nor can they truly fly. They belong in their own order, Dermoptera, which is related to primates such as lemurs though. And although they cannot fly, they have large skin membranes between their limbs enabling them to glide over 100 meters in a single leap, the longest known gliding of any mammal (so it’s practically a living parachute). While good gliders, their skin membranes make their poor at walking so they rarely come down from the treetops, where they can potentially come across the predatory eagle, but they will use their gliding to evade predators. While the colugo is found on the Philippine islands of Mindanao, Bohol, Samar and Leyte, it is absent on Luzon, where the Philippine eagle instead preys on monkeys, large rodents, large bats, birds and monitor lizards.

Unfortunately the reliance on large areas of dense rainforest means that the Philippine eagle is one of the most critically endangered eagles, threatened mainly by deforestation, and it is believed only around 400 nesting pairs remain. On a more positive note, captive breeding of this bird seems to be slowly increasing their numbers to be released into the wild, and it is also protected by Philippine law, killing one being punishable with a 12-year prison sentence and some heavy fines. Plus it's quite a cool and beautiful bird, I like the golden brown head plumage.