Animal
Philippine eagle
The Philippine eagle is a giant eagle with a shaggy crest of feathers. It lives only in the rainforests of the Philippines, and there are very few left.
The Philippine eagle is one of the largest and rarest eagles in the world. It lives only in the mountain rainforests of four Philippine islands, where it hunts monkeys, civets, flying squirrels and other forest animals. It is the national bird of the Philippines, and it is critically endangered.
Pithecophaga jefferyi is a huge forest eagle found only on Luzon, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao. A slow breeder that raises one chick every two years or so, it is Critically Endangered: the IUCN's 2025 global assessment estimates just 128 to 924 mature birds, with numbers still falling as forest is cleared.
Photo: shankar s., CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the Philippine eagle
The Philippine eagle is a giant eagle.
It has a big, curved beak and pale blue-gray eyes. Long brown feathers stick out on its head like a lion's mane. Its tummy is white and fluffy.
The Philippine eagle is one of the largest eagles in the world. It can be up to about a meter long and weigh up to 8 kilograms, with wings about 2 meters across.
It has a massive hooked bill, dark at the tip and bluish gray at the base, pale blue-gray eyes and bright yellow feet. Long, shaggy brown and cream feathers form a crest on its head and neck. Its back is dark brown and its underside is white. It is the national bird of the Philippines.
Pithecophaga jefferyi is among the largest eagles in the world in length and wingspan. The Peregrine Fund gives a body length of 76 to 102 centimeters and a weight of 4.5 to 8.1 kilograms; wingspans average about 1.93 meters, and Britannica notes some reach 2.5 meters.
Its massive hooked bill is dark at the tip, grading to bluish gray. The face is dark gray, the eyes pale blue-gray, and a shaggy crest of long, narrow brown and cream feathers covers the head and nape. Upperparts are cream-fringed brown, underparts mostly white, and the feet bright yellow with claws about 7.6 centimeters long. It was named the national bird of the Philippines in 1995.
Quick facts
- Group
- Bird
- Length
- 0.76 to 1.02 m
- Wingspan
- 1.84 to 2.02 m
- Weight
- 4.5 to 8.1 kg
Where it lives
Philippine eagles live only in the Philippines.
They live in thick rainforests on mountains. They build their nests in very tall trees.
The Philippines is a country of more than 7,000 islands, but this eagle lives on only four of them: Luzon, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao. Mindanao has the most.
Philippine eagles are true forest birds. They need old, tall rainforest to hunt, nest and raise their young. Much of the lowland forest has been cut down, so today they live mostly on mountain slopes, where logging and farming are harder. A pair needs a huge area of forest, about 4,000 to 11,000 hectares.
The species is endemic to the Philippines: the IUCN's 2025 global assessment lists it as resident there only, from sea level to about 2,000 meters, in an estimated 11 to 100 locations. It occurs on Luzon, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao, which supports most of the population.
It depends on primary rainforest, especially dipterocarp forest of tall, valuable timber trees. Because lowland forest has been widely logged and converted to farms, the remaining eagles are increasingly confined to mountain slopes. The Philippine Eagle Foundation estimates that a pair needs about 4,000 to 11,000 hectares of forest, depending on how much prey it holds; Britannica gives territories of up to about 133 square kilometers.
Continent
Its habitats
Where can you find this animal?
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Mountain rainforests on four islands of the Philippines: Luzon, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao, which holds most of the birds. Eagles live in only small, forested parts of these islands.
Places: Philippines.
Source: iucn-red-list · checked October 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in Philippines and United States.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
What it eats
Philippine eagles hunt animals in the forest.
They catch monkeys, civets, flying squirrels, bats, birds and snakes. They hunt in the daytime and rest at night.
This eagle used to be called the monkey-eating eagle, but that name is misleading. It does catch monkeys, but it also hunts bats, civets, flying squirrels, birds, snakes and lizards. What it eats depends on which island it lives on.
It hunts in the daytime. Sometimes it sits and waits until it spots prey, or it flies from perch to perch through the treetops. It also pokes into tangled plants and holes in trees. Pairs sometimes hunt together: one eagle distracts the prey while the other attacks from behind.
The old name monkey-eating eagle is a misnomer. Prey includes macaques and other tree-dwelling mammals such as civets and flying squirrels, as well as bats, rodents, birds (including other raptors), snakes and lizards, and the mix differs between islands according to which prey is common there.
The eagle is diurnal and uses several hunting methods: still-hunting from a perch, moving from perch to perch through the canopy, and probing dense tangles and knotholes. Pairs may hunt cooperatively, one bird distracting the prey while the other strikes from behind. Hunting large prey carries risks: scientists have documented eagles injured by monkeys and other animals.
Did you know?
A baby Philippine eagle looks like a ball of cotton.
A newly hatched Philippine eagle looks like a big-headed, big-footed ball of cotton.
Hatchlings are covered in white down and cannot regulate their own body temperature for their first weeks, so the parents brood and shade them.
A forest hunter's body
The Philippine eagle has a huge, hooked beak.
Its claws are as long as a grown-up's finger. It is big, but it is fast and quick in the air.
A Philippine eagle's claws are about 7.6 centimeters long, as long as a grown-up's finger, and they grip and hold prey. Its huge, hooked beak tears meat apart.
Even though it is so big, it is fast and agile in the air. It often hunts by flying from perch to perch through the treetops. As the top hunter of its forest, it has no known predators except people.
Adaptations for hunting in forest include the massive hooked bill for tearing large prey and powerful feet with claws about 7.6 centimeters long. Despite its size, the Peregrine Fund describes it as fast and agile in flight, which makes it a successful hunter among the trees.
As an apex predator, it has no known predators apart from people. The Peregrine Fund calls it an umbrella species: protecting the eagle means protecting the monkeys, civets and other prey it needs, the plants those animals eat and the tall trees it nests in, so many other forest species are protected too.
One chick every two years
A Philippine eagle mother lays just one egg.
Both parents keep it warm for about two months. The chick is a fluffy white ball. It stays with its parents for a long time.
Philippine eagles build a huge stick nest high in the fork of a tall tree, often a dipterocarp. Every other year the female lays one large white egg, and both parents take turns keeping it warm for about 58 to 60 days.
The chick hatches looking like a big-headed, big-footed ball of cotton. It is as big as its parents at about five months and flies at four to five months old, but it depends on its parents for up to 17 months after leaving the nest.
Pairs are believed to mate for life, finding a new mate only if a partner dies. The nest is a large stick platform in the main fork of a tall tree, typically a dipterocarp such as lauan, often resting on ferns and orchids. A single egg is laid, and incubation, shared by both parents, lasts about 58 to 60 days; for the first 40 days or so after hatching the male does most of the hunting while the female stays with the chick.
The downy nestling cannot regulate its own body temperature for its first weeks. It reaches adult size at about five months, "branches" out onto nearby limbs, fledges at four to five months and then depends on its parents for up to 17 months. Pairs therefore usually breed only every two to three years, though a pair that loses its egg or chick will often try again the next year.
Partners for life
Philippine eagle pairs stay together.
They share a big piece of forest. Both parents look after their chick and keep it dry and warm.
Philippine eagles are active during the day and rest at night. A pair lives in its own large territory of mountain forest, and the two birds are believed to stay together for life.
The parents share the work. They take turns sitting on the egg and shading or sheltering the young chick from rain, sun, heat and cold. Before its first flight, the young eagle practices by walking along branches, hopping between them and flapping its wings hard while holding on.
Philippine eagles are diurnal and territorial; Britannica describes pairs patrolling territories of up to about 133 square kilometers of mountainous dipterocarp forest. Pairs are thought to be monogamous for life.
Parental care is intensive and shared: both adults incubate, brood and shelter the nestling from rain, sun, heat and cold, and tear prey into small pieces until the young can feed itself. Before fledging, the young bird 'branches', walking and hopping along limbs near the nest and flapping vigorously while gripping a branch; its first flights are clumsy, but within a few days it flies almost as well as its parents.
Did you know?
The Philippine eagle is the national bird of the Philippines.
The Philippine eagle was named the national bird of the Philippines in 1995.
Declared the national bird of the Philippines in 1995, the eagle was also the official mascot of the 2005 Southeast Asian Games.
Saving the Philippine eagle
There are very few Philippine eagles left.
Their forests are being cut down. People in the Philippines are protecting the forests, caring for eagles and teaching others about them.
The Philippine eagle is critically endangered. The IUCN's 2025 assessment estimates only 128 to 924 adult birds, and the number is still going down. The biggest problem is losing forest to logging, farming and mining. Some eagles are also shot or caught in traps set for other animals.
The Philippine Eagle Foundation breeds eagles, cares for injured ones and released its first captive-bred eagle in 2004. It works with communities living near the forests, including Indigenous groups, to protect eagle habitat.
The IUCN's 2025 global assessment lists the species as Critically Endangered (criteria A2cd+4cd; C2a(i)), with 128 to 924 mature individuals, a decreasing trend and continuing loss of habitat; the Philippine Eagle Foundation's website gives an undated estimate of about 400 pairs left in the wild. Listed threats are crop agriculture, mining and quarrying, hunting and trapping, and logging.
Shooting kills at least one eagle a year, according to the foundation, and birds are caught in snares set for wild pigs or taken for display. Britannica adds declining prey, pesticide accumulation and pollution. Conservation includes legal protection, protected areas, captive breeding and release by the Philippine Eagle Foundation (first release of a captive-bred bird in 2004), rehabilitation of injured eagles and community-based protection of forest, with income projects for upland communities that share the forest with eagles.
IUCN Red List
How is the philippine eagle doing in the wild?
- Least Concern
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable
- Endangered
- Critically Endangered (this animal)
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Critically Endangered
At extremely high risk of disappearing from the wild.
See the IUCN Red List assessment · The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021.3
Amazing facts
-
The Philippine eagle is the national bird of the Philippines.
The Philippine eagle was named the national bird of the Philippines in 1995.
Declared the national bird of the Philippines in 1995, the eagle was also the official mascot of the 2005 Southeast Asian Games.
-
Its claws are as long as a grown-up's finger.
A Philippine eagle's claws are about 7.6 centimeters long.
Adults carry claws about 7.6 centimeters long, used to seize prey such as monkeys and civets.
-
A baby Philippine eagle looks like a ball of cotton.
A newly hatched Philippine eagle looks like a big-headed, big-footed ball of cotton.
Hatchlings are covered in white down and cannot regulate their own body temperature for their first weeks, so the parents brood and shade them.
-
Two eagles sometimes hunt together.
Philippine eagle pairs sometimes hunt as a team: one distracts the prey while the other attacks from behind.
Cooperative pair hunting, with one bird distracting the prey and the other striking from behind, has been recorded in this species.
Words to know
- endemic
- found naturally in only one place in the world
- rainforest
- a thick forest with lots of rain all year
- crest
- a group of feathers that sticks up on a bird's head
- apex predator
- a hunter at the top of its food chain, with no natural predators
- umbrella species
- an animal whose protection also protects many other living things
- critically endangered
- at extremely high risk of disappearing from the wild
Discovery challenge
-
Where do Philippine eagles live?
In which country do Philippine eagles live in the wild?
To which country is the Philippine eagle endemic?
- The Philippines
- Australia
- Canada
Show the answer
The Philippines
They live only in the Philippines.
Only in the Philippines, on Luzon, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao.
The Philippines; the species is resident there only, on four islands.
-
Do Philippine eagles eat only monkeys?
The Philippine eagle used to be called the monkey-eating eagle. Which is true?
Why is 'monkey-eating eagle' a misleading name for this species?
- It eats only monkeys
- It eats many kinds of animals, including monkeys
- It eats only fish
Show the answer
It eats many kinds of animals, including monkeys
No! It eats many animals, like civets, bats, birds and snakes too.
It catches monkeys, but also bats, civets, flying squirrels, birds, snakes and lizards.
Monkeys are only part of a varied diet of arboreal mammals, bats, birds and reptiles that differs between islands.
-
How many eggs does a Philippine eagle lay?
How many eggs does a Philippine eagle usually lay at a time?
What is the Philippine eagle's clutch size?
- One
- Six
- Twelve
Show the answer
One
Just one egg.
Just one egg, usually every other year.
A single egg, with breeding usually every two to three years because of the long dependency of the young.
-
What is the biggest danger to Philippine eagles?
What is the biggest threat to Philippine eagles?
Which threat most drives the Philippine eagle's decline?
- Losing their forests
- Too much snow
- Sharks
Show the answer
Losing their forests
People are cutting down their forests.
Forest loss from logging, farming and mining; shooting and trapping also harm them.
Loss and degradation of forest habitat, together with shooting and trapping.
Places where you might see it
Explore next
-
Watch
3D
Animal
Harpy eagle
Harpy eagles are among the largest and most powerful eagles in the world. They live in the lowland rainforests of Central and South America, where they hunt sloths and monkeys in the treetops. Forest loss and shooting have made them rare.
-
Watch
Animal
Golden eagle
The golden eagle is one of the largest and fastest birds of prey in North America, and it lives across much of the Northern Hemisphere. It soars over mountains and open country on wings more than two meters wide and dives at tremendous speed to catch rabbits, hares and ground squirrels.
-
Watch
Animal
Great hornbill
The great hornbill is a very large bird of Asia's forests, with a long tail, broad black-and-white wings and an enormous curved yellow bill topped by a helmet called a casque. It eats mostly figs, and the female seals herself inside a tree hole to raise her chick.
-
Watch
Animal
Reticulated python
The reticulated python lives in the forests, riversides and even towns of Southeast Asia. It can grow longer than any other kind of snake, it is covered in a net-like pattern, and it is such a good swimmer that it has reached many small islands across the sea.
-
Watch
Country
Philippines
The Philippines is an island country in Southeast Asia, in the western Pacific Ocean. It has more than 7,000 islands, about 50 volcanoes and rich coral reefs, and about 112.7 million people were counted there in 2024.
-
Watch
Animal
Adélie penguin
The Adélie penguin is a medium-sized penguin, about 70 centimeters tall, with a black back, a white front and a bright white ring around each eye. It breeds in summer on rocky, ice-free ground all around Antarctica, building nests of pebbles, and spends the winter far out at sea among the pack ice.
-
Watch
Animal
African fish eagle
The African fish eagle is a big eagle of Africa's lakes, rivers and coasts, with a white head, chest and tail and a chestnut-brown body. It snatches fish from the surface of the water, and its loud, ringing call is one of the best-known sounds of Africa.
-
Watch
Animal
African penguin
The African penguin is a penguin of warm, sunny coasts. It lives only in South Africa and Namibia, nests in burrows and under bushes, and hunts sardines and anchovies in the cold sea. Its numbers have fallen so far that it is now Critically Endangered, and people are working hard to protect it.
For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Describe the Philippine eagle's body and how it hunts in the forest.
- Locate the four islands where it lives and explain what endemic means.
- Describe the eagle's slow breeding: one chick every two to three years.
- Describe how people in the Philippines protect the eagle and its forest.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why might an animal that lives on islands be more at risk when its habitat is lost?
- How does protecting one big eagle help many other forest animals?
- How can communities earn a living while keeping the forest standing?
Try at home or in class
- Measure 7.6 centimeters with a ruler and compare it with your finger to see how long the eagle's claws are.
- Find the Philippines on a map or globe and count how many islands you can see; then find Luzon, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao.
Key vocabulary: endemic, rainforest, crest, apex predator, umbrella species, critically endangered
Where these facts come from
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi), global assessment 2025 , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- The Philippine Eagle , Philippine Eagle Foundation
- Philippine Eagle , The Peregrine Fund
- Philippine eagle , Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 24, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.