Mystery Animal of the Day

Mama gnome presents: MYSTERY ANIMAL OF THE DAY

It's the largest eagle in the world.

With a wingspan reaching over 2 meters or 7 feet.

And a height of over a meter or 3 feet ( about as tall as youngest gnomelet)

It's been described as resembling a griffin.

It's found in only one country in the world.

IUCN lists it as critically endangered with less than 200 birds left.

It is sadly the most endangered eagle in the world.

If your guess is the Philippine Eagle, Mama gnome claps her hands together and guffaws.

And she says, "Please give the gift of trees in honor of this majestic bird."



Photo by: Klaus Nigge/National Geographic


The Philippine Eagle is also called the Great Philippine Eagle, Haribon, or Monkey-eating Eagle.

Mama gnome just stares at the picture above and marvels at this magnificent bird.

With blue-gray eyes and brown feathers on its nape formed like a crest.

"These feathers give it the appearance of possessing a lion's mane, which in turn resembles the mythical griffin."

Its diet includes: reptiles, birds, monkeys, flying lemurs and Asian Palm Civets.

The Philippine Eagle mates for life and they produce a single young only every two or three years.

It's beyond Mama gnome's sadness to report how these eagles are disappearing as Mama gnome types these words... and these words... and these words...

After the stage of critically endangered, the next stage is EXTINCT.

It's not you "get one more chance" stage.

And not, "Oh, maybe one last final chance to save them" stage.

NO, the next one is,
as elder gnomelet says, "Extinct, that means they're gone. THEY'RE...NO...LONGER...ALIVE."

Yes. She said it with dramatic pauses just as I indicated.

According to this report:

"Indeed, with deforestation rates in the Philippines among the highest in the world (more than 90 percent of primary forest may have been lost to logging and development)..."

Ninety percent lost? Um, that leaves maybe 10 percent.

Are you kidding? Is that just someone's backyard?

What can we do as gnomes and humans?

• Inform yourself
  


• Volunteer
  


• Donate



• Write letters to your local and national government



• Plant trees



• Give the gift of trees



• Boycott businesses that perform or promote illegal deforestation and logging.


• Support green businesses


• Visit Haribon Foundation



• Visit Birdlife International

And here is the majestic PHILIPPINE EAGLE:




video by Wild Chronicles

Mama gnome now feels like fluffing her hair up like a lion's mane and snatching up fiendish illegal logger humans. CAWWW! CAWWW! CAWWW!

Oops...I think that's a crow. Not Eagle.

Umm, you get the picture.

Please come visit Mama gnome's little garden soon to find out about the next

MYSTERY ANIMAL OF THE DAY...

(c) 2009 Jenaelha Friendly Gnome's Blog