In Colombia, a long and dangerous romance to save the harpy

Hurt and wary, the young couple seem to like each other: the arranged romance, years in the making, aims to preserve the harpy eagle, one of the world’s largest birds of prey, which is rapidly disappearing.

In a huge dome in Colombia, biologists recreated a tropical forest where they slowly introduced monogamous birds, hoping that they would get along, mate and produce an eagle.

That is, if the female doesn’t become territorial and kill her suitor.

“A bad decision on our part could lead to an attack,” said Luisa Escobar, research coordinator at Bioparque La Reserva, a foundation outside Bogotá that works to preserve Colomia’s rich biodiversity.

One of the largest and most powerful eagles in the world, capable of hunting monkeys and sloths, the harpy eagle was hunted to near extinction in some parts of its range in Central America.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies it as vulnerable, stating that the species was “rapidly declining” due to deforestation and hunting.

Most of the estimated 100,000 to 250,000 individuals remain in the Amazon, which spans nine countries.

The only pair of harpies in captivity in Colombia were rescued separately in the south of the state of Amazonas in 2018.

– ‘A lot of hope’ –

The female, with a prominent gray crest, still has pellets on her body from when she was shot. They cannot be removed without risk of death.

The male, usually smaller, has a broken left wing that veterinarians have been unable to repair.

They were separated for two years by a metal fence, but it was finally opened three weeks ago after they were seen flapping their beaks and feeding.

In other words, their keepers explained, they like each other.

Monitored by security cameras, the next test will be whether they mate. Harpies are notoriously slow breeders, raising only one young every few years.

The couple’s demeanor is “so calm… that it creates a lot of hope that they will have a child,” said Escobar, 26.

Measuring one meter tall and with a wingspan of up to two meters, the harpy is the symbol of the Colombian air force and the national bird of Panama.

Their habitat once extended from Mexico to northern Argentina, but in some countries, such as El Salvador, the birds have disappeared completely.

Poachers “kill them … because they want them as trophies. They want to sell them, eat them or take a photo” with their remains, said Mateo Giraldo of the Colombian Large Birds of Prey Project.

Colombian authorities seized 94 harpy eagle parts at Bogotá international airport in 2021.

The armed conflict that has haunted Colombia for six decades also makes it difficult for scientists to study the raptor deep in the forests where it lives, Giraldo said.

Breeding cubs in captivity has proven successful in Panama and Brazil.

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