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MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine eagle population has an additional member with the hatching of an eaglet in Davao City, the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) announced.
The eaglet, which emerged from its shell on Thursday, February 4 at the Philippine Eagle Center (PEC), is the 27th hatched in captivity, the PEF said in a statement Sunday, February 7.
The bird hatched after 57 days of incubation, and the center said it “was able to hatch full term on its own without any assistance.”
The yet-unnamed chick is “active and alert as it can already lift its head, sit and follow objects even at a day old,” said PEF curator Anna Mae Sumaya.
It is one of two offsprings of the paired eagles MVP, a male, and Go Phoenix, a female. An elder sibling, named Sinag, hatched on December 7, 2015, the PEF said in the statement.
The PEF’s breeding program started in 1987, and the newest addition to the list of successfully-bred birds is an “unexpected success.”
PEF executive director Dennis Salvador also told Rappler that they “still cannot determine the gender of the new eaglet – it will take some time, after several months maybe.”
“It will never see people but can be viewed through the CCTV,” Salvador added.
The Philippine eagle – the country’s national bird – is one of the rarest birds in the world, endemic to Philippine forests. It has the scientific name Pithecophaga jefferyi.
It is considered a critically endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. – KD Suarez, with a report from Editha Caduaya / Rappler.com
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