The young couple, though cautious and wounded, seems to have a deep affection for one another. Their planned relationship, which has been developing for years, is meant to protect the harpy eagle, one of the biggest raptors in the world, from going extinct.
Scientists have meticulously reconstructed a tropical rainforest under a massive dome in Colombia, where they have progressively incorporated monogamous birds in the hopes that they eventually marry and give birth to an eaglet.
That is, assuming the woman doesn’t turn hostile and murder her suitor.
“A bad decision on our part could lead to an attack,” said Luisa Escobar, research coordinator at Biopark La Reserva, a foundation outside Bogota working to preserve Colomia’s rich biodiversity.
The harpy eagle, one of the strongest and largest eagles in the world, has been driven almost completely extinct in certain areas of its native Central America. It is capable of hunting both monkeys and sloths.
Given that the species is “rapidly declining” as a result of deforestation and hunting, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed it as vulnerable.
The majority of the estimated 100,000–250,000 people that still exist are spread throughout nine countries in the Amazon.
In 2018, a pair of harpy eagles held captive in Colombia were saved individually from the southern state of Amazonas.
