Not many of us will have seen a Leopard Eagle nor, indeed, have even heard of it but, at one time, it was widespread across the world from East Asia, through Southern Europe, parts of Africa and into North America. The ‘Leopard’ Eagle is so called because of the dark spots against a golden brown plumage, which resembled the markings of the Leopard. There is a claim that the North American Leopard Eagle was a separate subspecies but this is something we may never know.
It is something we may never know because the Leopard Eagle, having existed for centuries across the globe, is now reduced to just two known birds. These birds, both male, are kept in captivity in a South African zoo. Not only are they in captivity but they are also kept in secrecy. Only a few trusted people know which zoo keeps them, this is because the birds are still highly prized for their plumage among poachers, hunters and bird collectors.
The story I want to tell you is part Native American folklore and part modern science. The folklore tells the story of the demise of the Leopard Eagle, while the science gives us hope for its possible return.
The folklore story dates back to the days of the Anasazi. They were one of the first Native American tribes, who lived around the Colorado and Utah areas. For decades, the tribe had been lauded by environmentalists as an example of how Man could live in harmony with nature and the environment. However, as we have come to learn more about their society and their history, we realise that this was not the case; far from it.
The Anasazi society was based upon wood. Just as our modern societies are based upon oil or fossil fuels, so the Anasazi relied upon wood. They used wood for building, for heating, for cooking and for many other purposes. The Anasazi, though, did not grow, gather or manage the wood themselves; they used other tribes to supply their wood for them. In this way, they saw the supply of their basic material as being something ‘beneath them’; something for other tribes to do for them.
Obviously, supplying wood requires chopping down trees and, to the Anasazi, there seemed to be a limitless supply of trees. However, because they had outsourced their supply, they were unaware of how quickly their source was dwindling. Until it was too late.
One consequence of the removal of trees, was the destruction of the natural habitat of the North American Leopard Eagle. The birds had naturally relied upon the trees to provide safe places for their nests. The loss of the trees meant the birds no longer had a place to build their large nests. However, the Leopard Eagle was more versatile than anyone might have guessed. As one natural habitat, the trees, was destroyed, the birds moved into and adapted to a new habitat. They built nests in caves and holes borrowed into the exposed sandstone cliffs.
Native American folklore tells us that the descendant tribes of the Anasazi, the Pueblo Indians, followed the birds and also build their settlements into the rock face. Once again, though, the people and the birds found themselves in competition.
However, we should not blame the Native people for the ultimate demise of the Leopard Eagle.
The final decline of the North American Leopard Eagle came at the hands of hunters and sports shooters. For them, the Leopard Eagle was a favourite and a tempting target. Indeed, it became a badge of achievement to shoot a Leopard Eagle while it was in flight. The highest achievement was to shoot one with a single shot into the dark spot on the centre of its chest. It is believed the last North American Leopard Eagle was shot in 1963.
Shooting, or hunting, also seems to have been the reason for the demise of the European Leopard Eagle. This was a much smaller and rarer bird, which was native almost exclusively to the Dolomites and Alps regions. It was especially prized by the Italian aristocracy, whom history now blames for the birds extinction.
The Italians can also be blamed for starting the demise of the African Leopard Eagle. The bird, in flight, was often used a target practice by the Italian airforce during their invasion of Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) during the 1930s.
The fate of the Asian Leopard Eagle is a lot less clear. No sighting of the Asian Leopard Eagle has been reported for over forty years and it is believed they are now extinct. We know the bird’s eggs were considered a ‘delicacy’ among several Asian cultures and it is possible the birds were hunted to extinction for food. Another culprit may have been defoliant chemicals, such as Agent Orange, used by US forces during the Vietnam war. The National Geographic Society has funded at least two expedition projects to try to find evidence of extant Leopard Eagles in Cambodia and Vietnam but without success.
It is, therefore, believed that the two male birds kept secretly in a South African zoo are the last of the species.
Which leads me to the second part of the story; how scientists are trying to give new life to the species.
Genetic scientists, working with the South African zoo, are running a project to take DNA from the male birds and inject it into eggs. The intention is to give birth to live Leopard Eagle chicks.
You may foresee a problem. We have only two birds known to be alive. Both of these are male, so how can we get eggs? There are still a few Leopard Eagle eggs, mostly in museums or in private collections. These are, however, totally unviable, being only empty shells.
So the scientists have had to be ‘creative’ in their thinking and they have come up with a proposal to utilise eggs from a different bird. Originally, they had planned to use eggs from a related Eagle species. However this had to be abandoned as all eagle species are endangered and using eggs from a different member of the Eagle family would jeopardise the recover of that species.
In the end, the project decided to utilise eggs from a different bird altogether. They decided to use duck eggs. This showed most promise as ducks, along with chickens, are one of few birds able to lay infertile eggs. Duck eggs also seemed closer in size to true Leopard Eagle eggs.
To date, though, no Leopard Eagle chick has been successfully conceived. In most instances, the injected DNA failed to develop within the egg. In some cases, the resulting embryo was born dead and, in a few cases, the chick hatched from the egg was …. a duck!
Nevertheless, the scientists remain both optimistic and determined, especially in light of the fact that a few of the dead embryos were quite clearly Leopard Eagle chicks. They, the scientists, just need to determine why they failed to thrive within the egg.
