The stongest Talons? (1 Viewer)

An extensive (and I might add, rather scientific comparison study) was made of two eagles with the most powerful talons. One was the Philippine Monkey eating eagle and the other one was the Harpy eagle found in the Pantanal region of Brazil. Features rated were talon size, talon grip, body mass, etc.

The Harpy eagle scored higher in some areas and the Philippine eagle scored higher in others. It's really a toss-up.

P.S. Whoops! Blubeak_P2007 posted the correct link to that study. Thanks a lot Blubeak. :t:

For some very nice videos of the Harpy eagle carrying off a tree sloth, go to YouTube.com and in the "Search" box, type in "eagle and prey." There's also another incredible one of an eagle attacking a mountain goat and carrying it off.

Eagle Owl talons have a grip several times as powerful as a man's grip, according to a person in Norfolk who keeps Eagle Owls. He told me that this was registered on a ''Grip Meter'', and he seemed to know what he was talking about.

I think one important aspect is the diet, specifically what proportion of the diet is made up of carrion as many eagles feed a lot on carrion and those eagles may not have such strong talons. In areas where there is not much carrion to be had, like South America, live prey would constitute a greater part of the diet so the eagles will have evolved more efficient methods of catching and killing, my vote for Harpy.

Oh and before you tear into me (pun intended!!!!) this is just my point of view and nothing more.
Jaff

golden eagle is not even close to being as powerful as harpy

As far as I know large forest eagles like the Philippine eagle and Harpy eagle
doesn't eat carrion they feed exclusively on their fresh killed prey.
The Philippine eagle is also known as Haribon or "Haring-ibon" meaning
"king of birds" the top predator of Philippine forests in a country naturally free
from large predators such as tigers, bears or lions. The Philippine eagle is 3 times more powerful than the strongest man on earth. With the largest wings
surface area among all eagle species, capable of carrying larger prey.

Would Haast's Eagle qualify, I copied and pasted this article from Wikipedia.....

Female Haast's Eagles weighed 10 to 15 kg (22 to 33 lb), and males weighed 9 to 10 kg (20 to 22 lb). They had a wingspan of roughly 2.6 to 3 m (8 to 10 ft) at most, which was short for a bird of the eagle's weight (the largest Golden Eagles and Steller's Sea Eagles may have wings of almost the same width), but aided them when hunting in the dense forests of New Zealand. Haast's Eagle is sometimes portrayed as evolving towards flightlessness, but this is not so; rather, it represents a departure from its ancestors' mode of soaring flight and towards higher wing loading and manoeuverability. The strong legs and massive flight muscles would have enabled the birds to take off with a jumping start from the ground, despite their great weight. The tail was almost certainly long (up to 50 cm (20 inches), in female specimens) and very broad, further increasing manoeuverability and providing additional lift. Total length was perhaps up to 1.4 m (4.7 ft) in females, with a standing height of around 90 cm (about 3 ft) tall or even slightly more. Maori mythology describes Hokioi as having black feathers and of having wingspans of perhaps upto six metres.

Haast's Eagle preyed on large, flightless bird species, including the moa which was up to 15 times its weight. It attacked at speeds up to 80 km per hour (50 mph), often seizing its prey's pelvis with the talons of one foot and killing with a blow to the head or neck with the other. Its large beak was used to rip into the internal organs and death was induced by blood loss. In the absence of other large predators or scavengers, a Haast's Eagle could have easily monopolised a single large kill over a number of days.

Early human settlers in New Zealand (the Māori arrived about 1,000 years ago) also preyed heavily on large flightless birds including all moa species, eventually hunting them to extinction. This caused the Haast's Eagle to become extinct around 1500 when the last of its food sources dwindled out. It may also itself have been hunted by humans: a large, fast bird of prey that specialised in hunting large bipeds may have been perceived as a threat by Māori — for a creature that could kill a moa weighing 180 kg (400 lb), an adult human may have been a viable prey alternative.

Have you seen these pictures of Harpy Eagle talons?

http://www.nmnh.si.edu/rtp/students/2006/images/zoo_day_birds6.jpg

http://www.nmnh.si.edu/rtp/students/2006/images/zoo_day_birds22.jpg

http://www.nmnh.si.edu/rtp/students/2003/images/birdstour1.jpg

Quite impressive!

Powerful talons

The largest and most powerful eagles in the world!

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa310/mulawin2007/aguilas.jpg

Blubeak_2007 said:

The largest and most powerful eagles in the world!

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa310/mulawin2007/aguilas.jpg

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Apparently, the guy with the Philippine Eagle doesn't fancy his nose!

I would be interested to see data from a "grip meter" described by Graham V. above for various raptors.

I saw a demonstration many years ago by Jim Fowler (Marlin Perkins' sidekick from the old Wild Kingdom TV show). The "grip meter" was a water bottle with a pressure gauge. I do not remember the units in which pressure was measured, but a female golden eagle (Aquila) was able to register about 10X the pressure with one foot as a large man was able to squeeze with both hands.

No doubt, the power of any "Eagle" should be respected.

I have taken two people to the hospital for "mishandling" eagles during banding/ringing & transmitter attachment.

One person had a talon pierce the wrist between the radius and ulna (all the way through) and the other was punctured in the forearm (the skin was stretching on the other side, but the talon did not come though).

I have been "footed" to the bone in my hand by a Great-horned Owl (Bubo), and would not recommend the experience, but getting "footed" by any large Eagle from what I have seen is far worse.

Free said:

Anyone know the crush rate of the Bird with the strongest talons?

Bald Eagle?
fish eagle?

Any ideas?

Click to expand...

I found the following information from the web pages of the "Raptors common to Kentucky (USA)".


--Bob
Kentucky, USA

I agree, GHO are one of the most powerful owls in the world and we also have species of Bubo Owls here in the Philippines;

Bubo philippensis (smaller race);
Bubo mindanensis (larger race)

The Philippine Eagle-Owl, Bubo philippensis is an endangered and rare bird species belonging to the Strigidae family.

A Philippines endemic and one of the largest owls in the world, it lives near lakes in lowland jungles in the Philippines islands of Catanduanes, Samar, Mindanao, Luzon and Leyte.

Bubo philippensis has a wingspan of 48 inches (120 cm).
Source:Wikipedia

Most raptors are equipped with locking mechanism that holds their prey esp. Eagles, Once it touches the prey it locks like a vise-grip, a foot muscles that never get tired clamping down prey or felt any muscle fatigue; and If the talons of the GHO are the most feared raptor in Kentucky, what more?…
As compared to those massive legs and talons of these two giant raptors? (Philippine eagle and Harpy eagle)

Imagine the razor sharp long talons averaging 3 inches up to (5 inches Harpy eagles hind talons) and the tremendous pressure grip that could crush bones and skulls on impact, killing it’s prey instantly with a max-speed of 50 mph or 80 kph and in dense forests.
It’s just amazing how these huge raptors adapted so well in their environment.

As Talon_dfa have said;

“I have been "footed" to the bone in my hand by a Great-horned Owl (Bubo), and would not recommend the experience, but getting "footed" by any large Eagle from what I have seen is far worse.”

Regards,
Blubeak_2007

The website of the Oregon Zoo, Portland, Oregon, USA, lists the talon strength of the Golden Eagle as 750 p.s.i. : Golden Eagle--Oregon Zoo.

--Bob
Kentucky, USA

Wikipedia online encyclopedia lists the talon strength of the Harpy Eagle as 530 p.s.i.: Harpy Eagle.

--Bob
Kentucky, USA

BobinKy said:

Wikipedia online encyclopedia lists the talon strength of the Harpy Eagle as 530 p.s.i.: Harpy Eagle.

--Bob
Kentucky, USA

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Yet in the same article it says

"The talons are extremely powerful, perhaps the most powerful of any raptorial bird."

The problem with those readings is that are they just taken from one bird or an average reading from a larger sample of birds, the latter being the more scientific method. One bird's reading can not represent the whole species. It could have been an extremely wimpy Harpy Eagle.

Jaff said:

One bird's reading can not represent the whole species. It could have been an extremely wimpy Harpy Eagle.

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Yes, individual bird strength differences can skew statistics. I wonder how much the Harpy Eagle Achilles can squeeze?

Another problem with measuring talon strength may be captivity itself--captive birds may not get the opportunity to build up and maintain talon muscles, the way wilderness birds have the opportunity.

If you don't use it, you lose it.

--Bob
Kentucky, USA

Hanno said:

I'd go for Harpey or Phillipine Eagle, looking at the size of their legs, and their prey.

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_____-

This one has been discussed several times. And Hanno is right.

Having seen both up close. I think the Harpey has the edge on power with
thickness of Tarsus. Although pound for pound th Crowned eagle is
mighty strong!

Jaff said:

Yet in the same article it says

"The talons are extremely powerful, perhaps the most powerful of any raptorial bird."

The problem with those readings is that are they just taken from one bird or an average reading from a larger sample of birds, the latter being the more scientific method. One bird's reading can not represent the whole species. It could have been an extremely wimpy Harpy Eagle.

Click to expand...

You're right, Like the weight-size of the Harpy eagle mentioned saying ("Exceptional females have weighed over 9 kg (20 lb) and one captive female, "Jezebel", weighed 12.3 kg (26 lb). Again it was being taken from one bird which cannot represent the species, because it was a captive bird confined in small space or cage, well fed and doesn't have the opportunity to use it's hunting skills on catching preys, or fly from tree to tree, eventually it will lose it's agility and strength unlike in the wild and I doubt if that Harpy can achieve the 26 lbs weight in the wild.

Perhaps we could measure the true talons strength of each raptor species base on the size and weight of prey taken and carry-off by the bird?

I cant find any grip strength measurement of Philippine Eagle on the web, they say its 3 times the strength of the strongest man on earth. According to Wikipedia it's one of the most powerful birds in the world. and If you will look on the documented prey taken by the Phil. eagle as compared to Harpy eagle; I think the Phil. eagles is more powerful than Harpy eagle.