WHAT IS THE WORLD'S LARGEST EAGLE?

There are a number of eagles vying for this accolade - the Australian Wedge-Tailed Eagle, the Berkut Golden Eagle, and the American Bald Eagle to name but a few. However, finding out exactly which of the world's eagles is the largest will all depend on how you decide to measure them ie. longest wingspan, heaviest body weight etc.

The general consensus is, that on average, the Steller's Sea Eagle is the heaviest eagle in the world therefore this makes it the world's largest eagle!

The Steller's Sea Eagle, Haliaeetus pelagicus, is a large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It lives in coastal northeastern Asia and mainly preys on fish. It is, on average, the heaviest eagle in the world, at about 4.9 to 9 kilograms (11 to 20 lb), but often lags behind the Harpy Eagle and Philippine Eagle in other measurements.This magnificent bird is named after the German naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller.

Steller's Sea-eagle is the biggest bird in the genus Haliaeetus and is one of the largest raptors overall. The typical size range is 85 to 105 centimetres (33 to 41 in) long and the wingspan is 195 to 230 centimetres (77 to 91 in).

 Females typically weigh from 6.8 to 9 kilograms (15 to 20 lb) while males are considerably lighter with a weight range from 4.9 to 6 kilograms (11 to 13 lb). An unverified record exists of a huge female, who apparently gorged on salmon, having weighed 12.7 kilograms.

There are in fact two subspecies have of Steller's Sea-eagle. The relatively widespread Haliaeetus pelagicus and the virtually unknown H. p. niger. The latter name was given to the population which lacked white feathers except for the tail and supposedly was resident all year in Korea. Last seen in 1968 and long believed to be extinct, a female matching H. p. niger in appearance was born in captivity in 2001. Both its parent were "normal" in appearance, indicating that H. p. niger is an extremely rare morph rather than a valid subspecies, as had already been suggested earlier.

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