Rare African eagle is hatched ... in the wilds of Kirkcaldy
THESE rare and fascinating pictures show the first moments in the life of an eagle chick which will one day become a deadly predator.
The images give a rare glimpse at the natural phenomenon of an aggressive bird being hatched from its egg and treated in its early days.
The Martial eagle is one of the largest and most powerful species of eagle in the world with its wingspan expected to grow up to 8ft6in in length.
But the chick is still the size of an orange and has only just been reunited with its parents.
It hatched with the assisin tance from staff at the Elite Falconry centre in Kirkcaldy, Fife, on December 28.
Hatching is one of the most precarious moments a bird’s life and handlers at the centre assisted in helping the bird out of the egg.
The chick will be monitored by CCTV for the next nine months and will be raised naturally by its parents Napoleon and Josephine.
Falconer Roxanne Peggie said the birth on UK soil of the martial eagle, usually found in Sub-Saharan Africa, is very rare.
She said: “The young bird won’t see another human face for the next nine months. You can count on one hand the number of eagles of this species that have been born in the UK. It’s very rare.”
The chick was placed back with its parents last week after initially being monitored by handlers to help it during its early days.
Martial eagles are marked as being vulnerable on the IUCN red list of threatened species following three generations of declining numbers worldwide.
In Africa, many are killed because they are seen as a threat to livestock.