Madagascar serpent eagle

The Madagascar serpent eagle is a medium-sized raptor with a long rounded tail and short rounded wings.{{cite encyclopedia| title =Madagascar Serpent Eagle | encyclopedia =The Official World Wildlife Fund Guide to Extinct Species of Modern Times| volume =1| pages =13–14| publisher =Beacham Publishing | year =1997}} It is dark grey on its back and a lighter grey on its belly, breast, and throat. Dark barring covers the bird's body. It has yellow eyes and a sharp, hooked beak with strong talons. It measures {{convert|57|to|66|cm|in|abbr=on}} long with a wingspan of {{convert|90|to|110|cm|abbr=on}}.Raptors of the World By Ferguson Lees, Christie, David A.(2001)

This bird inhabits dense, humid, and broadleafed evergreen forests in northeastern and east-central Madagascar. It rarely ventures above 550 meters (1800 ft).

This serpent-eagle is diurnal. It eats lemurs both large and small, snakes, lizards, and frogs, which it hunts from high perches, swooping down from its perch and grasping its prey in its talons when it spots it.

This species was believed to be extinct, with the last confirmed sighting being from 1930. However, sightings in 1977 and 1988 led to hope for the species' rediscovery. It was rediscovered in 1993 by the Peregrine Fund.

The Madagascar serpent eagle is listed as an endangered species on the  International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, with an estimated population of  533 adults.{{Cite journal |last1=Sutton |first1=Luke J. |last2=Benjara |first2=Armand |last3=Roland |first3=Lily-Arison Rene de |last4=Thorstrom |first4=Russell |last5=McClure |first5=Christopher J. W. |date=January 2023 |title=Extensive protected area coverage and an updated global population estimate for the Endangered Madagascar Serpent-eagle Eutriorchis astur |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bird-conservation-international/article/extensive-protected-area-coverage-and-an-updated-global-population-estimate-for-the-endangered-madagascar-serpenteagle-eutriorchis-astur/51DEBA617EF8C72C48B9669326B80A97 |journal=Bird Conservation International |language=en |volume=33 |pages=e48 |doi=10.1017/S0959270922000508 |issn=0959-2709|url-access=subscription }} This species is threatened by the destruction of its specialized habitat and a presumed low rate of reproduction.

The prefix eu- is Greek for "good". Triorchis is a Latinization (Pliny the Elder)Pliny the Elder, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Pliny_the_Elder/10*.html Historia Naturalis, Book 10], Chapters 9, 95, 96. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137&query=head%3D%23516 English translation] from the Perseus Digital Library. Both retrieved on Nov. 16, 2007. of Greek triórkhēs (τριόρχης), which Aristotle and Theophrastus used for a kind of hawk, possibly the common buzzard. The Greek word means "having three testicles".{{citation | last1 = Liddell | first1 = Henry George | last2 = Scott | first2 = Robert | author-link1 = Henry Liddell | author-link2 = Robert Scott (philologist) | year = 1940 | title = A Greek-English Lexicon | url = https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%23105095 | access-date = 2007-11-15}} This erroneous bit of anatomy has been connected with the ease of mistaking a bird's adrenal gland for a testicle.{{citation | last1 = Fisher | first1 = Peter | last2 = Higgins | translator = Humphrey| year = 1998 | title = Olaus Magnus: A Description of the Northern Peoples, 1555 | publisher = Hakluyt Society | page = 1011n | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iMQMAAAAYAAJ | access-date = 2007-11-15|isbn =0-904180-59-X}}. See Olaus Magnus and Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus

Astur is Latin for a kind of hawk.{{citation | last1 = Lewis | first1 = Charlton T. | last2 = Short | first2 = Charles | author-link1 = Charlton T. Lewis | author-link2 = Charles Short (lexicographer) | year = 1897 | title = A Latin Dictionary | url = https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3D%234196 | access-date = 2009-01-15}}

{{Reflist|32em}}

{{Commonscat|Eutriorchis astur}}

{{Wikispecies|Eutriorchis astur}}

• [http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/ebas/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=3398&m=0 BirdLife Species Factsheet.]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110526203146/http://www.peregrinefund.org/archived_conserve.asp?mode=view&ConserveID=52&category=Madagascar%20Project&conserveid1=68 Picture of captive bird]

{{Circaetinae}}

{{Vulture}}

{{Accipitrimorphae|A.|state=collapsed}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q934902}}

Madagascar serpent eagle

Category:Endemic birds of Madagascar

Category:Birds of prey of Madagascar

Madagascar serpent eagle

Category:Eagles

Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot

Category:Fauna of the Madagascar lowland forests