Species profile
Pithecophaga jefferyi
Philippine eagle
CR · Critically Endangered — Critically Endangered — extreme risk of extinction in the wild
About this species
Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) is part of the curated SpeciesWatch catalogue and is classified as Critically Endangered. The Philippine eagle is one of the largest and most powerful raptors on Earth, capable of taking flying lemurs, monkeys and even young pigs. Its recorded population direction is decreasing, so the category needs to be read alongside continuing losses of individuals or local populations.
Habitat, behaviour and ecological role
This profile associates the species with terrestrial, forest. These labels summarise environments used during different stages of its life rather than drawing an exact range boundary. It is the national bird of the Philippines, and killing one is punishable by up to 12 years in prison and heavy fines. Its anatomy and behaviour are responses to those environments, while movement can connect distant places requiring different forms of management.
Why this species is at risk
A pair raises just one chick every two years, and the young stay with their parents for nearly a year — one of the slowest breeding cycles of any eagle. The catalogue records 3 principal pressures for this profile: Deforestation, Hunting, Mining. They should not be treated as isolated causes. Habitat change, exploitation, pollution, disease and climate stress can reinforce one another, while the importance of each pressure varies between regions and through time.
Conservation outlook
Protecting and reconnecting habitat is a priority, together with infrastructure planning that keeps feeding, breeding or migration routes functional. Direct protection needs to combine enforcement with conflict prevention, demand reduction and local benefits that make coexistence viable. Actions need long-term monitoring and revision as evidence changes; a positive intervention in one place does not by itself represent recovery across the species.
Editorial review: 2026-08-21
Threat factors
Known occurrences
Dots are georeferenced occurrence records from OBIS (marine) and GBIF (global), not individual animals and not a complete range map. Up to 500 recent API results are cached; the profile renders at most 500 points.
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Listen to this species
Mt. Mingan, Luzon Island · 0:35 · https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/