{"id":280532,"date":"2026-02-12T13:45:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T13:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/280532\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T13:45:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T13:45:18","slug":"9-brutal-photos-of-the-worlds-most-powerful-bird-that-can-rip-monkeys-and-sloths-from-branches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/280532\/","title":{"rendered":"9 brutal photos of the world\u2019s most powerful bird that can rip monkeys and sloths from branches \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

The harpy eagle<\/a> may not be the world\u2019s largest bird (that record goes to the Andean condor<\/a>), but it arguably is the most powerful.<\/p>\n

Their name comes from the half-bird, half-human Harpy from Greek mythology, which was feared for its habit of carrying people away \u2013 much like the way harpy eagles prey on tree-dwelling animals such as howler monkeys and brown-throated sloths.<\/p>\n

The harpy eagle rips them from the tree branches with their large talons. However, they also prey on smaller animals such as kinkajous, opossums and even the odd snake.<\/p>\n

\"CloseThe harpy eagle is one of the world’s largest birds of prey – Getty
\n\"HarpyHarpy eagles eat tree-dwelling animals such as howler monkeys, brown-throated sloths and kinkajous – Getty
\n\"HarpyThe talons of a harpy eagle are the longest of any raptor, with its hind claw measuring up to 7cm long – Getty
\nHarpy eagles are capable of ripping sloths and monkeys from branches, thanks to their powerful feet and talons – BBC Natural History via Getty
\n\"CloseHarpy eagles are named after Harpies \u2013 half-bird, half-human creatures from Greek mythology – Getty
\n\"HarpyHarpies can be found from southern Mexico to north-east Argentina, and they are the national bird of Panama – Getty
\n\"HarpyHarpy eagle chicks have white down and fledge between 6-7 months – Getty
\n\"HarpyIts long tail acts as a rudder as it flies from tree to tree – Getty
\n\"HarpyHarpy eagle carrying a tufted capuchin – Jiang Chunsheng<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The harpy eagle may not be the world\u2019s largest bird (that record goes to the Andean condor), but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":["post-280532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}