Guest guest Posted August 23, 2001 Report Share Posted August 23, 2001 The Star 23.8.01. A local university will carry out a study on the ecology of the White Bellied Sea Eagle for a proposed eagle conservation programme at Pantai Keracut in Pantai Acheh Forest Reserve. The programme would be part of the proposed gazette of the forest reserve as a national park. The university's environmental scientist Mohamed Hifni said the eagle chose to nest in the forest reserve due to the abundance of a type of Meranti tree, the shorea curtisii found there. These eagles build their nests measuring about 1.2m in diameter on such trees due to its tall and wide branches. The female would lay about one or two eggs per breeding season and the eaglets would remain in the nest for about three months. Nesting eagles normally flew in pairs and the female could be spotted as it was bigger with a wingspan of up to 2 180mm while the male had a wingspan of 1 780mm. The female weighs about 2 800g, the male weighs between 2 475 to 2 800g and could fly at an average speed of 50kph. Eagles adopt a territorial habitat and the decline in their number in Penang was due to habitat clearance driven by the expanding human population. Penang had about 46 eagles, including six pairs of nesting eagles. Hifni added that the eagle conservation programme is very important as any disturbance during the critical breeding season can be detrimental to the eagle's survival. He said other species of eagles could be spotted around the island's beach areas but nesting pairs of sea eagles could only be found at the reserve. _______________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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