900 Tiny Toe Bones Tell a Story About Prehistoric Eagles
Oona Takano’s research focuses on how something big — Pleistocene megafauna extinctions — affected something very small: the toe bones of eagles.
Oona Takano’s research focuses on how something big — Pleistocene megafauna extinctions — affected something very small: the toe bones of eagles.
Like many people, I am fascinated by bird flight. Unlike most people, I get to study flight of Golden Eagles for a living. These large birds move through the landscape primarily by soaring—a style of flying where they hold their wings outward and rarely flap, saving them considerable energy. Instead of flapping, they rely on rising air currents to gain altitude.
The Martial Eagle is one of the largest and most powerful of the booted eagles. These menacing giants dominate the skies over sub-Saharan Africa, ranging from Senegal to Somalia and down to South Africa.