FACT CHECK: The Rebirth of the Eagle

A presentation entitled “The Rebirth of the Eagle” (or “The Story of the Eagle”) started hitting the Snopes.com inbox in Might 2007. The presentation explains that by the point an eagle reaches the age of 30 or so, its bodily situation has deteriorated to the purpose that survival is troublesome: its talons lose their flexibility and can’t correctly grip prey, its beak turns into uninteresting and bent, and its wing feathers develop thick and heavy, sticking to its chest and impairing its flight.

So the chook then retreats to a mountaintop, the place over a five-month interval it sequentially knocks off its beak by banging it in opposition to a rock, plucks out its talons, after which plucks out its feathers, every stage producing a regrowth of the eliminated physique elements that “renews” the eagle and permits it to reside for one more 30 to 40 years:

https://youtu.be/yXTrWPvP0iQ
 
Though this story could present a vivid illustration of the philosophy expressed on the finish of the presentation that typically one should shed the previous so as to transfer ahead (or, as usually acknowledged, “With the intention to rebuild, you could first tear down”), it’s merely a delusion that strays removed from the fact of an eagle’s life, based on the College of Minnesota’s Raptor Center:

We’ve got acquired fairly a number of e-mails concerning the “Eagle Rebirth” story lately. The story is sort of removed from what an eagle’s life actually consists of, however we might be completely happy to share with you the pure historical past of the Bald Eagle. Eagles wouldn’t sometimes “lose” their beak or talons, except it was the results of a traumatic harm. The talons and beak are two of the three finest defining options of what makes these birds “raptors”. With out the sharp talons for catching prey and the sturdy, sharp beak for tearing meals, the raptor will surely die of hunger. An eagle hatches with each a beak and talons and these will proceed to develop all through the chook’s life. The beak and talons are composed of arduous keratin and are considerably just like human fingernails. The talons of the eagle usually are not versatile because the story claims. New layers of keratin progress construct onto the outdated layers making certain a powerful construction for the raptor. The raptor retains the beak in good situation naturally within the wild by consuming robust prey and rubbing the beak clear on stones or different arduous surfaces (feaking) after consuming.

Eagles and different raptors usually don’t pluck out their feathers. All birds, together with raptors, do undergo a technique of shedding feathers and that is referred to as a molt. A chook’s feathers do undergo common put on and tear so, finally, the standard of the feather will lower and it’ll have to be changed. The feathers usually are not misplaced all on the identical time. If this had been true, the chook could be unprotected from pure components and extra importantly it might not be capable of fly. Eagles and all different raptors have to fly so as to hunt and survive so the lack of flight would almost definitely imply hunger for the chook. Every feather comes from a feather follicle very similar to hair does on a mammal. When the feather is first rising and growing it has a blood provide coming from the physique going up into the shaft of the feather. If this feather is damaged or pulled out it isn’t solely very painful for the chook, however may lead to blood loss and harm to the feather follicle. Extreme harm to the feather follicle may end result within the everlasting lack of the follicle. If a feather is misplaced earlier than a molt it may take as much as a 12 months to get replaced. Raptors and all different birds molt in a symmetrical sample. If a major feather is molted on the left wing, the identical feather is molted concurrently on the precise wing. This could guarantee steadiness in flight for the chook whereas it hunts throughout this molting interval.

The common life span of an eagle is roughly 30 years. The eagle, like many different residing organisms, doesn’t have the posh of constructing the choice to increase their life cycle far past what’s regular for its species. In captivity, an eagle could reside past what the common life expectancy is, as a result of it receives each common and nutritious meals, has entry to veterinary care and could be sheltered from the tough components by housing offered by the ability caring for the chook. Even then, the life span is under no circumstances prolonged so far as this delusion is suggesting.

There may be hypothesis as to the origin of this delusion, however we are able to guarantee you that none of it’s true.