The African Crowned Eagle, Stephanoaetus coronatus, is a
large raptor with a particularly long breeding cycle, even
considering its size (Newton 1979). The incubation period is
49–51 days, the nestling period is 104–115 days and the
length of the post-fledging period is contentious and varies
considerably within its distribution in Africa (Steyn 1982). In
some regions where the bird breeds biennially, this period is
up to 350 days (Brown and Amadon 1989, Shultz 2002),
whereas in other regions the post-fledging period is shorter
as pairs bred annually, even for nine years in succession
(Vernon 1984). The reason for this discrepancy has been
ascribed to environmental quality and seasonal variability,
and differences in the main prey base, densities and mortalities
between populations (Newton 1979, Jarvis et al. 1980,
Steyn 1982, Vernon 1984, Boshoff et al. 1994, Shultz
2002). Furthermore, it is unclear if the fledglings disperse
from the nesting area of their own free will or are evicted by
the parents (Brown 1966, Oatley 1970).
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:tut/oai:encore.tut.ac.za:d1001000 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Malan, G |
| Publisher | Ostrich |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | |
| Rights | © NISC Pty Ltd |
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