Few visitors at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center in Quezon City realize that whenever they see Girlie, they are looking at a living chapter of Philippine conservation history.
Girlie, estimated to be 45–46 years old, is believed to be the oldest living Philippine eagle. She has been living by herself in a caged sanctuary since 2009, instead of a rainforest that spans thousands of hectares.
The Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) says Girlie is Metro Manila’s only resident Philippine eagle. She is the closest thing to the country’s national bird that many Filipinos could ever encounter.
At the opening of Philippine Eagle Week last June 24, she was awarded symbolic senior citizen and PWD identification cards in recognition of both her longevity and resilience.
The Philippine eagle is one of the largest eagles in the world. Endemic to the country’s forests, it can grow up to 1 meter in length and have a wingspan reaching about 2 meters.
It is recognizable by its distinctive shaggy crest and large, powerful hooked beak. Females are typically larger than males, weighing between 6 kg and 8 kg; males weigh 4.5 kg to 6 kg.
Girlie was rescued in 1982 in Bukidnon, where she was found with injuries, including one inflicted by a slingshot that blinded her right eye. With a dysfunctional wing, she could only hop from branch to branch or make short flights—a dangerous handicap in the wild.
According to PEF, she had survived captivity under poor conditions before wildlife authorities intervened. They deemed her permanently non-releasable due to her grave injuries and believed she would probably not survive if returned to the forest.
Girlie’s caretaker told CoverStory.ph in an interview that she has adapted well and gets around her sanctuary with ease. Her guardians also recognize her habits: tilting her head to the left whenever movement stirs around her, and swaying it sideways while perched, watching visitors pass by. These gestures, they say, are simply the eagle’s way of taking in the world around her.
Girlie’s story did not end with her rescue. She was paired with a male eagle named Tsai as part of a pioneering captive-breeding initiative for Philippine eagles. She laid the first fertile egg ever recorded in the history of the breeding program in December 1987.
The egg, unfortunately, failed to hatch, but the milestone demonstrated that captive breeding was possible for one of the world’s rarest and most difficult raptors to conserve.
“Although she did not breed again after that, Girlie became one of the most charismatic ambassador eagles of her species,” said Jayson Ibañez, PEF director of operations. “She inspired conservation awareness and helped demonstrate that even injured and rescued eagles can still play an important role in saving their species.”
But for all the attention Girlie’s plight received, her story points to a more serious reality.
Extraordinary space
In the wild, a Philippine eagle requires an extraordinarily large area to move around. Breeding adults may need 4,000–11,000 hectares of rainforest to thrive, depending on the prey population.
Protecting the species entails the protection of the entire forest ecosystem, which is one of the biggest challenges for conservationists.
Classified as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the Philippine eagle is native only to the Philippines. It has been sighted across extensive forest areas in Luzon, Samar, Leyte, and Mindanao.
According to a research article published by the Zoological Society of London in 2023, the Philippine eagle’s estimated area of habitat—the territory considered suitable for the species—covers approximately 28,624 square kilometers, or about 2.86 million hectares.
Based on the territory required by breeding adults, the researchers said this habitat could potentially support around 392 breeding pairs, although they emphasized that this number represented a habitat-based estimate rather than an actual count of the current population.
The importance of the Philippine eagle cannot be quantified by population numbers alone. The species plays an outsized role in the ecosystem it inhabits. Whether it declines or thrives will affect far more than a single bird.
As an apex predator, the Philippine eagle sits at the top of the food web, feeding on flying lemurs, civets, monkeys, reptiles, and other (smaller) animals. Ecologists have long recognized that a decline in top predators can trigger cascading effects throughout ecosystems, altering prey populations and disrupting ecological balance.
The Philippine eagle was first described scientifically in 1896 after British explorer and naturalist John Whitehead encountered the bird in the forests of Samar. British ornithologist William Robert Ogilvie-Grant later formally assigned it the scientific name Pithecophaga jefferyi.
The genus name Pithecophaga comes from the Greek words “pithekos” (meaning monkey) and “phagein” (to eat), meaning “monkey-eater,” based on reports and observations that the eagle preyed on monkeys. The species name jefferyi honored Whitehead’s father, Jeffery Whitehead, who financed many of his son’s expeditions.
Over the years, research found that the “monkey-eating eagle” hunted a much broader range of prey. Recognizing that the old name did not accurately represent the eagle’s diet and to emphasize its status as a uniquely Filipino species, then President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. issued Proclamation No. 1732 in 1978, officially adopting “Philippine eagle.”
The proclamation also underscored the bird’s role as a national symbol and one of the country’s most important conservation icons whose image is found on the new ₱1,000 bill.
A hidden genetic crisis
Because of the vast habitat it requires, the Philippine eagle is also considered an “umbrella species”—whose protection indirectly safeguards many other organisms sharing the same habitat.
This role is particularly significant for the Philippines as one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. Thousands of species found nowhere else on Earth depend on the country’s forests, but these ecosystems are threatened by land conversion, infrastructure development, resource extraction and habitat fragmentation.
As forests shrink and become fragmented, Philippine eagle populations are increasingly isolated, reducing opportunities for gene flow and genetic exchange among breeding individuals.
A 2025 genomic study led by Cynthia Saloma of the National Institute for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology of the University of the Philippines Diliman found that the species possesses one of the lowest levels of genetic diversity.
This means that individual birds are highly similar to one another and share nearly the same set of genes.
“The danger is that when there’s little variation, the species struggles to adapt to changes. For example, if a new disease appears or the environment shifts, most eagles would react the same way and have the same capacity to adapt—and if they’re vulnerable, the whole population could be wiped out,” the study noted.
The findings point to a less visible conservation challenge. While habitat loss and hunting are easier to observe, genetic erosion can quietly reduce a species’ ability to adapt to future threats.
The study also suggests that the Philippine eagle population was already declining before widespread deforestation. One possible explanation is long-term ecological changes, such as the loss of connected habitats when sea levels rose thousands of years ago.
“Conservation efforts must extend beyond short-term demographic recovery to ensure both genetic resilience and long-term persistence,” it said.
Genetic diversity is often described as the raw material of adaptation. Populations with greater genetic variation are generally better equipped to respond to diseases, environmental change, and other emerging threats. When genetic diversity declines, species may become more vulnerable even when population size appears stable or starts to recover.
Habitat needs
For conservationists, the implications are significant. Large, connected forests do more than provide nesting sites and hunting grounds; they help maintain the genetic exchange necessary for populations to remain healthy over time.
Conserving the eagle also benefits far more than the eagle itself. Forests that sustain Philippine eagles regulate water supplies, reduce soil erosion, store carbon, and provide habitat for thousands of other species.
Protecting eagle habitat safeguards watersheds, strengthens climate resilience, and helps preserve the ecological systems upon which communities depend.
Girlie’s cage occupies only a minuscule fraction of the territory a wild eagle would require. Though her life tells a story of survival, rescue, and conservation, it also serves as a reminder that the future of her species will not be decided within the confines of a wildlife center.
Environment Secretary Juan Miguel Cuna described Girlie as “a bridge between the remote, difficult work of field conservation and the urban public whose votes and attention can determine policy.” In a country where many eagle habitats lie far from major cities, that connection may be critical for sustaining public support for conservation.
“Girlie is more than a resident of a city park; she is a living reminder of our shared responsibility,” Cuna said. CS
K Cleto, a third-year journalism student at the University of the Philippines’ College of Media and Communication in Diliman, is an intern at CoverStory.ph.
