With a body resembling the Peregrine Falcon, often preying on lions, and still not discovered by humans to this day.
If the ocean is the paradise of fish, then the sky is the domain of eagles, Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu once praised in 'Painting an Eagle': 'Pale and frosty, the wind and frost rise, the eagle is a fine painting indeed.' The eagle is agile in its movements, soaring frequently with the momentum of wind and thunder, and when it attacks prey, it creates a terrifying and mesmerizing spectacle. 600,000 years ago, there was an old eagle on Earth, with a body size comparable to a Cessna 152 light aircraft; lions were its prey, and it has not been discovered by humans to this day.
Argentine Giant Eagle, living 600,000 years ago in the Late Miocene, stands 2 meters tall, weighs about 70 kilograms, and its wingspan is 5.8-7 meters, which can reach up to 14 meters, comparable to a small aircraft. The Argentine Giant Eagle's hooked beak is characteristic of carnivorous birds, and its skull structure indicates that when it hunts, it generally swallows the prey whole, without chewing it.
However, the Argentine Giant Eagle's jawbones are not as strong as imagined, meaning it cannot easily tear apart the bodies of large animals; small animals on the grassland are its true prey. Nevertheless, the Argentine Giant Eagle is a 'lazybones', despite its strong predation ability, it doesn't like to exert itself, and decaying animal corpses are its favorite.
Often, when the Argentine Giant Eagle is extremely hungry, it will target lions that have been injured in battle. If it seizes the opportunity, it will launch an attack from the air without hesitation to secure a decisive victory. However, because the Argentine Giant Eagle's body is too large, flying is very difficult for it, so when it flies in the sky, it can only glide, and if it flaps its huge wings, it may cause flight obstacles.
Scientific research shows that the Argentine Giant Eagle has not been discovered by humans to this day, and this is partly due to its strength, which leads to slow reproduction, taking about 1-2 years to produce 1-2 eggs. Argentine Giant Eagle chicks need 16 months to become independent, but without predation ability, they still need their parents to take care of them until they mature in 10 years. Surprisingly, the Argentine Giant Eagle's lifespan is not short, 50 years is normal, and living to 100 years is not a problem.
The Pampas is the main habitat of the Argentine Giant Eagle, not because of other reasons, but because it must rely on the rising warm currents of the Pampas to fly into the sky. As a prehistoric giant bird, the Argentine Giant Eagle's weight is a major obstacle to flight; there is not enough lift on the ground to send it into the sky; without the rising warm currents, it can only stay on the ground. When it comes to large birds living on the ground, ostriches are definitely a good hand; in long-term evolution, it abandoned its survival wings and instead began to exercise its leg muscles, ultimately becoming a bird that is good at running.
However, although the Argentine Giant Eagle has solved the problem of take-off, the problem of landing still perplexes scientists. When the Argentine Giant Eagle descends from the sky, it is like a giant shell, and if the momentum is too large, its legs will be wasted, which is unimaginable how it lands. Some scientists think the Argentine Giant Eagle's landing method may be similar to a parachute; it lifts its wings and falls slowly until the impact force is reduced to a level that its legs can bear.
