<strong>Bald Eagles do NOT live up to 70 years and do NOT undergo a painful regeneration process!</strong>

Eagles are among the most feared types of birds of prey, sitting at the top of the food chain, and ruling the skies. Environmentalists and even the general public are often interested in finding facts about these majestic yet mysterious creatures.

Our Factcrescedo team came across viral posts describing an unbelievable regeneration process of bald eagles and their life cycle, however, eagle experts clarified the facts behind the narration to be false. Let's have a look at the claim in detail.

Social Media Posts

We noticed viral social media posts describing an unbelievable fact about a specific eagle type. These posts carrying an image of a white hooded majestic Eagle say that these Eagles have a lifespan of around 70 years. Yet to reach this age, they have to undergo a painful process around their 40^th year, during which the eagle would fly to a mountaintop and knock its beak against a rock until it plucks out. Then once the new beak is grown, these Eagles would pluck out their talons, and once the claws are fully grown eagles would pluck their aged features using them. This regeneration process lasts around five months and allows these Eagles to live 30 more years.

Below is a Facebook post with the entire narrative.

Facebook | Archived

Posts were viral on Facebook.

Fact Check

First, we checked the image associated with the viral posts, and reverse image search results showed that the type of eagle mentioned in these claims relates to bald eagles.

Bald Eagles

The bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is the only eagle solely native to North America and is the national bird of the United States. The bald eagle is a sea eagle (Haliaeetus species) that commonly occurs inland along rivers and large lakes. More details about bald eagles can be found here. Archived.

Below is a short two-minute video about bald eagles.

Here is another video with some interesting yet lesser-known facts about Bald Eagles

Life Span of Bald Eagles

Then, we checked the average life span of bald eagles using various sources. We found out that bald eagles' average life span ranges from around 20-30 years.

Conservation efforts have meant that the average life span of bald eagles has increased, yet the oldest known wild Bald eagle lived only up to 38 years. Even though eagles in captivity can live longer than wild animals, there isn’t any record of a bald eagle living up to 70 years.

Details about bald eagles’ life spans and lifestyles can be read here and here. Archived, Archived & Archived.

Further, we didn't find any evidence of the bizarre regeneration claims given in viral posts related to eagles renewing their body parts like beaks, talons and features etc., in any reputable information source of wildlife.

What Eagle Experts Say:

While speaking with AFP, a few experts claimed that the content of viral social media claims is misleading. Below are the statements of a few experts

Todd Katzner, a wildlife biologist with USGS

"Anything more than a minor injury will result in a beak deformation. Birds absolutely cannot regrow an entire beak. A bird without an intact beak "can't eat normally and must be fed special food. It would die in the wild. Eagle talons are comprised of a bony core with a keratin sheath, and "if the bird loses the bony core, then the keratin won't grow back," "Recovery is possible from a minor injury but not a major one like losing an entire toe/claw.

Heather Huson, a professor of animal science

“I've never heard of eagles tearing out their claws and beaks to extend their lifespan to 70+ years. t wouldn't make sense as those are two essential parts of adaptation for eagles to eat the things they do and survive.”

The related AFP article can be read here. Archived.

Bird Expert from Sri Lanka - Himesh Jayasinghe

Explaining the viral social media narration about bald eagles to be false and misleading, Himesh added that,

“Beak of a bird never grows for the second time. Birds are warm-blooded animals, so they need continuous feeding (except during migration. They develop a special fat layer to get energy. Anyway, this lasts only for about 10-20 days. They Can't stay for long periods). Further, eagles make nests only for breeding purposes, never for roosting.”, Himesh explained.

Follow us and stay up to date with our latest fact checks.

Facebook | Twitter |Instagram | Google News |TikTok

Conclusion

Our investigation found that the viral claims that bald eagles undergo a strange and painful regeneration to live up to 70 years are false and fabricated.

The longest-recorded bald eagle has lived only up to 38 years, and bird experts strongly deny the viral claims and explain that an eagle’s beak never regrows fully. Such self-inflicting damage would only leave the animal to death, as the eagle would not be able to feed for itself.

Also Read Fact Check: This map shows tracking of 20 eagles over ten months period, not a single eagle’s travel path over 20 years!