Bald eagles have made a great comeback in the last 50 years, with an estimated 100,000 now living throughout North America. Its close Asian cousin, Steller’s sea eagle, has not been so lucky. Fewer than 5,000 birds survive, and the number is thought to be declining.
Both birds share a similar diet, habitat, and breeding habits. So why is the bald eagle doing so well when the Steller’s sea eagle is in serious trouble?
When the little blue pill was introduced in the Asian market, it destroyed the traditional-medicine aphrodisiac trade almost overnight. Among the aphrodisiacs employed by Asian men was the dried gallbladder of the brown bear. Poachers no longer found it profitable to kill brown bears, resulting in an increase in the juvenile brown bear population. Juvenile brown bears have not yet grown too big to climb trees, where they prey on Steller’s sea eagle nests, limiting the breeding success of the Steller’s population.
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