Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called 
Last weekend my wife, one of my daughters, my wife's parents, and I went over to Alton and Grafton to watch the eagles. We saw quite a few bald eagles and a small smattering of golden eagles. Although I have seen both species on TV any number of times, nothing beats seeing them in the wild. We saw quite a few perched in trees along the bluffs overlooking the river and quite a few more out on the river itself (which was mostly frozen that weekend). The eagle that flew over our car (at a height of about 50 feet) on it's way to the river was quite impressive (and big - makes this more believable). It was very enjoyable. However, there are some sick bastards out there:
Investigators are offering a reward for information about the killing of two bald eagles found this month in St. Charles County and Calhoun County, Ill.Authorities say a mutilated and decapitated bald eagle carcass was found Jan. 10 along Highway 67 at the foot of the Clark Bridge near West Alton in St. Charles County. The eagle's feet and tail feathers had been cut off.
A second dead bald eagle was found fatally shot Jan. 17 along Degerlia Hollow Road near Hardin, Ill., authorities say.
Jason Bak, a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in Springfield, Ill., said investigators have no evidence to suggest the two dead eagles were killed by the same person or people.
Bak said it is "a little rare" to find two carcasses in the same area within a week.
FYI:
The wildlife service is offering a $1,000 reward. Anyone with information about the eagle deaths is asked to call 217-793-9554 or a tips hotline at 800-236-7529.
I hope they catch the people responsible...
Humanities & Social Science
Comments
It's a pretty good chance it was the same person and they were probably after the tail feathers which are very valuable.
Posted by: Doug Alder | January 31, 2009 12:32 PM
Valuable to criminals, that is.
Posted by: Dave X | January 31, 2009 12:44 PM
Possession of the feathers is a felony, isn't it?
Posted by: Mike Haubrich, FCD | January 31, 2009 9:02 PM
The local bird sancuary forbids you to even pick up feathers that their resident eagles lose. Posessing eagle feathers is a felony.
Posted by: Ruth | January 31, 2009 10:12 PM
I think the laws about possessing eagle feathers is kind of complicated, because some Native American people have or use eagle feathers in certain ceremonies. The problem is, that some of these have been passed down from generation to generation. But OTOH, there still seems to be some eagle killing going on, and some of it is by Native Americans who are trying to collect more feathers for these kinds of ceremonies. Which is indeed illegal. Whether the people who killed the eagles in your area were Native Americans, there's no way of telling. But I hope the law catches them, so we can find out. And prosecutes them, whatever their origin.
Anne G
Posted by: Anne Gilbert | February 1, 2009 1:33 AM
Respsonding to Afarensis going to see eagles (not the killing of the eagles), it probably was not a common activity for that hominim (Early man more wary than war-like, new book asserts)
Posted by: P | February 1, 2009 5:57 AM
stop trying to deny evolution
Posted by: zombie_bot | February 1, 2009 7:16 AM
I hope your eagle watching in Alton wasn't ruined by our amazingly distracting casino...
Posted by: moneduloides | February 1, 2009 11:23 AM
Fortunately no...
Posted by: afarensis, FCD | February 1, 2009 11:29 AM
We're very fortunate, where we live we see quite regularly, Eagles (golden), Falcons, and Hawks. We often see them perched on power and telephone polls. Quite beautiful, but you don't want to let your cat or small dog out. :o(
Posted by: dogmeatib | February 1, 2009 5:36 PM
Alton has a casino, now?
gaah - I haven't been back for quite some time
fusilier, born there when Truman was President
James 2:24
Posted by: fusilier | February 2, 2009 8:32 AM
Alton has had a casino for close to 20 years. The St. Louis Area has at least 5 casinos that I can think of.
The place we keep our boat is called Eagle's Landing and for good reason. I have seen as many as half a dozen bald eagles pearching on the trees there at one time. They are amazing birds.
Posted by: No One Of Consequence | February 2, 2009 8:38 AM