- Who
- South Nicobar serpent eagle Spilornis klossi
- What
- 450 gram(s)
- Where
- India ()
- When
The world's smallest species of eagle is the South Nicobar serpent eagle Spilornis klossi, which weighs a mere 450 g and is only 40 cm long – little larger than a female sparrowhawk. It is found only in forests on the island of Great Nicobar, which is the largest member of India's Nicobar island group, located north of the very large Indonesian island of Sumatra.
This little-known species is categorized by the IUCN as Near Threatened, and was not formally described and named until 1902, when it was named in honour of English zoologist Cecil B. Kloss. For some time it was deemed to be merely a subspecies of the crested serpent eagle S. cheela, but it is now recognized as a full, valid species in its own right.
