American Bald Eagle vs Choke

Haliaeetus leucocephalus compared with Epichloe typhina

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	American Bald Eagle	Choke
Kingdom	Animalia (प्राणी)	Fungi (फफूंद)
Phylum	Chordata (रज्जुकी)	Ascomycota (पुट कवक)
Class	Aves (पक्षी)	Sordariomycetes (Sordariomycetes)
Order	Accipitriformes (ऐकीपिट्रीफ़ोर्मीस)	Hypocreales (Hypocreales)
Family	Accipitridae (Hawks & Eagles)	Clavicipitaceae
Genus	Haliaeetus (Sea Eagles)	Epichloe
Species	Haliaeetus leucocephalus	Epichloe typhina

Conservation Status

American Bald Eagle

NE — Not Evaluated

Population: ~316.7K

Trend: Increasing ↑

Choke

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	American Bald Eagle	Choke
Diet	Carnivore	—
Average Lifespan	28 years	—
Average Length	90 cm	—
Average Weight	5.0 kg	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

American Bald Eagle

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, and flooded grasslands and savannas, among 10 distinct biome types spanning the Neotropic and Palearctic realms. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Europe (8 countries), North America (United States), and South America (Ecuador).

Choke

Habitat

Native to North America, inhabiting ecosystems characteristic of the region.

Range

Found in United States.

American Bald Eagle

The national bird of the United States and a symbol of American conservation success, bald eagles have a wingspan of up to 2.4 meters and inhabit forests and wetlands near open water across North America. Powerful aerial predators and scavengers, they specialize in fish but also take waterfowl and carrion. Nearly extinct by the 1960s due to DDT poisoning and hunting, the bald eagle recovered dramatically following pesticide bans and the Endangered Species Act.

Choke

Choke (Epichloe typhina) is an endophytic and pathogenic fungus in the family Clavicipitaceae, phylum Ascomycota, that colonises the tissues of various cool-season grasses (Poaceae) across Europe and North America. The name refers to the disease it causes — infected grass tillers are typically 'choked' (prevented from flowering) when the fungus produces a dense, white to cream-coloured, stromata (a compact fungal structure) that surrounds the flowering stem before it can emerge, suppressing seed production. Epichloe species exist along a mutualism-parasitism continuum; some strains are biotrophic endophytes living almost entirely within grass tissues without obvious symptoms and conferring benefits to the host such as increased drought resistance and deterrence of herbivores through alkaloid production, while others — including E. typhina — are more parasitic in nature, sterilising infected host tillers. The fungus spreads via airborne ascospores produced on its stroma that infect new host plants. Related Epichloe/Neotyphodium endophytes are of great practical importance to agriculture as they produce ergot alkaloids and other compounds that can cause toxicosis in livestock grazing infected pasture grasses. As a fungal pathogen/endophyte rather than a wildlife species, it is Not Evaluated by the IUCN.