Nature strikes again. In Russia, a camera was placed in the wild to take snaps of untainted nature. Though the camera was originally intended to capture pictures of tigers, another unusual predator was captured instead. The camera took a series of images depicting a golden eagle attacking a young sika deer.
Linda Kerley of the Zoological Society of London and Jonathan Slaght of the Wildlife Conservation Society had hoped to see a rare glimpse into the daily habits of Siberian tigers when the camera caught the adult golden eagle attacking the young deer. In December of 2011, the camera took the series of images, which included three pictures during the span of just 2 seconds. Full size adult golden eagles can weigh up to 14 pounds; however, the baby deer was estimated to be somewhere in the range of 90 to 100 pounds. Though smaller in bodily frame, the eagles have powerful talons and beaks, which make them formidable predators.
The following video includes stills from the golden eagle’s attack.
Two weeks after the attack, Linda Kerley went to check on the equipment and monitor the camera. She noticed that the carcass of the deer, that was partially skeletal, had dropped in the exact same place of the attack. The placement and remains of the deer led researchers to assume that other carnivores had traveled in the vicinity. The following image shows the remains of the deer’s leg.
The researchers have stated that golden eagles do not typically attack deer, and there is no reason to suspect that the overall deer population will suffer from such attacks. However, there is no doubt that eagles are predators. Various types of eagles have been known to not only attack deer, but other land-dwelling creatures as well with some of these mammals being predators themselves. Other animal victims have included wolves, foxes, bears, and mountain goats to name a few. The following video shows pictures of some of the other types of attacks in nature that people have captured eagles attacking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GoEalfyMqM
[Image And Videos Via YouTube]