Golden Eagle Vs Siberian Wolf

Soaring from its master’s arm, the mighty bird wheels high overhead, then dives like an arrow from the apex of its arc. On the plain floor, the lone wolf glances back while continuing its faltering trot onwards. Without warning, the giant raptor appears out of the sky, hitting its target at high velocity while clawing and raking with razor-sharp talons. The wolf bites back at its far more lightweight attacker and for a brief instant the bird of prey appears prone – but in an instant, it lunges back at its canine quarry, fixing it in an iron grip. The wolf struggles for a few seconds. Then it lies still.

Predators will turn prey: Wolves baiting a bison seen from the air
Almost everywhere they roam, wolves are alpha predators. Even the brown bear will begrudgingly share territory and kills with wolf packs; only tigers can drive them away in the wild. A wolf can weigh more than 85 lbs and grow to over 6 feet, but in the golden eagle this formidable canine finds its match. Trained to track and kill by the Mongolian Kazakhs and Kyrgyzstanis of the Central Asian plains, the golden eagle is a fearful foe for wolves and foxes. These hapless animals are hunted for their fur pelts or to control the numbers that prey on the indigenous people’s livestock.

Trained to kill: A golden eagle with an eagle hunter
Weighing up to 15 lbs but with a wingspan reaching 7 feet, golden eagles are avian apex predators, ruling the skies over territories as large as 60 square miles. For the people of the steppes of Central Asia, training these awesome creatures is considered a high art; a tradition stretching back thousands of years whose secrets have been passed down through the generations. Training a golden eagle takes remarkable skill, toughness and patience. The bird’s brute size, bone-crushing talons and beak, and the potential danger it presents make it a formidable charge.
Assailant from the air: A golden eagle pounces on a chained wolf cub
Many might see eagle hunting as a cruel sport – an example of man’s interference with nature, since untrained eagles would rarely if ever attack wolves in the wild. Yet as a species, wolves are not yet endangered, listed as of least concern by the IUCN. And though eagle chicks have traditionally been taken from their nests to be trained as hunting birds, under new legislation this practice is meant to be strictly regulated. Conservation and animal rights issues will inevitably hover over this practice.

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Scary moment an eagle launches a mid-air attack on a swan more than twice its size

This is the moment when an unsuspecting swan is ferociously attacked in mid-flight by an eagle who is half its size.

The adult trumpeter swan was flying over a river when the bald eagle swooped out of nowhere bearing its talons.

The eagle, with its massive two metre-wide wings outstretched, landed on the swan.



But remarkably after a five second struggle the plucky swan escaped the eagle's clutches and managed to fly down to the water.

Smarting from its defeat the eagle, with its distinctive dark brown and white feathers, headed for some nearby trees.

The stunning spectacle was captured by an amateur photographer Kelly Munday.

The mum-of-two was watching the swan fly with a mate over the Lakelse River, in Terrace, British Columbia, when the eagle attacked.



She said: 'I was photographing the swans when the bald eagle came out of nowhere and attacked one of them.

'They struggled for about five seconds and then the swan broke free, flew down to the water and seemed to be fine.

'It was a spectacular few seconds and I was lucky enough to capture it.'

The bald eagle normally eats smaller prey such as seagulls and fish but is known for its opportunist nature.

Grahame Madge, a conservation spokesman for the RSPB, said: 'The bald eagle, America's national symbol, is often believed to be a supreme predator.

'However, these 'magnificent' birds are usually happiest feeding on fish or scavenging for carrion along the tideline.

'It was clearly an ambitious bird if it felt able to take on a bird the size of a trumpeter swan - one of the few birds even larger than a bald eagle.'

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