rising@zoo.toronto.edu (Jim Rising) (09/14/90)
I've looked up info. in the dietary habits of the Golden Eagle in the "Handbook of North American Birds," vol. 5 (ed. R. S. Palmer, 1988, that may be of some general interest. Apparently Golden Eagles do est lambs and kids, fairly frequently in some populations, but it thought that they rarely attack lambs more than 7-10 days old. Records are difficult to assess because they do eat carrion. In the summary under FOOD, I quote (with parenthetical material removed): "Goldens have been reported to prey on full-grown deer, but doubt remains that deer can be killed (as by eagles hunting cooperatively) unless already injured or otherwise handicapped. A "good-sized" blacktail was reportedly killed in Mont.; a 4-point whitetail in Ariz. foundered in deep snow, was attacked, succumbed, and was dragged downhill where 3 eagles fed on it. Deer fawns are taken with some frequency in certain places. In sw. Yukon, the capture of several Dall's sheep lambs was observed; there was a scarcity of usual prey. The evidence for taking pronghorns, especially small fawns, is solid, but evidence from eagle digestive tracts-- of this as well as other species--could pertain to carrion. Grown pronghorns are more likely to become victims in severe winters. Five Goldens fed on a female pronghorn killed by 1 or more of them. Two cooperated in killing an elk calf. There is insignificant predation on young caribou, highorns, and mountain goats; young eagles sometimes harass them, possibly a form of play." I was one who guessed Golden Eagle on the trivia test (had heard of the kea but couldn't remember the name). Apparently they do not kill full grown sheep, although on the basis of what I've quoted above it would seem a possibility in certain circumstances. -- Name: Jim Rising Mail: Dept. Zoology, Univ. Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A1 UUCP: uunet!attcan!utzoo!rising BITNET: rising@zoo.utoronto.ca
bob@delphi.uchicago.edu (Robert S. Lewis, Jr.) (09/18/90)
I read somewhere that in Russia noblemen used to hunt wolves with golden eagles. Anyone know if this is true? I imagine a full-grown wolf is as difficult to kill as a sheep.... Rob Lewis
john@nmt.edu (John Shipman) (09/19/90)
Robert S. Lewis, Jr. (bob@delphi.UUCP) writes: +-- | I read somewhere that in Russia noblemen used to hunt | wolves with golden eagles. Anyone know if this is true? | I imagine a full-grown wolf is as difficult to kill as a | sheep.... +-- I don't know about Russian noblemen, but the Mongols used to train golden eagles specifically to kill wolves from horseback. They used a special perch that attached to their saddles and propped up their arms---this took the bird's weight off the rider's arm (try holding a 25-pound weight with your arm straight out for a few hours!). It also allowed the rider to catapult-launch the eagle by swinging their arm forward, helping the eagle to get to flight speed quickly. Based on what I've heard, the eagles were pretty successful at killing wolves. The eagle would plant its feet on the wolf's neck and break its spine. The legs and feet of eagles are quite strong. -- John Shipman/Zoological Data Processing/Socorro, NM/john@jupiter.nmt.edu ``Let's go outside and commiserate with nature.'' --Dave Farber
teexmmo@ioe.lon.ac.uk (Matthew Moore) (09/20/90)
(Robert S. Lewis, Jr.) writes: >I read somewhere that in Russia noblemen used to hunt wolves with >golden eagles. Anyone know if this is true? I imagine a full-grown >wolf is as difficult to kill as a sheep.... > Sheep are much harder to kill 'cos you have to make sure they dont bite!