Eagle murders goat - amazing video

POSTED BY: AURaptor
UPDATED: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 11:44
VIEWED: 4851
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AURAPTOR

Sunday, June 7, 2009 1:51 PM

I say 'murder' because that's exactly what I think is happening here.

Animals, at least eagles, are smarter than most give them credit.

The T.Rex they call JANE!

GOODWOLF

Wednesday, June 10, 2009 1:30 PM

It's only murder in the same way that you commit murder when you eat a steak.

That's a Golden Eagle. And yes, they're very smart. Instead of standing toe to toe and scrapping it out with a much stronger animal, they use ambush tactics to drive them off a cliff.

But I would hardly classify hunting behavior, ie gathering food for survival, as murder.

AURAPTOR

Thursday, June 11, 2009 12:56 AM

Well, 'hunting' certainly isn't murder, not in the animal world. I guess my point is that this eagle thought out,in advance, an alternate way to get food w/ out using its talons or beak. I'm just blown away at that concept.

I don't think most folks realize that animals are smarter than many give them credit.

The T.Rex they call JANE!

GOODWOLF

Thursday, June 11, 2009 1:05 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
Well, 'hunting' certainly isn't murder, not in the animal world. I guess my point is that this eagle thought out,in advance, an alternate way to get food w/ out using its talons or beak. I'm just blown away at that concept.

I don't think most folks realize that animals are smarter than many give them credit.

In the interests of full disclosure, I have worked with these birds, training them for a local bird show. I've studied up a bit on behavioral psychology, but I'm no BF Skinner or anything.

In psych you have a process called "anthropomorphisation" (I think I just sprained my fingers...) which is a five dollar word for applying human behaviors and processes incorrectly to animals.

So yes, it's fair to say that animals are generally smarter than humans give them credit for, but it's not as if they can plan out intricate stuff like this whole cloth. Some birds are known to grab prey, take it high into the air and drop it to it's death, and this is just a slightly more sophisticated way of doing that, only without the tedious and strenuous lifting part. ;) And in all seriousness, that's a huge advantage to any bird that learns it, as every scrap of food is precious.

That, by the way, is an amazing video. Thanks for posting it.

AURAPTOR

Thursday, June 11, 2009 1:23 AM

When I first saw the video , the first part of it, that is, I figured...well, the eagle tried to take off w/ a prey that was bigger than he could fly with ,and simply dropped it to avoid being pulled down. I'm guessing that's how these things happen, unless the bird actually SEES another bird doing it, and puts 2 and 2 together....so to say. I know the monkeys in N. Japan wash their food that way, by watching others, and then passing that behavior down to the next generation.

Back to the eagle clip, later on, there's a scene were the bird flat out takes off w/ the goat, no dropping involved. That's one big ass bird! I guess she just wanted to show everyone she COULD kill the goat " old school ", if she wanted to.

Nature is amazing.

The T.Rex they call JANE!

PIRATENEWS

Thursday, June 11, 2009 2:40 AM

It's my understanding this is the normal way for birds of prey to kill, no matter what size of the animal, unless its a mouse. Normally its a small animal, so easy to gain altitude. Only with large animals does an eagle require a mountain.

In TN the turkey buzzards are as big as eagles. I saw 5 of them eating a deer beside the road. The birds stood over 4 feet tall. Time to lock up the pets. Smaller birds attack them constantly, now I see why.

Turkey buzzard is Hussein Obama's new US mascot

KWICKO

Thursday, June 11, 2009 3:09 AM

In the area of "animals are smarter than we think they are", I heard a story out of Berlin about a week back. Seems there's a chimp at the zoo there who HATES people. Hates the crowds, hates them watching him, just detests people, by all indictors they've studied about the chimp.

Now they have definite evidence of him "preparing for future battle" - he's been observed going around his enclosure before the zoo opens, gathering rocks, and putting them in little piles in strategic locations around his pen. And when the crowds come to ogle him, he starts whipping the rocks at them.

I find this astonishing, that this chimp is able to think and formulate plans like this. I also find it incredibly sad that he feels the need to do so.

Mike

Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day...
Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

"You're a idiot." -AuRaptor, RWED, May 27, 2009.

BORIS

Thursday, June 11, 2009 4:08 AM

I don't think it's murder. The eagle is rather efficiently killing and tenderising its dinner at the same time. Wouldn't it be nice not to have an ethical/emotional attachment to your essential food source? I feel guilty everytime I eat a fish, and I don't eat other meat sources due to a higher level of concern for their pain and suffering. It'd be nice to be an eagle or a cat and not be burdened by such worries.

AURAPTOR

Friday, June 12, 2009 3:12 AM

Eagles and such are one thing, but when it comes to such predators as cats and dogs.... that sometimes does confound me. I mean, by their nature, if given a chance, I suppose they'd eat pretty much any of us, but because we feed them, pet them, play w/ them,etc.... we're off their menu. For now.

As for the eagle, I find the video more interesting when taken into context of how birds and dinosaurs are related. Many of the smaller therapod dinosaurs, like Troodon and, yes.... velociraptors, likely were equally as clever as their flying eagle descendants. True, bird brains are larger in relation to many dinosaurs ( most were actually no larger than a pony ) dinosaurs don't fly , and therefore can use more of their brain for other things, rather than dealing w/ constant streams of data being processed when one has to fly.

The T.Rex they call JANE!

BORIS

Friday, June 12, 2009 4:00 AM

RE: dogs and cats. those that know us won't eat us coz we are family...also we are bigger than them. then again if they were really hungry and nothing else was around.....sometimes I think my cat would eat me if his teeth were bigger. he is constantly chewing on me...or maybe that's related to affection, or oral hygene.

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