Eagle vs Deer: Rare Images Caught on Camera

A camera trap in the forest of the Russian Far East captured rare and surprising images of a golden eagle attacking a young sika deer. Golden eagles are not known to attack deer, but the image of the bird latched on to the deer's back and bringing it down to the snowy ground is as clear as it is puzzling. The eagle's attack was successful, researchers later found the deer's carcass a few yards away from the camera trap. "I've been assessing deer causes of death in Russia for 18 years -- this is the first time I've seen anything like this," said Linda Kerley of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), who found the images so compelling that she co-authored a paper on the attack in the Journal of Raptor Research. But Jonathan Slaght of the Wildlife Conservation Society and Kerely's study co-author, said golden eagles have a well-documented history of eyebrow-raising predation attempts. "The scientific literature is full of references to golden eagle attacks on different animals from around the world, from things as small as rabbits -- their regular prey -- to coyote and deer, and even one record in 2004 of an eagle taking a brown bear cub," Slaght said...more

In a series of three images over the course of just seconds, a camera trap in the Russian Far East photographed a golden eagle attacking a sika deer.

(Photo:Linda Kerley, Zoological Society of London (ZSL))

(Photo:Linda Kerley, Zoological Society of London (ZSL))

(Photo:Linda Kerley, Zoological Society of London (ZSL))