14 DAY TRIAL // Siberian tigers are pretty amazing predators, and one would do well to avoid coming too close to one of them. Still, it turns out that these felines aren't the only fierce killers that currently inhabit the Russian Far East.
On the contrary, golden eagles are also pretty scary. And a young sika deer recently learned this the hard way.
Long story short, a camera trap set up in this part of the world snapped a picture of a golden eagle attacking and killing one such herbivore.
Wildlife researchers found the deer's carcass close to the camera trap some two weeks after the animal had died, and it took them a while to figure out what had happened.
“I saw the deer carcass first as I approached the trap on a routine check to switch out memory cards and change batteries, but something felt wrong about it. There were no large carnivore tracks in the snow, and it looked like the deer had been running and then just stopped and died.”
“It was only after we got back to camp that I checked the images from the camera and pieced everything together. I couldn't believe what I was seeing,” Dr. Linda Kerley said, as cited by EurekAlert.
Although golden eagles are known to be gifted predators, most people believe they settle for hunting rabbits and other small animals. However, it appears that they do not shy away from taking down slightly larger prey if and when opportunity presents itself.