Comments on: The Golden Eagle Video Is Fake, But Not For The Reasons Given

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Thu, 27 Apr 2017 17:10:09 +0000

Ken,

Good question.

It is my opinion that the video in question is made up of a combination of real footage and fake footage.

These eagles probably hunt this way, and they (and their monkey-eating giant eagle cousins in Asia, South America, and Africa) are all known to go after prey much larger than they are, etc.

And, an eagle can knock a goat off a rock and exploit that situation.

However, the parts of that scene that show the eagle truly soaring with the goat in the talons are either done at a misleading angle or are faked, because an eagle can not soar with that much weight. Also, the nature of the footage seems different for that least scene. I don’t personally believe it.

So, unfortunately, that film may be a bit of real nature made into a partial lie because of some trickery. I could be wrong, of course.

The part I don’t like is after about 5:15 in the video (later footage may be OK).

I don’t know what to say about what a photographer can get or not get. They are pretty clever, those photographers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz7FFlFy8eM

By: Ken Bryden

Ken Bryden — Thu, 27 Apr 2017 16:23:08 +0000

Dear Greg,
There is a video on YouTube of a huge eagle attacking some type of mountain goat- probably in Europe. Is it faked? I can see an eagle going after a baby goat to chew on, not to lift, but I don’t see how a camera could follow the whole drama.
Please let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Ken

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Thu, 23 Mar 2017 17:49:20 +0000

In reply to William Benner. William, do read the post.

By: William Benner

William Benner — Thu, 23 Mar 2017 17:02:04 +0000

This is all just CG..(computer generated). That bird is NOT a golden eagle, and is totally fake. Nice try, by the hoaxer though, but no cigar.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 13:51:24 +0000

I disagree with your analysis. If the video is fake it is a gem. My guess is you actually know very little about eagles or raptors, or cameras and making videos. It is a cell phone video. And the fact is nobody knows how old the kid is, or how much he or she weighed at the time. The weight of the child is likely the reason the eagle dropped it. The shadows of both the eagle and the child seem to be right in all ways, even has the wing beats seen in shadow. The sudden turn and dive is also correct. Who would pick up a kid and drop them just to fake a video? Sorry, but Ithink you’re the one in error.

By: Sylvester B

Sylvester B — Fri, 03 Jan 2014 16:21:05 +0000

Anyone wonder why flying low over the water was helpful in carrying the heavy fish? It is a phenomenon called “ground effect”, which applies to airplanes as well as birds. Even model airplanes, as I can attest. I once had an engine that went sour shortly after starting a takeoff run…it had enough power to traverse the runway but not enough to rise above the trees at the end!

By: Pam Haessler

Pam Haessler — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 00:03:32 +0000

For ways a golden eagle can get a mountain goat off a cliff, see this video shot in Spain by a documentary film maker…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XafAdkZIYKA The whole snatched a toddler thing is horrific to imagine, shades of Hitchcock’s The Birds, but not plausible. That being said when my cat goes up on the roof and he’s 10 plus pounds, I keep an eye out for eagles, they love cats.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 15:47:13 +0000

Alan, good point, but you have to re-ask that question with proper reference to phylogeny and to the reasons something like this might be true. Carnivora (the order of mammals) may rarely eat each other, or more exactly, rarely kill each other for food for a number of reasons. One, it is dangerous, two , most mammal carnivores specialize to some degree, quite often to a great degree, three, there is a general danger of pathogens eating fellow carnivores, and four, there is a specific danger of eating things that are high on the food chain. Having said that, most of the people in Uganda (the only study I know of) that are killed by a non human animal are a) killed by a lion and b) eaten by the lion.

Humans are not Carnivora. They are primates. Large predacious birds and mammalian carnivores eat primates all the time.

By: Alan

Alan — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 08:41:28 +0000

“The idea that a predator won’t eat a human because of some mystical exceptional property of humans (including taste) is wishful thinking.”

There is some truth to this bit of “mysticism”, mammalian predators don’t normally eat other mammalian predators, they do however attempt to kill off the competition. eg: Lions and Hyenas kill but rarely eat other, humans kill but rarely eat mammalian predators such as big cats, wolves, bears, fox, etc. Bears that eat people usually do so just before hibernation and are usually old and malnourished.
One notable exception is the polar bear, even healthy adults will stalk a lone human,

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 07:46:05 +0000

For those who believe Golden Eagles can’t lift something the size of a child all you need to do is watch footage (on YouTube or other video sites) regarding eagles hunting wolves, mountain goats etc.