Earlier this year, we shared a video showing the brutal scene of a golden eagle eating a pronghorn antelope alive. Well, this video reminds me of that — except it’s even rowdier. It shows a golden eagle attempting to take down a healthy mountain goat.
There’s not much information about the video, except that it was posted to YouTube by Untold Nature in 2020. The footage appears to be taken by a drone. The sequence begins by showing a golden eagle leaping from a cliff and soaring toward a herd of chamois mountain goats, which are found in mountainous parts of Europe. The eagle seems to focus on a pair of goats. It lands on the ground, then jumps on one of the goats and sinks its talons into its neck.
What happens next is outright mayhem. The goat jumps and runs, trying to free itself from the bird, while the eagle rides on its back as though the goat is a bucking bronco. Then, the goat begins to tumble down the mountainside, thrashing the eagle against the ground as it does so. The eagle manages to hang on for an impressive amount of time until finally, a hard hit against the ground knocks it free and the goat runs off. One of the goat’s buddies seems to give the downed eagle a stomp for good measure before the video ends. See it for yourself below.
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Overall, the hunting attempt seems pretty brazen for the eagle — but golden eagles are known to be one of the fiercest birds of prey on the planet. According to the National Audubon Society, golden eagles are widely dispersed across the northern hemisphere. They are about the same size as bald eagles but are known to regularly take down prey as big as foxes and cranes. In this case, though, the eagle tried to bite off a bit more than it could chew.
