Owner Comments:
In the Golden Eagle (species name Aquila chrysaetos), we once again have a formidable predator among modern theropods. These dark brown eagles can grow to over 3 feet in length with a wingspan of almost 8 feet and a weight between 8 and 20 pounds. They are one of the most familiar, common and best known raptors in the Northern Hemisphere. This eagle ranges across most of the Holarctic if visiting and breeding ranges are considered.
In all ecosystems the Golden Eagle calls home, it is a formidable and preeminent apex predator. It is a generalist feeder, generally consuming any animal that it can bring down. Its prey can range in size and content from hares and squirrels up to deer, wolves and other hoofed mammals and canids. As far as animals that prey upon it, there really are none, though in parts of its Asian range, Golden Eagles often fight with Steller's Sea Eagles over prey and territory. Rarely, these fights can be fatal for one or both combatants. While the coin pictures a decent depiction of a Golden Eagle, that depiction is out of scale as most snakes would be tiny compared to the size of the bird. Further, the Golden Eagle is a Northern Hemisphere animal. The possibility of it meeting a snake that would make the coin's depiction in scale, such as a python or boa constrictor, is very unlikely. Most snakes that a Golden Eagle would encounter wouldn't make much of a meal for it and it's unlikely that one would waste its time hunting such a snake unless food was very scarce. Though it is a generalist predator, mammals are the Golden Eagle's preferred prey.
The Golden Eagle's hunting technique is quite amazing and has taught us much about how its closest extinct theropod relatives may have hunted. It also shows their high intelligence. Golden Eagles soar and scan the ground, seeking potential prey animals. Once the eagle finds a good potential prey item, it swoops down at the animal, often herding the animal using strategic advances and retreats so that the prey animal thinks it has a real chance to escape the eagle. The eagle uses this technique to move the prey animal to an ideal spot for the eagle to make the final death blow.....a strike on the neck and shoulder region of the prey animal with its massively strong feet, which each have four talons which can be up to two and a half inches long. Smaller prey animals, such as hares and squirrels, die almost instantly from one strike. Large prey items require a slightly different approach. When taking down a prey animal like a deer or a wolf, the Golden Eagle does what is called prey-riding. The eagle literally rides the prey animal, flapping its wings for stability, while continuing to dig its talons deeper into the prey until it causes paralysis by breaking the spine or death due to blood loss or organ failure. Smaller prey are typically swallowed whole while the eagle (or eagles if it is a mated pair or a pair cooperatively hunting) will strip the flesh from larger prey, leaving little aside from a bloody skeleton. Golden Eagles are also very adaptable when it comes to hunting strategies. They have been observed hunting in pairs or groups to tackle larger prey and herding larger prey animals toward cliffs, allowing the fall to do much of the work for them. They have even been videotaped dragging mountain goats off of cliffs directly and killing them that way.
The hunting technique of Golden Eagles has changed the way that paleontologists hypothesize that dromaeosaurs and extinct avialans hunted. Most of the extinct dinosaurs in those groups had large retractable talons on the second toes, which were assumed to be slashing weapons for many years. The realization that birds are dinosaurs has changed that view. The view now held is that these extinct dinosaurs hunted in a similar way to Golden Eagles, swooping on the prey if they could fly and jumping on it if they were flightless, and the large claw was used to prey-ride the prey animal in a manner similar to that still used by the Golden Eagle while flapping their wings for stability. It is further theorized that this prey-riding by early feathered theropods who could not fly may have been an essential step in the evolution of flight among dinosaurs.
The Golden Eagle isn't all blood-soaked genius dinosaur inflicted animal murder. It has a complex family life. Golden Eagles mate for life, with a matriarchal social structure. Upon reaching maturity at about 5 years, golden eagles choose their mates. Males undertake courtship displays and are either accepted or rejected by the female. If there are no other interested females, there is no violence involved. If there is a dispute between females over a male, there can be violent battles. This is the time of greatest mortality risk for female golden eagles. Golden Eagles typically have one or two chicks and are devoted parents. They see to their chicks' every need and defend them ferociously from any and all threats. Typically, two chicks can and do co-exist with one another, but there are incidences of siblicide if the older chick is female, though it is rare compared to siblicide in other bird species. Male chicks are rarely siblicidal. The young are born white, fuzzy and helpless. They begin to fledge at about 25 days old, with brown and white feathers replacing the down, this process is completed at around 75 days old. The white feathers are slowly replaced by more brown feathers as Golden Eagles mature. At around 80 days after completing fledging, young golden eagles begin hunting their own prey, though they may stay near their parents for a considerable time after this, up to the full five years it takes to reach full maturity. Golden Eagles can live for up to 60 years.
The Golden Eagle is one of my favorite modern dinosaurs. The fact that they are becoming quite common in my area in the summers and that they are essentially a flying dromaeosaur is absolutely amazing to me. Because of the Golden Eagle, the ecosystem where I live still has a dinosaur as the apex predator. They are also extremely beautiful and intelligent animals that, if you live in the right area, are easy to see and observe. This is an animal that deserves admiration and respect.