Why is the golden eagle considered the king of raptors?

Birds of prey are divided into 3 genera, including all birds of the Falconiformes, Owlformes and Eagleformes genera, of which the golden eagle is the best predator in the Eagleformes genus, and it is the top predator of the food chain. .

Golden eagles, like most other raptors, do not change mates easily and remain attached to their waiting mate until death. When the cold winter passes, spring warms, flowers bloom, and food is more abundant, golden eagle pairs will begin to mate and lay eggs.

Golden eagles are very intelligent and have strong adaptability. To protect young golden eagles from being attacked by crows and snakes, golden eagle couples will change nests every two years.

Tại sao người ta luôn coi đại bàng vàng là vua của các loài chim ăn thịt? - Ảnh 1. — In Mongolia, people always say: “A man must have three things: a fast horse, a loyal dog and an eagle.” Golden eagles flying over the vast plateau are a characteristic beauty of Mongolia. However, these are not only wild eagles but also extremely carefully trained eagles.

Golden eagles will build nests on coniferous trees over 30 meters high, sometimes they will build nests on cliffs over 100 meters high, then cover them with pine needles, grass and feathers to create warm and cozy nests. comfortable.

A female golden eagle can lay about 1 to 3 eggs at a time. However, to properly allocate resources and food, female golden eagles will lay eggs at staggered peaks, laying another egg every few days.

Golden eagle eggs are similar to eggs of other large raptors, oval in shape, about 80 mm long, with natural khaki spots on the shell, can blend into the nest from afar, eggshell color is a natural protective camouflage, and can make it impossible for other animals to distinguish between eggs and the background color of the bird’s nest.

Tại sao người ta luôn coi đại bàng vàng là vua của các loài chim ăn thịt? - Ảnh 2. — Currently, the profession of eagle training in Mongolia only exists in the mountainous lands of the Kazakh tribe located in the far West, surrounded by the Altai mountains – one of the most remote places on the planet. The Kazakh people have lived here for a long time. They live in large tents, raise cows and sheep, and maintain long-standing cultural practices passed down from their ancestors.

After the female golden eagle lays the eggs, she begins to incubate. At this time, the male golden eagle, as the husband, will take on the task of finding food and protecting the family. It is not until more than a month later that the incubated eggs begin to hatch, and the father and mother golden eagles will hunt together, at which point the chicks will face their first challenge of nature.

Newly hatched golden eagle chicks are covered with soft feathers and at this time they will be completely cared for by their parents. It takes a long time for them to learn hunting and survival skills. but during this period, they will most likely die from all kinds of accidents, such as crows, snakes and other predators, tripping and falling from the nest and other reasons.

Tại sao người ta luôn coi đại bàng vàng là vua của các loài chim ăn thịt? - Ảnh 3. — Golden eagles are powerful birds that appear widely in Central Asia. When mature, it weighs about 6.5kg, has a body length of 66 – 102cm, and a wingspan of more than 2m. Golden eagles can swoop down and snatch away even large animals like wolves, with flying speeds of up to 200km/h. Hunters must wait until the mother eagle leaves the nest to forage to reach the baby eagles. Then, they gently and carefully capture these baby eagles to raise and train.

Limited resources and food shortages determine that not all young birds can grow up smoothly. When young golden eagles hatch from eggs, the parents can bring them back. enough food, but as they grow older, their need for food will also increase, but the parents cannot get more food and they start to “fight in the nest”.

Tại sao người ta luôn coi đại bàng vàng là vua của các loài chim ăn thịt? - Ảnh 4. — After being caught, people put a piece of leather on its head so it couldn’t see anything, then let it stand on a wooden stick on a tree branch, swinging back and forth, making it impossible for the eagle to stand. . After many nights, the eagle was exhausted and fell down. At that time, people used cold water to wake it up and gave it water to drink, but did not feed it meat. After a few weeks of being blindfolded, the eagle begins to become dependent on its owner. When the eagle is gradually tamed, people feed it. Feeding also requires the right method. The person who tames the eagle places a piece of meat on the skin on the shoulder so that the eagle can come and eat it.

Whenever they are unbearably hungry, the stronger baby birds will provoke the weaker ones, they use their beaks to attack their “brothers and sisters”, which at first is difficult for the weak ones to avoid. being attacked by other birds in the nest. At first this was just an attack due to frustration due to lack of food. But after a while, this attack will become more intense and the young animals may be killed or eaten by their own brothers and sisters, this is a natural law of survival. weakness of the golden eagle.

Tại sao người ta luôn coi đại bàng vàng là vua của các loài chim ăn thịt? - Ảnh 5. — After a long period of hunger, the eagle also becomes more hasty when it sees meat. Each time the tamer increases the distance between the eagle and the meat, the tamer increases the distance between the eagle and the meat and does not allow the eagle to eat to its fullest. They also stuffed bloody meat into rabbit or wolf effigies to train eagles to pounce on prey.

If young golden eagles want to separate from their parents to live independently, the first thing they must learn is flying, this is the most basic hunting skill. After a short time of hatching, they will practice flying all the time except when eating and resting. The first basic movement is to flap their wings quickly. Before leaving the nest, the young birds must practice flapping their wings continuously for five minutes.

After that, it had to practice standing on one leg and two legs, running and jumping in a bird’s nest with a diameter of more than two meters, practicing like that for more than a month, until the feathers grew and the little golden eagles also came. at the time of his first flight.

Tại sao người ta luôn coi đại bàng vàng là vua của các loài chim ăn thịt? - Ảnh 6. — The claws on the eagle’s feet are curved and sharp. These sharp claws are their powerful weapon in attacking and capturing prey. It is this characteristic that causes the eagle to be called by a name whose meaning comes from the Latin word “rapere” (meaning to clasp or grasp). An eagle’s vision is also a scary thing for its prey. On average, the vision of each eagle is 8 times that of a human. They can detect tiny prey from miles away.

Young golden eagles always have a very strong instinct to fly. They will go to the edge of the nest to defecate to reduce their body weight, then lean their heads forward, kick their feet on the ground, and spread their wings wide. take off, jump down and take your first flight.

Of course, learning to fly is just the most basic skill for independent life, small golden eagles must learn hunting skills from their parents, golden eagle parents will bring injured prey to the nest and train them. Young golden eagles hunt alone. More than 30 days have passed like this. Young golden eagles will gradually master flying and hunting skills, thereby starting an independent life, surviving alone in the wild.

Tại sao người ta luôn coi đại bàng vàng là vua của các loài chim ăn thịt? - Ảnh 7. — The diving speed of the golden eagle can reach 245 km/h, it can dive and smash the bones of its prey in mid-air.

Golden eagles have extremely good eyesight and can observe prey on the ground while flying high in the air. There are nearly 70 types of food for golden eagles, including a variety of large and medium-sized birds and mammals such as foxes, goats, swans, geese and even wolves. .

Larger golden eagles have a wingspan of up to 2.2 meters, are famous for their superior flying skills, can freely change their flying posture and hover in the air, by changing the angle of the wings on their wings. , they can adjust their flight path so they can attack their prey from all sides.