The thing I find the most astonishing about this is that any presumedly
educated person would accept at face value the premise that a bird could
lift and carry off prey weighing four times it's own weight.

I've viewed a piece of 8mm black & white movie film that was shot in Wyoming
(I think) in the late 50's-early 60's of a Golden Eagle hitting and killing
a Pronghorn kid. I'd guess that the kid was less than 72 hours old and
weighed under 8 pounds. A pair of Coyotes took the kid from the Eagle a
minute later. I suspect that if the Eagle could have lifted the kid and
flown off with it, it would have done so. The bird seemed to know it's own
limitations, because it didn't even try.

Dennis Rockwell Kennewick, WA dennis.rockwell at gte.net

One fifth of the people are against everything all the time.
Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968)

-----Original Message-----
From: Rachel Lawson <RachelLawson at uswest.net>
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Date: Tuesday, March 27, 2001 10:11 AM
Subject: Eagles and reindeer


>Did anyone else read the article in Monday's New York Times about reindeer
>herders in Norway? According to the article, predators are a great worry
>to the Sami herders, and the writer, Warren Hoge, says: "An eagle [Golden,
>presumably] can lift a 40-pound animal and spirit it away for the kill."
>
>Johnsgard, in "Hawks, Eagles, and Falcons of North America" says it is
>unlikely that an adult Golden Eagle can take off with more than about 3
>kilograms of prey, and adult males are only able to carry about 900 grams
>easily. Could the Sami be taking lessons in public relations from American
>cattle and sheep ranchers?
>
>Rachel Lawson
>rachellawson at qwest.net
>
>