The golden eagle, king of the steppes, was domesticated by humans

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 is the top predator in the food chain. . .

Golden eagles, like most other raptors, do not easily change mates 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 attacks by crows and snakes, golden eagle pairs will replace their 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 often 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 typical beauty of Mongolia. However, these are not just wild eagles but also extremely carefully trained eagles.

Golden eagles will nest on coniferous trees over 30 meters high, sometimes they will nest on cliffs over 100 meters high, then cover them with pine needles, grass and feathers to create warm nests. warm and cozy. 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 in staggered peaks, laying another egg every few days.

Golden eagle eggs are similar to the eggs of other large raptors, oval in shape, about 80 mm long, have natural khaki spots on the shell, can blend into the nest from afar, the eggshell color is the way Camouflage protects nature and can make that impossible. so that other animals can distinguish the 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. 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, incubation begins. At this time, the male golden eagle, as the husband, will take on the task of finding food and protecting the family. It takes more than a month for the eggs to hatch, and the father and mother golden eagles will hunt together. At this time, the chicks will have to 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 them a long time 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 occur 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 pounce on even large animals like wolves, with flying speeds of up to 200km/h. The hunter must wait until the mother eagle leaves the nest to feed before approaching the baby eagle. 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, parents can take them home. enough food but as they grow older, the need for food also increases but the parents cannot get more food and 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 catching it, people put a piece of leather over its head so it can’t see anything, then let it stand on a wooden stick on a tree branch, swinging back and forth so that the eagle can’t stand still. . 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 was gradually tamed, people fed it. Feeding also requires appropriate methods. The eagle tamer places a piece of meat on the skin on the shoulder for the eagle to eat.

Whenever they are unbearably hungry, the stronger baby birds will provoke the weaker ones, using their beaks to attack their “siblings”, something that at first it is difficult for the weaker birds to avoid. attacked by other birds in the nest. At first this was just an attack out of frustration over 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 siblings, this is the natural law of survival. Weaknesses 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 starvation, eagles also become more hasty when they see meat. Each time the tamer increased the distance between the eagle and the meat, the tamer increased the distance between the eagle and the meat and did not let the eagle eat its fill. They also stuffed rabbit or wolf effigies with bloody meat to train eagles to pounce on their prey.

If young golden eagles want to separate from their parents to live independently, the first thing they must learn is flying, which is the most basic hunting skill. After a short time of hatching, they will learn to fly all the time except when eating and resting. The first basic movement is to flap your wings quickly. Before leaving the nest, young birds must practice flapping their wings continuously for 5 minutes.

After that, it must practice standing on one leg and two legs, running and jumping in the bird’s nest with a diameter of more than two meters, practicing like that for more than a month, until the feathers grow and so do the little yellow eagles. arrived. 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 weapons in attacking and capturing prey. It is this characteristic that gives the eagle its name, which 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, each eagle’s vision is 8 times that of a human’s. They can detect small prey from kilometers away.

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

Of course, learning to fly is just the most basic skill to have an independent life. Little golden eagles must learn hunting skills from their parents. Golden eagle parents will bring injured prey to the nest and train them. practice 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 golden eagle’s diving speed 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 outstanding flying skills, can freely change their flight position and hover in the air, by changing the angle of the upper wings wing. , they can adjust their flight path so they can attack their prey from all sides.