Observations of golden eagles attacking and consuming wolf pups
2024
Fernández-Gil, Alberto | Carral, José M. | Barrientos, Luis M. | García, Laurentino | Benito, Laura | Gabriel Hernando, Miguel de | Conferencia de Rectores de las Universidades Españolas | Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (Argentina) | Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España) | European Commission | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]
Although lethal interactions between wolves and other apex carnivores have been reported for a handful of species, the killing or consumption of wolves by free-ranging golden eagles has rarely been reported. Here, we present four opportunistic field observations documenting the consumption of a wolf pup by free-ranging golden eagles and predatory behavior of eagles towards wolf pups. Although we could not confirm the killing and consumption of wolves by eagles in a single predatory event, actual predation seems plausible based on our observations. We hypothesize that these intraguild apex predators’ interactions, consisting on a smaller raptor predator attacking or consuming a lager mammal and social predator, are rare events, but provide valuable information on potential relationships across keystone apex predators.
Mostrar más [+] Menos [-]Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. A.F.G. and M.G.H. were granted by MICINN through the European Regional Development Fund (SUMHAL, LIFEWATCH-2019-09-CSIC-4, POPE 2014–2020).
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