Survival of the fittest.
Here we have some incredibly rare and raw footage, of two of the most ruthless creatures in all of the wilderness.
We’re talking about a bald eagle, and a mother brown bear.
When it comes to protecting her cubs, mama bear is going to do whatever she can at all costs to keep them safe and healthy, until she lets them go off on their own after about 3 years.
With that being said, we have a mother brown bear with her cubs, who had just sniffed out a bald eagle’s nest.
Realizing the opportunity in front of her, she makes a move on the nest, even though there are a couple of eagles nearby. The pair of eagles do everything in their power to defend the eaglets in the nest, including swooping down in pairs and taking swipes at the bear.
Unfortunately for the nest, the bald eagles don’t appear to pose much of a threat to the mama bear, who ravages the nest while the eagles hopelessly circle above.
And according to the person filming, the eagles were devastated:
“We visited Katmai National Park in southwestern Alaska from June 5th to June 7th, 2018 and participated in activities very few people in the world are able to do. We stayed at a place called the Katmai Wilderness Lodge, where the guides are experts on grizzly bears and take you out to see them – VERY close.
On June 5th, we saw this mother grizzly and her cubs for the first time resting on the side of a cliff. We got some great photos and passed by her several more times throughout the day. On June 6th, however, we saw something very different. In a spot not too far from where she was the previous day, we saw an eagles’ nest on a dead tree on the side of a cliff.
Two eagles were sitting on it and the mother grizzly was very close to them. The grizzly bear and her cubs were eating grass right next to the nest, and the eagles were very frightened. They likely annoyed the bear too much, and she decided to attack the nest! She jumped right into the nest, and ate the eaglets that were inside.
Her cubs watched from a short distance away all while the mother grizzly bear was getting dive-bombed by the eagles flying above. All of the footage you see in this video was recorded by my father from the boat we were on. We were a mere 50-60 feet away from this entire battle, and it was such an incredible sight, it is likely we’ll never see this again.
Within two minutes, everything was finished, and the mother grizzly went on with her day back up the hill away from the nest. The eagles sat there in despair for several hours after their babies were eaten. By June 8th, the eagles abandoned their nest, and have not returned since. They have now learned their lesson to not make a nest within reach of a grizzly bear.”
As heartbreaking as it is to see a mother bald eagle hopelessly watch her eaglets die, the mama bear is simply doing everything she can to make sure her cubs and herself have enough food to survive the night.
Check it out:
Golden Eagle Digs Into Pronghorn’s Back, Rides Along Taking Bite After Bite
Eagles… symbols of freedom, ‘Merica, and Harley Davidson, there’s a certain elegance that’s associated with eagles, especially the bald eagle.
But ain’t nothing elegant about this…
Golden eagles in particular have been known to drag mountain goats off a cliff, used to hunt wild pigs, and have even been documented trying to fly away with small children.
Skilled, ruthless hunters of the sky… when you look at your pet parakeet, eagles are more akin to flying dinosaurs then they are that bird you keep in a cage at home.
If you need any more proof, check this out.
Video was captured somewhere out West, perhaps Wyoming, featuring a golden eagle with its talons dug deep into the back of a pronghorn, or American antelope as they’re commonly known.
As the antelope stumbles about, the eagle’s talons dig deeper and deeper, as it eats the antelope alive, bite by bite.
If there’s a worse way to die, I’m not sure I’ve seen it…
