A recent Instagram reel shared by a Montana-based hunter shows just how ambitious an eagle can be in pursuit of prey. In the short clip, posted by @stevendrakephoto on October 20, what appears to be a giant golden eagle swoops down on an adult mountain goat on a vertical mountainside—but the bold goat turns to face the avian predator head on. See if for yourself below.
“Can’t script this,” Drake writes in the caption, and he’s right. While golden eagles are known to prey on mountain goats, particularly kids that get separated from nannies, it’s rarely documented—let alone caught on film.
In Drake’s video, the eagle hovers above while the sure-footed goat stands its ground. The mountain goat then charges the eagle before dashing across the steep cliffside and wheeling around to challenge it once again. The confrontation only lasts a few seconds before the short clip cuts out.
“Saw something very similar to this a few year back,” wrote one of the Drake’s followers in the comment thread. “An Eagle was diving on a bachelor group of bucks. Pretty crazy!” Another person wondered if the brave goat might have been protecting its offspring from the dive-bombing bird.
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According to the National Park Service (NPS), bears, wolves, eagles, and wolverines all prey on mountain goats—especially first-year kids—and “much of the mountain goat’s behavior is a strategy to avoid these animals.” A mountain goat’s most effective form of defense is the near-vertical terrain it calls home, as these rocky slopes are too steep for most prey species to navigate. Female mountain goats stay close to their kids in places “where eagles might try to knock them off their feet,” NPS says, “but in the end gravity and avalanches take more mountain goats than any animal seeking prey.”
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