Observations of golden eagles attacking and consuming wolf pups

Abstract

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.