Post-Modern Dinosaurs

This is the post I was really wanting to write, the post about the incredible golden eagle.

It was an innocuous list from a jokey site about cool animals that prey on the world's scariest animals that got me going on an intellectual bender. If you have some time, and these types of lists interest you, you might want to check it out. It got me doing my own research on all sorts of things; birds, pink dolphins, buzzards and giant hornets...

The golden eagle is the ultimate heir to T-Rex. There are documented anecdotes dating back to ancient Greek and Roman days of golden eagles preying on everything from other birds all the way to wolves and bear cubs. The perceived toughness of the golden eagle vaulted it into the collective consciousness of the Romans, and it was adopted by them as their national animal emblem.

Because of the Romans, and of the intrinsic bad-assitude of the golden eagle, almost all imperial and/or conquering entities have chosen the bird as their emblem. Do you know what's throttling the rattlesnake on the Mexican flag (and their coat of arms)? How about the bird on the Deutsche-mark, and now the German-minted Euro?

Golden eagles.

We Americans, following in the Roman footsteps, chose the bald eagle in an homage to the true master.

Golden eagles are distributed all over the world in the non-arctic climates. They are the largest and strongest of all the birds of prey, but possibly not the smartest (that title goes to the falcons, who, along with the crows, ravens, and parrots rank as the smartest birds). With a seven-foot wingspan and the ability to fight with, rob, and hunt badgers, with razor sharp talons and beak and the strength to lift a human child, who needs to be Isaac Newton of birds?

Golden eagles have been known to prey on bear cubs, and pretty much anything else it feels like. They have been used for falconry in the past. Their feathers are sacred to American aboriginal tribes, and the trade in such is tightly controlled by the government, limited to tribal members, like peyote buttons.

Their feathers are treated like peyote, man. Even our government thinks golden eagles are magic. It's not like they're endangered; their populations are healthy and their numbers strong in each environment they live.

I have video link here to a Youtube montage that does have some disturbing images (mountain goats being thrown from mountains, etc), but portrays well the exploits of the fearless wolf attacking, bear menacing bundle of fury and strength, that when combined with the ability to fly channels the true spirit of T-Rex.

Big feathered Omars, telling the judge they rob drug-dealers for a living, that's the golden eagle. If you click on the first link, the one to the list, and follow it down to the end, you'll find some footage of a badger macking some carrion, and a hungry golden eagle arriving. Bears don't even mess with badgers. This eagle could give a fuck, and after a few skirmishes, the badger gives up, and two are content to feast together. One of the most tenacious and vicious land mammals yielding to the top modern dinosaur.

Our post-modern dinosaur.