Golden Eagle attempts to take child

Dear B-A,

Interesting footage of a Golden Eagle attempting to take a toddler in a park in Montreal, Quebec. It seems to be genuine.

Cheers,

Carl Clifford ===============================

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15 comments to Golden Eagle attempts to take child

  • Chris

    Hi Denise,

    I think the worry is less about birding-aus people and more about the general public. The video has gone viral so will be seen by millions of people, many of whom will probably not learn it is a hoax.

    When working with farmers in the southern Flinders Ranges a few years back I had people telling me that Wedge-tailed Eagles would take babies and the lot of them should be shot. Some were quite proud of how many they had killed. It would be sad if the outcome of such a well-constructed student project was eagles around the world getting persecuted, but lets just say I won’t be very surprised if that is what happens.

    Cheers, Chris

    Sent from my iPhone

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  • Denise Goodfellow

    Hi Nikolas

    I’m always hopeful that Birding Aussers, unlike many of those I encountered when I was involved with the Lindy Chamberlain affair, can weigh up both sides of the story.

    Denise

    John, I agree with your point. However, I would not have

    Denise, of course it should be open for

    Cheers,

    Nikolas  

  • Nikolas Haass

    Hi Denise & John,

    John, I agree with your point. However, I would not have expected an Australopithecus africanus child in a treetop. O.K. I need to have a closer look at the publications.

    Denise, of course it should be open for discussion. The problem is that the more sensational story is always the one the stays in peoples’ minds… E.g. it is well known that domestic dogs are much more dangerous than any wild canid (or introduced such as the Dingo). However, a story of a dingo/eagle stealing a baby is much more ‘interesting’ than the gazillionst story of the German Shepherd killing ‘its’ family’s baby/a Rainbow Lorikeet shredding someone’s fingers 😉

    Cheers,

    Nikolas  

  • Carl Clifford

    Thanks for that Eve. Glad they ‘fessed up. I was getting a bit confused by the different methods that were used to explain the clip, which ranged from a trained raptor being used on a dummy, or on a real child, CGI fiddling, through to it being a portent for the survival of the world in the Mayan calendar apocalypse, with the eagle being a manifestation of Quetzalcoatl.

    Cheers,

    Carl Clifford

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  • Denise Goodfellow

    Hi Nicholas I’m happy to accept that it might be a hoax, but my point is that such birds may well be capable of taking a small child as they could a lamb. In that case it’s a moot point whether the Taung child was actually killed by a raptor or scavenged.

    Yes, some people may over-react as they did when it was finally accepted that dingoes (like other dogs) could and would kill a human being, and as some still do with venomous snakes or spiders or sharks. Does that mean the issue shouldn’t be open for discussion?

    Regards Denise

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  • Bob Gosford

    All,

    See here: *NOTE:* this is a hoax. It was a class project by Normand Archambault, Loïc Mireault and Félix Marquis-Poulin, students at Centre NAD, in the production simulation workshop class of the Bachelors degree in 3D Animation and Digital Design [read more< http://blogue.centrenad.com/2012/12/19/centre-nad-reassures-montrealers-no-danger-of-being-snatched-by-a-royal-eagle/?lang=en#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed>, link kindly shared by RyanClarkPhotos https://twitter.com/Ryanclarkphotos ].

    And here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/grrlscientist/2012/dec/19/1?CMP=twt_gu

    Cheers and i agree with your comments above,

    Bob

  • Nikolas Haass

    Hi Denise,

    It is pretty clear that it is a hoax – see previous mails. Further to the already mentioned points (including that the originators of the clip already explained how they faked it) has anyone had a look at the jizz of the bird? It is supposed to be a Golden Eagle, but the jizz doesn’t look like that of an aquiline eagle at all. Almost looks like that the students ‘borrowed’ features from different genera to create their movie!

    Thanks for sending through the interesting Berger & McGraw paper on Stephanoaetus-type eagles and an Australopithecus africanus child. Admittedly, I didn’t have the chance to read the paper in detail but it is clear that they compared skull damage marks to those caused by Stephanoaetus-type eagles (see also Gilbert et al. 2009 American Journal of Physical Anthropology). Maybe due to my superficial reading I missed an important point: Can they really rule out that the eagle KILLED the Australopithecus or did it just SCAVENGE on a dead one?  We have to be very careful with overinterpreting these kinds of data. Similar stories already brought Lammergeier (Bearded Vulture) to the brink of extinction. And there are certainly many other examples…

    Cheers,

    Nikolas  

  • Tim Jones

    The eagle looks too big. Plenty of shonk in this…

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  • Denise Goodfellow

    It is possible that this isn’t a hoax.

    There is evidence from the 2 million year old fossil of a small South African child (Australopithecus africanus) that it was killed by a large bird of prey about the same size as our Wedge-tailed eagle (Berger, L.R. and Mcgraw, W.S.{2007}. Further evidence for eagle predation of, and feeding damage on, the Taung child. South African Journal of Science, vol.103, n.11-12:496-498).

    I wouldn’t at all be surprised at an eagle having a go at a child. After all what’s the difference between a toddler and a well-grown lamb? Being human doesn’t preclude one being prey.

    Too well do I remember that baby Azaria Chamberlain being snatched by a dingo was considered a hoax as well. All the time my semi-traditional Aboriginal relatives were telling me that they knew that dingoes would take infants, evidence that I handed on to then criminologist, Dr. Paul Wilson, who was researching the issue.

    Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow 1/7 Songlark Street, Bakewell, NT 0832 043 8650 835

    PhD candidate, SCU Vice-chair, Wildlife Tourism Australia Nominated for the Condé Nast international ecotourism award, 2004 by the renowned American website, Earthfoot. Wildlife Adviser, BBC¹s ŒDeadly 60¹

    Several aspects are wrong with this video, the first one being that the

    Eve Montréal, Canada

    Sent from my iPhone

    On 2012-12-19, at 06:48, Carl

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  • Eve Belisle

    It has been confirmed today, students from a 3D animation school : http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/montreal-school-admits-baby-snatching-eagle-video-is-a-hoax-1.1085355

    Cheers,

    Eve Bélisle

    ________________________________ Cc: Birding Aus Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 3:07:36 PM

    It is possible that this isn’t a hoax.

    There is evidence from the 2 million year old fossil of a small South African child (Australopithecus africanus) that it was killed by a large bird of prey about the same size as our Wedge-tailed eagle (Berger, L.R. and  Mcgraw, W.S.{2007}. Further evidence for eagle predation of, and feeding damage on, the Taung child. South African Journal of Science, vol.103, n.11-12:496-498).

    I wouldn’t at all be surprised at an eagle having a go at a child. After all what’s the difference between a toddler and a well-grown lamb?  Being human doesn’t preclude one being prey.

    Too well do I remember that baby Azaria Chamberlain being snatched by a dingo was considered a hoax as well.  All the time my semi-traditional Aboriginal relatives were telling me that they knew that dingoes would take infants, evidence that I handed on to then criminologist, Dr. Paul Wilson, who was researching the issue.

    Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow 1/7 Songlark Street, Bakewell, NT 0832 043 8650 835

    PhD candidate, SCU Vice-chair, Wildlife Tourism Australia Nominated for the Condé Nast international ecotourism award, 2004 by the renowned American website, Earthfoot. Wildlife Adviser, BBC¹s ŒDeadly 60¹

    Several aspects are wrong with this video, the first one being that the

    Eve Montréal, Canada

    Sent from my iPhone

    On 2012-12-19, at 06:48, Carl

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  • Ed Williams

    That should say… Let’s hope too many people don’t take it seriously… (damn predictive text!) > From: edwilliams1977@hotmail.co.uk

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  • Ed Williams

    Yep – it was created by some animation students in Canada using CGI.

    Let’s just hope took my people don’t take it seriously…

    Cheers,

    Ed

    Ed Williams

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  • Wendy Cayless

     Seems it is a fake http://wtvr.com/2012/12/19/viral-fake-out-golden-eagle-snatches-kid-is-cgi/

    Wendy http://twitter.com/WendyJoy http://wjcsydney.wordpress.com http://kiva.org/invitedby/wendy2641

    ________________________________ Sent: Wednesday, 19 December 2012 6:43 PM

    Dear B-A,

    Interesting footage of a Golden Eagle attempting to take a toddler in a park in Montreal, Quebec. It seems to be genuine.

    Cheers,

    Carl Clifford = ===============================

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  • Eve Belisle

    Hi, Several aspects are wrong with this video, the first one being that the ground has been covered in snow for at least a week here in Montreal. The second thing is that this eagle is not a golden, the white patches on the wings does not correspond to any stage of a young golden eagle plumage. It has been suggested that it could be a Steppe Eagle or an hybrid, common in falconry. The child is probably a doll, I think it’s a well staged hoax!

    Eve Bélisle Montréal, Canada

    Sent from my iPhone

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  • Carl Clifford

    It is certainly a bit of a curates egg as far as videos go, which is why I qualified with “seems genuine”. There are parts which look kosher and parts with an aura of shonk. I guess the only way to know is for someone to do a proper forensic rip down on the original of the clip. It is the sort of clip which brings many “experts” out of the woodwork.

    Carl Clifford

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