It's very rare for a golden eagle to attack mammals as large as full-grown deer.

Golden eagles typically hunt other birds or smaller mammals (like rabbits and squirrels), though there are rarer documented instances of the birds hunting larger prey, like a brown bear cub.

Linda Kerley — who studies Amur tigers and leopards at the Lazovsky National Reserve in Russia — found photos of the deer attack while performing a routine check of the camera equipment. She, along with Dr. Jonathan C. Slaght of the Wildlife Conservation Society, submitted an article on these events (believed to be the first of their kind) to the Journal of Raptor Research.