Bald Eagle vs Cougar
Posted on Thu, Apr 22, 2010 @ 02:12 PM

Eagle vs Cougar
Eagles and Cougars are two wide-ranging carnivores in North and South America, and so it is inevitable that there will be some conflict between them over food at times. While they tend to hunt different types of animals, both will hate to give up a fresh kill to another animal and so most likely conflicts will come around prey and hunting rights.
Bald eagles can have a wingspan of 2.5 meters (taller than any man), and a body length of about 30-40 inches, so their massive wings let them fly easily and buffet and glide quite well. Cougars are ground animals, between two and two and a half feet tall and between 115 and 200 pounds. Both tend to eat a lot of small animals and rodents, and so competition for food will bring these two to conflict.
The bald eagle will go for the eyes of the cougar, because blinding it or damaging its ability to find the eagle will allow the eagle to carry its food away to eat safely in a tree. The cougar's large claws and tough grip will give it a chance to take the eagle down first and restrict its movement while it bites it in the head or neck. In this case, the cougar catches the eagle in its arms as it swoops at the cougar's head, knocking the eagle to the ground and breaking its neck. The swift and powerful leaps of the cougar are no match for the slower eagle that goes down almost immediately with a broken neck from its powerful jaws.