November 10, 2012

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Raptors kill hominids, kill cattle, kill giant moa

By Darren Naish

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

No time for anything new: I figure this is pretty self-explanatory. For anyone who wants to follow up on some of the assertions boldly stated in the slide above, check out...

Berger, L. R. & Clarke, R. J. 1995. Eagle involvement in accumulation of the Taung child fauna. Journal of Human Evolution 29, 275-299.

- . & Clarke, R. J. 1996. The load of the Taung child. Nature 379, 778-779.

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- . & McGraw, W. S. 2003. Further evidence for eagle predation of, and feeding damage on, the Taung child. South African Journal of Science 103, 496-498.

Matchett, M. R. & O'Gara, B. W. 1987. Methods of controlling golden eagle depredation on domestic sheep in southwestern Montana. Journal of Raptor Research 21, 85-94.

Nybakk, K., Kjelvik, O. & Kvam, T. 1999. Golden eagle predation on semidomestic reindeer. Wildlife Society Bulletin 27, 1038-1042.

Phillips, R. L., Cummings, J. L., Notah, G. & Mullis, C. 1996. Golden eagle predation on domestic calves. Wildlife Society Bulletin 24, 468-470.

Worthy, T. H. & Holdaway, R. N. 2002. The Lost World of the Moa. Indiana University Press, Bloomington & Indianapolis.

.... oh, and chapter 1 in Tetrapod Zoology: Book One. This is also a good time to mention my friend Steve Bodio's brand new book An Eternity of Eagles: the Human History of the Most Fascinating Birds in the World.

Darren Naish is a science writer, technical editor and palaeozoologist (affiliated with the University of Southampton, UK). He mostly works on Cretaceous dinosaurs and pterosaurs but has an avid interest in all things tetrapod. His publications can be downloaded at darrennaish.wordpress.com. He has been blogging at Tetrapod Zoology since 2006. Check out the Tet Zoo podcast at tetzoo.com!

More by Darren Naish

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