Re: What would Hitchcock have thought...?

[Danvarner@aol.com]

In a message dated 1/14/2006 1:18:45 PM Eastern Standard Time,  
afmayor@aol.com writes:

<< This might help explain the traditional Native American  stories of  
giant raptors that carried off folks to their nests, until  now  
thought to be fanciful tales. >>

Well, before you get too "carried away" you may want  to read this from
http://home.sou.edu/~rible/wildlife/index.htm  :  

<< Interesting notes: One of the more unusual things written about  the 
golden eagle, as is sometimes written about the bald eagle, is its alleged  
ability 
to lift large prey off the ground and fly with it to their nest. They  have 
been reported to carry off calves and lambs (Bent 1937; Palmer 1988a), but  
such prey would have to be unusually small individuals. An experiment performed 
 
with one golden eagle weighing 11 pounds found that it could not lift a 5¼ 
pound  weight attached to its feet off of the ground (Arnold 1954). This is a 
far 
cry  from the 10 to 11 pound capacity that one researcher had estimated 
(Gilbert  1926). It is thought that the actual weight-carrying capacity is 
about 
21% of  the eagle's own weight (Huey 1962). Since golden eagles, males and 
females  combined, can weigh between six to 13 pounds this would put their  
weight-carrying capacity at between one and three pounds. Another researcher  
thought 
that the golden eagle might be able to carry a seven pound jackrabbit a  
short distance, but that most large prey would have to be "dismantled" before  
being carried aloft (Palmer 1988a). >>

DV