A young golden eagle in Norway reportedly attacked a toddler on Saturday, seemingly the bird's fourth run at a human. Just last week hiker Francis Ari Sture tangled with the feathered menace and got a nasty cut on his face—he "thought a human was trying to shove him down the steep Norwegian mountainside." The youngster required stitches after the weekend attack.
Rushing down 50 meters (164 feet) of steep terrain covered in loose rocks, he panicked he'd slip. But falling unconscious was his biggest fear because the eagle potentially "would start to eat me."
Eagle expert Alv Ottar Folkestad told the AP that the eagle "likely had a behavioral disorder." All those attacked received stitches and medication for gouges.
What happened is "radically different from normal," Folkestad said, adding that the attacks were likely all by a female eagle born this year.
"Details in the plumage make me believe it is the same bird. The plumage means that no two golden eagles are alike," he said, adding that in the past days there were "favorable weather conditions" with high-altitude winds for the eagle to fly long distances over southern Norway.
They'll soon know for sure if a single bird was the culprit—the little girl's mother armed herself with a length of wood and killed it during the attack.
Previously:
• Watch: Crows attack a bald eagle while the bald eagle is attacking a seagull
• Injured eagle actually just fat
• Child-snatching eagle video created as student project
