Golden eagles have a wingspan of up to 2.3 metres — wider than most adults are tall. They can spot a rabbit or a fox from more than 3 kilometres away, and dive at speeds of up to 240 kilometres per hour when they spot their prey. Their grip is so powerful that it is one of the strongest grips of any living bird.
Berkutchi — traditional Kazakh eagle hunters — spend years building a bond of trust with their birds. A young eagle is caught and trained patiently, learning to sit on the hunter's gloved arm and fly back on command. A skilled berkutchi and their eagle work together like a team.
Every year, eagle hunters gather at festivals — most famously the Golden Eagle Festival — to show off their partnership with their birds. Riders in traditional embroidered coats gallop across the hillsides while their eagles soar overhead and swoop to land on the glove. It is an extraordinary sight.
When a berkutchi grows old, they traditionally release their eagle back into the wild. This means the eagle can live freely and perhaps raise its own chicks. A golden eagle in the wild can live for up to 30 years.