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The Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) is one of the best known birds of prey in the world. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae.

Once the Golden Eagle lived in all temperate Europe, North Asia, North America, North Africa and Japan. In most areas this bird now is a mountain-dweller, but in former centuries it was also distributed in the plains and the forests.

There was a great decline in Central Europe, where the Golden Eagle now is restricted to the Alps. In BritainGreat Britain (often abbreviated as Britain is an island lying off the western coast of Europe, comprising the main territory of the United Kingdom. Great Britain is also used as a political term describing the combination of England, Scotland, and Wales,, there are about 500 birds left in the ScottishScotland or in Scottish Gaelic, Alba is a country and former independent kingdom of northwest Europe, and one of the four nations comprising the United Kingdom. Scotland occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Scotland took part in a p highlands. In North America the situation is not as dramatic, but there has been a noticeable decline as well.

A pair of Golden Eagles build several eyries within their territory. They use them alternately for several years. The nest consists of heavy tree branches, upholstered with grass.

Old eyries may be 2 metres in diameter and 1 metre in height, as the eagles enlarge their nests every year. If the eyrie is situated on a tree it may happen that the supporting tree branches break because of the weight of the nest.

The female lays two eggs between January and May (depending on the area). After 45 days the youngs hatch. They are entirely white and are fed for fifty days before they are able to make their first flight attempts and eat on their own. In most cases only the older chick survives, while the younger one dies before leaving the eyrie.

The couple remains together for life. They often have a division of labour while hunting: one partner drives the prey to its waiting partner. The prey is marmotMarmots Groundhog, Marmota monax : Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Rodentia : Sciuridae : Sciurinae Marmota Species see text Marmots are members of the genus Marmota in the rodent family Sciuridae (squirrels). Marmots are generally large ground squirrelss, hareLepus ''Caprolagus ''Pronolagus Hares and Jackrabbits belong to family Leporidae, and mostly in genus Lepus''. Very young hares are called leverets . They are very fast moving. The European Brown Hare can run at speeds of up to 70 km/h (45 mi/h). Hares lis and miceFor the computer peripheral, see computer mouse. A mouse is a mammal that belongs to one of numerous species of small rodents in the genus Mus and various related genera of the family Muridae. Mus musculus, the common house mouse (or laboratory mouse) is, sometimes birds, martenMartens : Animalia : Chordata : Mammalia : Carnivora : Mustelidae Martes Species Martes americana ''Martes flavigula ''Martes foina ''Martes gwatkinsii ''Martes martes ''Martes melampus ''Martes pennanti ''Martes zibellina The Martens constitute genus Mars, foxes and young deer. Large mammals like chamois or adult deer can only be taken if they are wounded or sick.

Adult Golden Eagles have an average length of 75-85 cm (30-34"), a wingspan of 175-200 cm (70-80"), and a weight of 3 to 5 kg. As in all birds of prey, the females are generally slightly larger than the males.

In Central Asia, Golden Eagles sometimes are trained for falconry, and in Kazakhstan there are still hunters using these eagles in order to catch deer and antelopes.

There are five subspecies of Golden Eagle:

• Eurasian Golden Eagle (A. c. chrysaetos)
• American Golden Eagle (A. c. canadensis)
• Spanish Golden Eagle (A. c. homeryi)
• Japanese Golden Eagle (A. c. japonica)
• Russian Berkut (A. c. daphanea)