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A golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) feeding on a red deer carcass (Assynt, Scotland). This image has an ecological story behind it. Not so long ago, Scotland was home to a much wider range of predators, including wolf and lynx. Hunted to extinction, their demise is more than a loss of a species, it’s the loss of a valuable ecological process. Predator-prey dynamics are complex and play an essential role in healthy living systems. This deer will not only feed a top predator like a golden eagle but a whole host of scavengers, from foxes and badgers down to burying beetles and bacteria. (Photo by Peter Cairns/naturepl.com/LDY Agency)
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