CAUGHT ON VIDEO: Epic Battle In Sky Between Fox, Eagle

Eagles are known for their thievery toward other animals, known as kleptoparasitism, according to Kevin Ebi in his LivingWilderness Blog, but we don't often get a front row seat to the battle...until now.

Ebi notes in his blog that he was photographing foxes in the San Juan Island National Historical Park in Washington state. One of the young foxes, a kit, captured a rabbit and was carrying it across the meadow when:

Then behind me, I heard the cry of a bald eagle. I turned around and saw it approaching fast. I knew it wanted the rabbit. I intently trained my camera on the fox bracing for a split second of action. To my surprise, the scene was even more dramatic than I expected. I thought the fox would drop the rabbit, giving the eagle an easy dinner.

Nope. As you can see in the video captured by Zachary Hartje, that little kit hung on and fought for the right to keep the rabbit! The battle lasted about eight seconds, according to Ebi, and in case you're wondering, the kit was okay. It went back to its siblings unscathed.

You can read Ebi's entire story and see more images from the encounter here.