For 4,000 years, people in western Mongolia have used eagles to hunt small mammals — though only 10 women still uphold the practice.
Leo Thomas / InstagramZamanbol , one of just 10 distaff bird of Jove hunters left in Mongolia .
late in the craggy hill of Mongolia ’s Altai area live a mathematical group of hunters with an extremely uncommon skill : search using golden eagle .
For centuries , nomadic tribes of the Altai area have trained their new gentleman and women in the ancient art of favourable - bird of Jove hunt . They do n’t hunt eagles , but rather use the worship golden eagle as their tool — and spring a close bond paper with the bird of fair game along the elbow room .
Leo Thomas/InstagramZamanbol, one of just 10 female eagle hunters left in Mongolia.
Historically , the golden - eagle hunters – do it asburkitshi – have been male , as the long time - old art was traditionally pass down from father to son . Though , as with any male person - dominated force field , some women have risen and surpass .
In late years , however , the number of distaff hunters has dwindled to the pointedness of near - extinction . Today , there are only 10female Mongolian prosperous - eagle hunters .
The Last Of Her Kind
Leo Thomas / InstagramZamanbol hunting on horseback with her bird of Jove , alongside her brother Barzabai and his bird of Jove .
One of those huntresses is Zamanbol . A member of the Kazakh nomadic kin group , Zamanbol realise that she is a dying breed , but also has her helping hand full . Unlike the ease of her crime syndicate , Zamanbol is not a full - time huntress . During the calendar week she attend school in the city , and on the weekends she school as a hunter .
That grooming has n’t changed in millennium .
Leo Thomas/InstagramZamanbol hunting on horseback with her eagle, alongside her brother Barzabai and his eagle.
Even today , the hunters prune in traditional garb . dress in handmade furs and leather and ride on horseback , the Orion and their eagles are almost as one .
Unsurprisingly , the adhesiveness between shuttlecock and man is fabulously strong . Most of the eagle are treated like folk members , fed by hand and kept in well-situated quarters in the family ’s home . The doll are captured at around four years sure-enough , the age when they are old enough to know how to hunt down but untried enough to adapt to human contact and adhesion with their hunter .
Children as untried as 13 will be given eagles to set about their bond , which continue for the next 10 years .
Leo Thomas/ InstagramAn eagle hunter carries his eagle on horseback over craggy cliffs.
Leo Thomas/ InstagramAn eagle huntsman carry his bird of Jove on horseback over craggy cliffs .
Zamanbol and her brother Barzabai both have warm bonds with their eagles , a bond certificate which is march by their ability to seemingly communicate with the birds during the hunting , a process that is both physically and mentally demanding .
After trekking high up into mountainous mountains and perching themselves atop a vantage point , the unsounded hunters stare down on the valley and knit stitch below . Once a target ( normally a minuscule mammal like a hare or a fox ) is spotted , they unloose the golden eagle rest on their arm .
Two hunters lift their eagles to the sky.
The eagle — always a female person , as they are the large of the sexes and therefore the more adept hunters — then pounce down and fascinate the prey before it can run , soaring back up to the mountaintops to give it over to its master .
A Lifelong Bond
Two hunters airlift their eagle to the sky .
But the birds often draw together with their human so much that the hunting watch will have to travel far to set the bird free , and often hide until nightfall so the eagle does n’t follow them home .
“ It was as if a member of my sept had left , ” one hunterrecalledof letting his eagle go . “ I remember about what that bird of Jove is doing ; if she ’s dependable , and whether she can find food for thought and make a nest . Have her hunt been successful ? Sometimes I dream about these thing . ”
Leo Thomas/InstagramGolden eagles can take down small mammals like foxes, as well as goats and wolves.
While in the precaution of their human family , eagles ’ bond with their human companions are unshakeable . The hunter care for their birds almost as if they were children , swaddling them in leather during the winter month and cradling them after their hunt .
“ They love to be carry in such a room , ” one hunter told a lensman . “ It makes them experience make love and loosen them , just like a sister . ”
Leo Thomas / InstagramGolden eagle can take down pocket-sized mammals like fox , as well as goats and wolves .
Though the tradition is an ancient artwork , in recent year it has become afascination for the western world , thanks to a 2016 infotainment about a youthful and grace bird of Jove huntress named Aisholpan . What was once a private experience has become the topic of festival and documentary film , which have help shine a illumination on a dying tradition of the old human race .
Many photographers have made the journey to the Mongolian wastelands to find golden - eagle hunting for themselves , and endeavor to understand the magical human relationship these hunters divvy up .
They ’ve also spotlight char like Zamanbol , who are the last of their kind . Though there were once dozens of female hunters , there are now only 10 in all of Mongolia .
Upon stumbling upon one of the last female hunting watch , German lensman Leo Thomas decided to showcase her , and her art , for the reality to see .
Next , see Mongolia ’s best bird of Jove hunters vie at the annualGolden Eagle Festival . Then tick off out theGurung honey hunters , another group of ancient ( and interesting ) huntsman .
