Juveniles appear to attend large carrion much more than adults and dietary studies appear to support that carrion is rather more significant to the foods of juvenile and immature bateleurs compared to adults. Despite an aptitude for scavenging, descriptions of this eagle as “not a very rapacious species” are erroneous as it has been found to a highly powerful predator for its size and one that is often rather active at pursuing living prey, with seemingly most food consumed during the breeding season being prey that the bateleur has itself killed. Bateleurs kill most prey on the ground with a steep stoop on partially closed wings. On evidence, they may alter their stoop onto prey with a slow drop with raised wings, rather in a gentle descent like a parachute, largely when taking slower moving prey such as some reptiles. Additionally, they can also take birds on the wing. As occasional kleptoparasites, they sometimes aerially pirate foods from other raptors. Alternately, they may try to intercept other raptor’s kills while the raptor is feeding on them, whether it be on the ground, in tree or on a rock or even immediately after the kill is made. These piratical attacks are sometimes carried out against large carrion eaters like vultures and even against larger eagles, and in them they may drive their target to the ground, with interlocking talons or trading shallow blows with their feet. Bateleurs too hunt insects by walking on the ground, particularly after grassfires and will patrol for small carcasses alongside roads. Bateleurs forage almost entirely based on opportunity and have no particular specialization on any particular prey type. As a result, a wide prey spectrum has been reported, with around 160 prey species known, they thus rival martial eagles (Polemaetus bellicosus) and perhaps just slightly behind tawny eagles (Aquila rapax) as the most diversified feeder known among African eagles. Among their prey, mammals, birds and reptiles, roughly in that order, seem to be considerably preferred over other prey taxon. Based on morphology, their long middle toes has been cited as indication that they originally diversified to become a bird-eater but a rather small degree of sexual dimorphism between males and females indicates a preference for mammal eating. By the most complete picture of the bateleurs diet was a compilation study that complied 1879 prey items from differing parts of the range. In it was found that