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In human culture

Human beings have been fascinated by the golden eagle as early as the beginning of recorded history. Most early-recorded cultures regarded the golden eagle with reverence. In pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica, the eagle was a major Mexica (Aztec) symbol: the tribal and sun god, Huitzilopochtli, had told his people that when they saw the sun (i.e., Huitzilopochtli) in the form of an eagle perched on a cactus whose fruit was red and shaped like a human heart, there they should build their city, Tenochtitlan. The scene—shown on a well-known sculpture, in early manuscripts, and on the present-day Mexican flag—surely had astronomical and geomantic, as well as mythological meaning.

It was only after the Industrial Revolution, when sport-hunting became widespread and commercial stock farming became internationally common, that humans started to widely regard golden eagles as a threat to their livelihoods. This period also brought about the firearm and industrialized poisons, which made it easy for humans to kill the evasive and powerful birds.

In 2017 the French Army trained golden eagles to catch drones. The golden eagle is officially Utah's state bird of prey.