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The cameras first show how a mating pair of eagles kill baby chamois goats in the Italian Alps. They lift them high into the air before dropping them. As summer ends, the goats have grown to become juveniles – but the eagles go one stage further by successfully tackling a full-sized chamois.

Producer Alex Lanchester said the BBC’s Natural History Unit team could not believe what they were witnessing.

He said: “It’s never been filmed before. We knew they went for the calves in spring – but not the adults.

“It’s extraordinary behaviour. These goats weigh 10 times the weight of the eagle so it’s incredibly heavy.

“They are huge and the way that the eagles kill them is they pick them up and drop them off the cliff. It’s very brutal. They hunt in pairs.”

The grisly, but incredible action takes place in the Gran Paradiso National Park.

Viewers will see one of the eagles, flanked by its mate, targeting the adult chamois standing near the cliff edge.

The eagle seizes it in its talons, dragging it along, before flying out over the precipice.

When it lets go over the gorge, the doomed goat is seen flailing in the air as it plunges to the ground, where it is killed instantly on impact.

Renowned naturalist Sir David Attenborough, who narrates the series, explains it is important for the eagles to get as much food as possible in the early winter when prey on the frozen mountain tops becomes scarce.

But he points out the birds also put themselves in grave danger.

Sir David says: “It’s an extremely risky move. If the eagle breaks a wing, it would be fatal.”

“But a kill this size will sustain a pair for days.”

• Frozen Planet II can be seen on Sunday at 8 pm on BBC One.

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