However gruesome it might be, scenes like this are played out routinely in Mother Nature. The relationship between predator and prey is a life-sustaining action and necessary to maintain diversity in the ecosystem. While one life ends, another continues and is renewed. Taken back in January, these images show a Red-tailed Hawk as it devours a rabbit that it had killed in a field.
![A Red-tailed Hawk devours a rabbit on the Colorado plains. (© Tony’s Takes)](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7kkA6T0bYKY/WQSX4i1I_VI/AAAAAAAAfRU/PP2qKn8h8wADXc7GvFe3ljtH2BS1dVibgCJoC/s710/2017-01-13%2B12-32-37%2B-%2B0082.jpg)
![A Red-tailed Hawk devours a rabbit on the Colorado plains. (© Tony’s Takes)](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0wtu2nedK_I/WQSX4rjAAJI/AAAAAAAAfRU/heNWt30s8Vs9hmhQLlzdO2sxeZHzTRQHgCJoC/s710/2017-01-13%2B12-30-18%2B-%2B0006.jpg)
![A Red-tailed Hawk devours a rabbit on the Colorado plains. (© Tony’s Takes)](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-P-cf6CPvuYw/WQSX4jCG4LI/AAAAAAAAfRU/dS5M-4dDWoElAHvz8T9ZR2AB-KtOupozwCJoC/s710/2017-01-13%2B12-33-53%2B-%2B0106.jpg)