"To see her with the eagle was amazing," photographer Asher Svidensky says. "She was a lot more comfortable with it [than the boys], a lot more powerful with it and a lot more at ease with it."

Ashol-Pan lives by the Altai mountain range in western Mongolia. Only the people there hunt with golden eagles and today there are around 400 practising falconers.

She hunts for foxes and hares using her eagle - something boys of her age learn to do in parts of Mongolia, but very rare for a girl. In fact, the photographer thinks she may be the only girl in the world to hunt with a golden eagle.

Meet 13-year-old Ashol-Pan. She lives in Mongolia, an Asian country north of China. And with her is her golden eagle...

She goes to school like other 13-year-olds, but she does something else that's pretty unusual...

Female eagles are used as they grow to a larger size. Their wingspan - the length from the tip of one wing to another - can be of over 230cm. After years of hunting, the eagles are released back into the wild.

They hunt in winter, when the temperatures can drop to -40C. On horseback they head through snow to a mountain or ridge giving a good view of prey for miles around. After a fox is spotted, riders move towards it to get it out into the open and then the eagles are released to catch it. The foxes and hares are important to provide food and clothing.
