our destination was a camp of nomads, people who introduced lauren mcgough to the golden eagle. >> mcgoughs ) >> pelley: they hadn't seen her in two years. >> mcgough: it feels like i never left. ( laughter ) just in a few minutes of seeing everybody. such a magical place. >> pelley: now, how did a woman from oklahoma end up out here, in mongolia? >> mcgough: ah, well, i read a book on falconry. and it's like the fire was lit. i just knew i had to do it. and, as i was researching, i went to the library, and i found this old book that had black and white photos of eagle hunters from mongolia. so, you know, this beautiful shaggy horse, and this man with a giant eagle and a fox pelt on his horse. and it just looked like the most incredible thing. and i thought, "i have to see it, i have to do it." >> pelley: at the age of 17, her father, a former air force stealth pilot, brought her to mongolia. lauren returned five years later, with funding from a fulbright scholarship. then she earned a ph.d based on her work with the eagle hunters. >> mcgough: these are the people that can talk to animals.