| Bearded Vulture Gypaetus barbatus (aka Lammergeier) |
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Ethiopia The Bearded Vulture is distributed from parts of Europe to China and from parts of North Africa to South Africa. See the distribution map at Birdlife International. As you can see from the map it has become extinct over wide areas of its former territory and is classified as Near Threatened. |
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It is found in mountain ranges with rocky open areas where it can nest and break the bones it feeds on. Its diet of bones is quite unique and it eats both the marrow and the bone as well as attached flesh and skin. Small bones it will swallow whole but larger bones it will carry up to between 20 and 80 metres and then drop the bone on its favourite rock site called an ossuary before spiralling down to eat the broken bone. | |||
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It takes over 4 years to reach maturity. Photo 7 shows a juvenile bird. Photos 5 and 6 show a Bearded Vulture being mobbed by a Fan-tailed Raven. | |||
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