With a strong beak and a taste for chewy bone marrow, the bearded vulture gobbles up what most predators leave behind-a pile of bones. This bird can see a potential meal on the ground from thousands of feet in the air. The clever vulture even drops bone "bombs" onto rocks to shatter and crack them open. Then the bird swoops down to crunch up every last piece.
Deadeye: The bearded vulture spends most of its time in the sky and rides heat thermals at altitudes up to 13,000 feet. It has such sharp vision it can spot dead or dying animals on the ground even from such a great height.
Crunch Time: This bird's beak is curved and sharp, and can shut with great power. The vulture can strip meat from prey and crush the bones of nearly any animal. A small tuft of feathers under its beak gives the bird its name.
High Velocity Vulture[]
The bearded vulture eats the bones that others leave behind.
Bearded vultures are big birds, but they can perform amazing air shows, especially when trying to impress potential mates. Both males and females fly high in the air, zoom past each other, and go into free-fall dives of up to 350 feet. After the aerobatics, the pair fly off to a nesting site. They build a huge nest together, with some measuring nine feet across and three feet deep. The nests are often lined with fur the vultures strip from the carcasses they eat.
Boneyard: This creature lifts heavy bones into the air, then drops them on rocks to break them into small pieces and get to the tasty bone marrow inside.
Silent but Deadly: This bird occasionally chases after live prey. The impact from the vulture's sharp talons can kill in one blow.
Bombs Away[]
A bearded vulture swoops down and grabs the bones of a sheep, then flies high into the air. When several hundred feet up, the bird dives toward a rock, gaining speed by the second. The vulture then drops the bones when only a few feet from the ground. The bones shatter next to a lone hiker, who runs in fear of another "bombing."
Trading Card[]
Trivia[]
- The bearded vulture is featured in Dead Or Alive? on Monster Mania 51.
- The picture of the vulture by the dead sheep was taken by John Cancalosi.