{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Taxon",
  "slug": "bearded-vulture",
  "name": "Bearded Vulture",
  "scientificName": "Gypaetus barbatus",
  "category": "Bird",
  "summary": "The bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus), or lammergeier, is a huge mountain vulture whose diet is about 85% bone. It drops large bones onto rocks to break them, then swallows the pieces, which its very acidic stomach digests. It lives in high mountains of southern Europe, Africa and Asia, has a wingspan of up to 2.8 m, and is listed as Near Threatened (2021).",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "A diet of bones",
      "body": "Bearded vultures eat what other scavengers leave: bones. Animal Diversity Web puts bone at about 85% of the diet, mostly from dead sheep, goats, ibex and other hoofed mammals. Bones too large to swallow are carried up and dropped onto rock slabs until they split. Stomach acid strong enough to dissolve bone lets the bird digest the marrow-rich fragments."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Orange by choice",
      "body": "Adults have rusty-orange underparts, but the colour is not made by the feathers. The birds bathe in iron-rich mud and water, which stains the white plumage. The black stripe through the eye and the tuft of bristles under the bill give the species its 'beard'."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Where it lives",
      "body": "The species is spread thinly across mountain ranges: the Pyrenees, Alps, Crete and Corsica in Europe, the Atlas Mountains, the Ethiopian Highlands and the Drakensberg in Africa, and the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Himalayas. It forages over huge areas; BirdLife records flights of up to 700 km in a day."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Conservation",
      "body": "BirdLife International lists the bearded vulture as Near Threatened (2021), with an estimated 1,675 to 6,700 mature birds and a falling trend. Some European populations are stable or growing thanks to protection and reintroduction, including the Alps, where the species had been wiped out, but declines are suspected to be rapid in parts of the Himalayas and India."
    }
  ],
  "faqs": [
    {
      "question": "Why does the bearded vulture eat bones?",
      "answer": "Bones are a food few other animals can use, so there is little competition for them. Bone marrow is rich in fat, and the vulture's very acidic stomach can digest the bone itself."
    },
    {
      "question": "What is a lammergeier?",
      "answer": "Lammergeier is another name for the bearded vulture. It comes from German and means roughly 'lamb vulture', from an old belief that the bird killed lambs."
    },
    {
      "question": "Why are bearded vultures orange?",
      "answer": "They stain their pale feathers by bathing in iron-rich mud and water. Captive birds without access to it stay white underneath."
    },
    {
      "question": "How big is a bearded vulture?",
      "answer": "It is 94–125 cm long with a wingspan of 231–283 cm and weighs 4.5–7 kg, making it one of the largest birds of prey in Europe."
    },
    {
      "question": "Is the bearded vulture endangered?",
      "answer": "Globally it is listed as Near Threatened (2021). It is rarer and more threatened in some regions, and it was reintroduced to the Alps after being wiped out there."
    }
  ],
  "sourceUpdate": null,
  "evidence": [],
  "conservationStatus": "Near Threatened",
  "taxonomy": {
    "kingdom": "Animalia",
    "phylum": "Chordata",
    "class": "Aves",
    "order": "Accipitriformes",
    "family": "Accipitridae",
    "genus": "Gypaetus"
  },
  "stats": {
    "weightKg": 5.7,
    "lengthM": 1.1,
    "topSpeedKmh": 0,
    "lifespanYears": 21
  },
  "facts": [
    {
      "label": "Scientific name",
      "value": "Gypaetus barbatus"
    },
    {
      "label": "Other name",
      "value": "Lammergeier"
    },
    {
      "label": "Diet",
      "value": "Mostly bones (about 85%), plus carrion"
    },
    {
      "label": "Habitat",
      "value": "Remote mountains, usually above 1,000 m"
    },
    {
      "label": "Size",
      "value": "94–125 cm long; wingspan 231–283 cm"
    },
    {
      "label": "Weight",
      "value": "4.5–7 kg (average about 5.7 kg)"
    },
    {
      "label": "Lifespan",
      "value": "Average about 21 years in the wild"
    },
    {
      "label": "Conservation status",
      "value": "Near Threatened (IUCN Red List, assessed 2021)"
    }
  ],
  "range": {
    "nativeRange": "High mountains of southern Europe, north, east and southern Africa, the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Himalayas.",
    "continents": [
      "Europe",
      "Africa",
      "Asia"
    ]
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "citation": "BirdLife International (2026). Species factsheet: Bearded Vulture Gypaetus barbatus. BirdLife DataZone. Checked 1 November 2026.",
      "url": "https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/bearded-vulture-gypaetus-barbatus"
    },
    {
      "citation": "Animal Diversity Web: Gypaetus barbatus. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.",
      "url": "https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Gypaetus_barbatus/"
    },
    {
      "citation": "Tobias, J. A. et al. (2022). AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. doi:10.1111/ele.13898",
      "url": null
    },
    {
      "citation": "Gill, F., Donsker, D. & Rasmussen, P. (Eds). IOC World Bird List v15.2.",
      "url": "https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/"
    }
  ],
  "lastReviewed": "2026-07-16",
  "canonicalUrl": "https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/bearded-vulture/",
  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY-NC 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/",
    "attribution": "Global Animal Guide — https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/bearded-vulture/",
    "note": "Free to reuse for non-commercial purposes with attribution and a link back to the canonical page."
  }
}