Bearded vultures, the largest birds in Europe, once soared over the continent from western Spain to the Balkans. But centuries of persecution against these raptors-once mistakenly considered a scourge to shepherds-eliminated them from all of their habitat in western Europe except for about 100 breeding pairs in the Pyrenees, Corsica and Greece.
With wings stretching as wide as 9 feet and weights of 15 pounds or more, bearded vultures dwarf all of the continent’s other birds. The vultures fly with exceptional grace, diving swiftly along mountain canyons and, during mating season, twisting and pirouetting with great agility. One of four species of vulture found in Europe, bearded vultures earned their name from a small tuft of dark feathers below their beaks. But what truly sets them apart from their carrion-feeding relatives-and from every other bird in the world-is the mainstay of their diet: the bones of dead animals. Their digestive tract is adapted to break down fairly large bones such as the femur of the chamois, the small, goatlike antelope of the Alps. The birds have also learned to break up larger bones by carrying them hundreds of feet up in the air and dropping them on stones. The rest of their diet consists of tendons, ligaments and other carrion.
“The preferred food of bearded vultures are the remains from the prey of other predators,†says Hans Frey of the Veterinary University of Vienna, chief coordinator of the reintroduction project. “After a group of griffon vultures leaves a carcass, for example, what is left behind is the best food for the bearded vulture. They have only to wait there.â€
The seemingly macabre diet of bearded vultures and their imposing physical features (including a menacing-looking “eyebrow†of dark feathers above each eye) spawned European fables about the birds being vicious predators that killed domestic sheep, wild game-and even young children. Spurred by those myths and by bounties paid for the birds, residents of the Alps used guns, traps and poisoned baits to slay the vultures. The creatures also declined because they fed on the poisoned carcasses of other feared predators such as wolves and lynx. And many were killed to provide specimens for private or museum collections. The last bearded vulture in the Alps was shot in the Val d’Aosta province of Italy in 1913.
The bird is still often called by its traditional name, “lammergeier,†a German word that translates to “lamb vulture.†But in recent years, biologists have shunned that name, feeling that it helps to perpetuate the myths that brought about the species’ decline in Europe. Experts point out that the frightening legends about the birds are false: Bearded vultures virtually never kill prey except for turtles (which they drop from the air, as they do with bones, to break open) or if they find another animal near death.