Habitat
High mountains, cliffs and open uplands.
HIGH MOUNTAIN · FIELD PROFILE
Bearded vulture
Gypaetus barbatus · هما
Mountain scavengerBone specialistSoaring bird
A mountain vulture with one of the strangest diets among birds: a scavenger specialised to exploit bones after other consumers have finished.
Ecology.
Bearded vultures patrol mountainous terrain using rising air and vast visual range. Their ecological niche is closely tied to carcasses and bones from wild and domestic ungulates.
Food web
Scavenger with an exceptional reliance on bone.
Flight
Uses mountain air currents to search broad areas efficiently.
Archive meaning.
The species closes a loop in the mountain food web. What looks like waste after a carcass has been stripped can still be a specialised resource.
Field note
Bearded vultures are famous for carrying large bones into the air and dropping them onto rocks to break them into swallowable pieces.
Artwork note
The image on this page is an interpretive habitat or archive plate, not a diagnostic specimen photograph.
Verification
Taxonomy and conservation claims follow the archive's specialist-source hierarchy and should be read with the dated source record.