Lammergeier

The Lammergeier is a unique vulture with a wingspan of nearly three metres. It has a wedge-shaped tail and striking feathers. Adult birds have orange-buff undersides, which they get by bathing in iron-rich soil. Their heads have a black mask and rough feathers that look like a dark beard. Unlike other vultures, it mainly eats bone marrow. It carries large bones high into the air and drops them onto rocks to break them open and get to the marrow inside. This bird lives in mountainous areas across southern Europe, Africa, and Asia. It prefers remote cliff faces and high ground, usually above fifteen hundred metres. In Europe, you can find them in the Pyrenees, the Alps, and some scattered Mediterranean mountain areas. The Lammergeier builds its nests on hard-to-reach cliff ledges and often uses the same sites for many years. It soars on broad wings with very little flapping, which helps it use rising warm air currents in the mountains. This way, it can cover large areas while searching for dead animals to feed on.