A mountain vulture with beard-like feathers below the beak and a diet centered on bone.
Adults have black facial markings and long black bristles hanging from the base of the beak.
Bearded Vultures process bones from carcasses, swallowing smaller ones and dropping larger ones onto rocks to break them.
Persecution and poisoning helped eliminate the species from the Alps. A captive-bred release programme began in Austria in 1986, supporting young birds at protected cliff sites until independence.
The first wild-hatched chick fledged in 1997, eleven years after releases began. Monitoring reproduction and reducing poisoning hazards remain integral to restoration.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Poisoned carcasses and baits are hazards. Alpine restoration has combined captive-bred releases, supplementary feeding and monitoring of released birds and wild breeding.