Bearded vulture Facts for Kids
Gypaetus barbatus · jip-AY-eh-tus bar-BAH-tus
A big mountain vulture that eats mostly bones.
- 🏃 speed: not yet checked
- ⚖️ 9.9 to 15 lb4.5 to 7 kg1
- 📏 3.1 to 4.1 ft94 cm to 1.3 m1 long
- 🎂 21 years21 years1
- 🍽️ meat
- Doing fine, for now (Near Threatened)
A bearded vulture is a big bird of high mountains. It has long wings and a tuft of feathers like a beard. It eats mostly bones.
Bearded vultures live high in the mountains, on cliffs and in gorges, in southern Europe, Asia and Africa. They have an unusual diet: mostly bones from animals that have already died.
The bearded vulture lives high in the mountains of southern Europe, Asia and parts of Africa, among cliffs, steep slopes and gorges. Its diet is unusual: it eats mostly bones from animals that have already died. Its wings are very long, much wider than the bird is long. In the wild, a bearded vulture can live for twenty years or more.
How big is a bearded vulture?
Bearded vulture in numbers
| Length | 3.1 to 4.1 ft94 cm to 1.3 m1total length |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | no checked number yet |
| Weight | 9.9 to 15 lb4.5 to 7 kg1 |
| Top speed | no checked number yet |
| How long it lives | 21 years21 years1average; in the wild |
| What it eats | mostly bones from animals that have already died |
| Where it lives | high cliffs, gorges and mountains of southern Europe, Asia and Africa |
| What kind | Birds |
| Is it in danger? | Doing fine, for now (Near Threatened)2 |
A number we couldn’t find on a page we trust says so, instead of guessing.
Wow!
- A bearded vulture eats mostly bones.
- It lives high in the mountains.
- Its wings are much longer than its body.
Compare the bearded vulture
Friends and neighbours
Golden eagle
Gray wolf
American bisonThree questions
Books about the bearded vulture, free at the library
Ask a grown-up to tap the button: it shows where to borrow a book about the bearded vulture for free.
For teachers
Use this animal in class: its facts are on this page, and the cards print from it.
Where these numbers come from
- University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Animal Diversity Web: Gypaetus barbatus (bearded vulture), checked 10 November 2026.
- Wikidata, from the IUCN Red List, checked 10 November 2026.
- Wikidata, Bearded vulture (Q126167), checked 30 October 2026.