The stomach juices of a bearded vulture have a pH of 0.7, which is extremely acidic. The stomach acid of a bearded vulture is more caustic than lemon juice and turns hard pieces of bone into sludge, and it lets the bird digest bones within a 24 hour period.

Bearded vultures prefer fatty bones, which have more oleic acid, and this is linked to saving both foraging time and energy. A summary of studies says bearded vultures prefer bones up to 25 cm long and 3.5 cm across. A bearded vulture eats small and large bones, but seems to prefer larger, older bones.

Two reports give different heights for the dropped bone. A summary of studies says bearded vultures drop oversized bones from 20 to 70 meters up to reach the marrow. The Animal Diversity Web says large bones are carried 50 to 150 meters up and dropped again and again onto rocky sites called ossuaries until they break open.

A bearded vulture swallows small bones and drops the biggest ones to break them on rocks and free the marrow, the most nutritious part of a bone-based diet. Dropping bones is an inborn skill for a bearded vulture, but it must practice it and get better at it as it grows.

Reports also give different shares for the bone in the diet. One summary says a bearded vulture's diet is 70 percent bones, 25 percent soft tissue and 5 percent skin. The Ötztal Nature Park says bearded vultures feed on 80 to 90 percent bone, and the Animal Diversity Web says 85 percent of the diet is bone. One study summary says dead mammals make up 93 percent of the food.

As of November 2026, the main reason vultures have declined in Europe is feeding on poisoned bait that was meant for mammal predators. Vultures remove dead animals from the land quickly, which limits the spread of disease.

Small solar-powered satellite transmitters show scientists where bearded vultures travel, and before a young bird is released, scientists fit it with a tiny tracking transmitter, ID bands on its legs and a bleached pattern on its feathers. Alpine countries share bearded vulture records through the International Bearded vulture Monitoring program.

Bearded vultures have very large home territories, from 250 to 700 square kilometers, and the foraging areas of bearded vultures have been reported to be as large as 7,500 square kilometers. Bearded vulture pairs guard their breeding territories, but their feeding ranges overlap with other pairs.

Bearded vultures perform sky dances, rising to great heights and diving back down, twisting and rolling past the nesting site. A pair builds up to five nests on sheltered ledges or in small caves on the mountainside, and a bearded vulture can glide for hours without flapping its wings.

Words to know

• marrow: soft bone center
• ossuaries: bone-dropping sites
• oleic: type of acid
• foraging: searching for food
• territories: guarded home areas