Emily Chan
Vultures are often seen as some of nature’s most unappealing creatures. With their wrinkled skin, large, hunched bodies, and bald heads, they are the complete opposite of beauty and glamor. Their scavenging habits don’t really help their reputation either.
Most vultures’ looks may be off-putting, but bearded vultures, also known as lammergeiers, are brightly colored, making them a lot more attractive to the eye.
They have dark, glossy wings and long, thin goatees. Their heads, chests, and legs are a vibrant hue of reddish-brown.
Interestingly enough, these birds dye themselves that shade by bathing in rusty water or rubbing damp red soil on themselves, effectively covering their feathers in iron oxide.
They are the only birds known to color themselves on purpose, and it is still unclear exactly why they do that.
Like other vultures, lammergeiers feed on the remnants of the dead. However, they eat bones rather than flesh.
They can swallow small bones whole. With larger ones, like femurs and ulnas, the birds will fly high into the air and drop them onto rocks to break them up.
Scavenging for bones is a much cleaner process than feeding on the guts and blood preferred by other vultures.
Still, lammergeiers are exposed to filth and bacteria, which is thought to be why they engage in “cleansing” rituals.
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