![]() This vulture is even capable of dispatching animals much larger than itself. These animals are subjected to untimely deaths in the form of long drops. The lammergeier usually refrains from preying upon living animals, however it may snatch up tortoises, hyraxes, hares, marmots and lizards. Due to their unique dietary inclinations, the lammergeier encounters almost no competition for its bones, which comprise 70-90% of their meals. The gastric fluids of the bird are so acidic and caustic (with a pH of only 1) that bones are easily dissolved. With its powerful beak the vulture often bites through and fractures bones. The lammergeier can swallow entire bones up to the size of a femur. This favourited site is called an ossuary: which is defined as the place where the bones of the dead are stored. The lammergeier habitually returns to one location to crack open the bones. ![]() After spiralling down to inspect its handiwork, the vulture will repeat the procedure if required. After plummeting from the clouds to snatch up the bones, the lammergeier carries them to an altitude of over one hundred feet and drops them to be shattered on the rocks below. The lammergeier remains the only known animal in the world with this peculiar, macabre diet.įrom its aerial vantage point a lammergeier can surveil vast expanses of territory for the victims of predators or treacherous mountain gorges. The most distinctive trait of the lammergeier is that this imposing vulture thrives almost solely on bones and marrow. The Lammergeier – Bearded Vulture The Lammergeier’s Diet Drigung Thil Monastery in Maizhokunggar County, Lhasa, is renowned for its Sky Burial site and abundance of lammergeiers. Donations of human flesh to the lammergeier are celebrated. This is due to how the vulture consumes carrion that would otherwise pollute the rivers that provide drinking water to numerous Tibetans at the roof of the world and the multitudes downstream. The lammergeier is loved and respected throughout the Himalayans. Tibetan legend teaches that the Dakinis carry the spirits of the deceased into the heavenly realm where they will await their reincarnation. ![]() The Lammergeier (which is German for ‘lamb vulture’) is also referred to as the O ssifrage (Latin for ‘bone-breaker’) and the Bearded Vulture.Ĭorpses are offered up to these vultures through a Sky Burial in the belief that the magnificent and elusive birds are actually Dakinis (‘sky-dancers’ or angels). The lammergeier (བྱ་རྒོད། ) is the largest of the old world vultures and traditionally revered as the sacred bird of Tibet.
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