Bearded vultures live in the mountains at elevations up to 12,000 feet above sea level. You used to be able to find them all over the world, but now they live only in parts of Asia (in the Himalayan Mountains), Europe (in the Alps) and southern Africa (in Lesotho and some of South Africa).
The bearded vulture is called a scavenger because it eats animals that are already dead. It plays an important part in the food chain because it eats a lot of bones. There are only a few kinds of animals that can do that! Sometimes, the vultures carry the bones way up high in the air--and then drop them onto rocks so that the bones break. Once they're broken, the vultures can eat the bone marrow inside. Pretty smart, right?
The bearded vulture is endangered in Lesotho because people are destroying their habitat by building roads, houses and powerlines. Humans hunting too much in Lesotho have also decreased their food supply.
