Description: Unmistakable large raptor with small 'beard' of feathers, red eye-ring and long, wedge-shaped tail. Black wings and facial mask; rest of head, neck and underparts rich orange. Juvenil all dark, with broader wings, goes through various transitional plumages.
Habitat: Mountain ranges with rocky sites at which species nests and breaks bones, visits surrounding plains, and also areas of tableland.
Food and Feeding: Basically bones (up to 85% of diet), with preference for large bones; particularly bones of medium-sized livestock (sheep, goats) or wild ungulates.
Breeding: Early laying: Dec-Feb or early Mar; Nests on cliffs, mainly in caves, large mass of sticks; 1-2 eggs, incubation 53-58 days, only 1 chick hatches or survives, fledging 106-130 days
Status and Conservation: Not globally threatened, CITES II, but particularly in Europe, but also in N and S Africa and W Asia; only small isolated populations survived; estimated population in Europe 610-1.000 pairs.

Handbook of the Birds of the Worlds, Volume 2 - New World Vultures to Guineafowl. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, 1994, p. 125.