A Miraculous Return. How Extinct Birds Were Revived in the Alps

Photo: Weyrichfoto/VCF

During his long life, Balthazar witnessed the return of his own species to the skies and rocks of the Alps, as Lammergeiers have been revived in this area after their disappearance.

Bearded Vultures, or Lammergeiers, are majestic birds from the Accipitridae family that nest on cliffs, with a wingspan of over 2.5 m. One of their most interesting features is their diet: it is believed to be the only animal that is an osteophage, meaning it feeds predominantly on bones.

The Spanish name for the Bearded Vulture — quebrantahuesos ("bone-breaker") — hints at the complex acrobatics involved in such feeding. The birds find bones in the carcasses of dead animals, then drop them from a great height onto rocks to break them into smaller pieces. They often have favorite bone-breaking spots, known as ossuaries, near their nests.

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Bearded Vultures raise chicks high on the snowy cliffs of the Alps. Photo: Weyrichfoto/VCF

These birds once inhabited the mountains of Southern Europe but were eradicated from the Alps — last seen there in the early 1900s — and only tiny wild populations survived in some other European regions.

However, starting in 1986 and over several decades, conservationists released more than 260 captive-bred Lammergeiers into the Alps in Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France, and Germany.

Balthazar was among those first birds released in the 1980s and became the father of the first chick raised in the wild Alps after decades of the species' absence.

Today, Bearded Vultures are again successfully breeding and raising chicks in the wild. In 2025, the wild population of these birds in the Alps for the first time exceeded 100 nesting pairs, reaching 118.

"This is a very successful story, a very beautiful story," says José Tavares, director of the Vulture Conservation Foundation, one of the main organizations behind the reintroduction program.

"This is a huge success that demonstrates that if there's the will, a bit of funding, and a bit of political support, we can really halt biodiversity loss and achieve fantastic results," he adds.

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In the 1980s, conservationists released the Lammergeier Balthazar in the Alps. Decades later, he is still alive. Photo: Asters

Humans and Bearded Vultures have an incredibly long shared history in Europe. Research into ancient Lammergeier nests in caves on the cliffs of southern Spain, used by the birds for generations, revealed a surprising number of historical artifacts, including a 13th-century sandal. But this co-existence of birds and humans was also accompanied by persecution.

"In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there was mass persecution of Bearded Vultures in the Alps," says Tavares.

He notes that the very name "Lammergeiers" (lamb vultures) arose because they were once mistakenly believed to hunt lambs. In reality, Bearded Vultures play an important role in maintaining healthy ecosystems by eating dead animals and preventing the spread of diseases.

"[The 19th century] was a very dark time for wildlife in general, and for large predators and birds of prey in particular. Hunters were paid a bounty for bringing in a Bearded Vulture carcass," explains Julien Thébault, a senior researcher at the French Agency for Biodiversity, who co-authored the 2025 evaluation of the Lammergeier reintroduction program in the Alps.

The study shows that both the number of birds and their breeding success — meaning their ability to raise chicks in the wild, measured by the proportion of nests with eggs that produce a fledged young bird — have grown over time across the Alpine region, indicating the success of the reintroduction program.

Beyond the reintroduction program itself, other factors have also contributed to the return of Bearded Vultures to the Alps, even though their status in Europe as a whole remains endangered.

Most importantly, Lammergeiers are now a protected species in Europe, and hunting them is prohibited (although illegal killings have occasionally occurred).

As other animal species, such as Alpine ibex and chamois, have recovered their populations thanks to extensive conservation measures, Bearded Vultures have gained more food. Protected areas in the Alps, with less human interference and more wild nature than elsewhere, have also contributed to their breeding success.

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Bearded Vultures are an important part of the Alpine ecosystem. Photo: Weyrichfoto/VCF

There are also individual factors. Lammergeiers can live very long — in Balthazar's case, over 37 years already. During this time, they gain experience, which is particularly important when it comes to raising offspring. Bearded Vultures begin to reproduce at around eight years old and continue to do so past 20 and even 30 years, giving them plenty of time to learn and improve.

As a result, when it comes to raising chicks to adulthood, "older birds are better than younger ones because they have acquired more experience," says Thébault, referring to his team's analysis.

"The longer a pair breeds together, the better parents they become and the higher their breeding success," he explains.

This is because raising chicks in the mountains, at an altitude of 2000 meters above sea level, requires numerous skills, he says: where to build a protected and safe nest on high cliffs in a place sheltered from rain and snow; where to find food for the chick; how to protect it from predators like ravens. Since chicks hatch around March and do not leave the nest until July or August, the nest must serve them for a very long time, Thébault adds.

To feed the female while she incubates the egg, the male must also know where to find bones, which he then drops onto rocks to break them and extract the bone marrow. Again, this knowledge and these skills improve with experience, says Thébault: "All these factors help explain the fact that older parents are better than younger ones."

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Experts warn that Bearded Vultures still face threats, such as illegal killings. Photo: Andrea de Giovanni

Parenting also played an interesting role in other parts of the program. For example, conservationists used artificial incubation and "adoption" of eggs to maximize the use of eggs laid by captive birds and build a population large enough to replenish the wild community.

In the wild, Bearded Vultures lay two eggs in the winter months but ultimately raise only one chick, explains Tavares from the Vulture Conservation Foundation. This is because in the days following hatching, the stronger chick kills the weaker one — a strategy known as evolutionary cainism. It is believed to have evolved to give the surviving chick a better chance to survive the harsh Alpine winter and spring.

In captivity, Lammergeier pairs also lay two eggs. But to save the second chick, conservationists take one of the eggs, incubate it, and then place the chick in the nest of a pair that accidentally crushed its own egg or whose chick died. Such a pair usually accepts and raises another chick.

Today, the Bearded Vulture is the most threatened scavenger species in Europe, with only 309 nesting pairs distributed across the Alps, Pyrenees, and some islands.

But in the Alps, the population is now considered self-sustaining.

"We have reached a point where we are close to completing this [reintroduction] project because it has been very successful," says Tavares.

The birds currently being released are no longer needed to increase the wild population — they are selected for genetic diversity to broaden its gene pool, he adds.

Thébault notes that new threats to these birds are emerging simultaneously. One is the reappearance of poisoned baits, likely targeting Europe's growing wolf population, but which can kill birds such as griffon vultures and bearded vultures if they consume the bait.

Another threat is collisions with power lines and wind turbines, says Thébault.

As for Balthazar, he is now being cared for in a conservation center, says Tavares, as he was too weak to remain in the wild.

Tavares hopes that the revival in the Alps can be replicated through reintroduction projects in other parts of Europe.

"It worked," he says, adding that he believes "this is one of the most successful wildlife comeback stories of our time."

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