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The Dragon Mountains—Beautiful but DangerousAwake!—1988 | September 8
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Not to be overlooked is the giant, soaring lammergeier, also called the bearded vulture. It has the eating habits of the vulture, but in flight it resembles the eagle. The chest is off-white, the throat and neck are an orange color, and the head is white. This contrasts with the black feathers on the wings and tail. A tuft of black bristles forms a “beard” around the beak, and a mask of black feathers around the eyes adds to the bird’s fearsome appearance. But it is a shy bird that lives mainly on carrion.
The lammergeier has the habit of dropping bones from a great height to shatter them on rocks. It then swoops down to scoop the marrow out with its tongue.b The black eagle and the Cape vulture also reside here, but the lammergeier, with a wingspan of nearly nine feet, [3 m] is king. Unfortunately, it is an endangered species; very few are left. A lookout blind is provided at Giant’s Castle Nature Reserve where it may be observed.
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The Dragon Mountains—Beautiful but DangerousAwake!—1988 | September 8
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b Leviticus 11:13 and Deuteronomy 14:12 mention the osprey, a bird of prey with the Hebrew name peʹres, meaning “the breaker.” The King James Version renders this as “ossifrage,” meaning “bonebreaker.” Quite possibly, then, these verses refer to the lammergeier.
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