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A jewellery chain is a metal chain used in jewellery to encircle parts of the body or to support decorative charms and pendants. Jewellery chains are typically made from precious metals such as gold and silver, and have been worn since antiquity, with examples known from ancient Babylonia, Egypt, Greece and Rome. This gold chain, dating from the late 16th century and now in the collection of Livrustkammaren (the Swedish royal armoury), comprises 48 oval links alternating between garnet-set and rock-crystal-set designs, decorated with blue and white enamel. It may be a smaller version of King Charles IX's chain for the Order of Jehova, created in 1607, although another theory suggests that it was made by the goldsmith Ruprecht Miller and worn by King Gustavus Adolphus at his declaration of authority in 1611.Artefact credit: possibly Ruprecht Miller; photographed by Erik Lernestål
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The bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) is a very large bird of prey in the monotypic genus Gypaetus. It is vernacularly known as the Homa, a bird in Iranian mythology. The bearded vulture is the only known vertebrate whose diet consists of 70 to 90 per cent bone. It lives and breeds on crags in high mountains in Iran, southern Europe, East Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Tibet, and the Caucasus. The bearded vulture population is thought to be in decline; since 2014, it has been classified as near threatened on the IUCN Red List. Bearded vultures are 94 to 125 centimetres (37 to 49 inches) long, with a wingspan of 2.31 to 2.83 metres (7.6 to 9.3 feet). This bearded vulture was photographed carrying a piece of carrion in the Alps in Switzerland, where the species was reintroduced in the late 20th century after having become locally extinct in the early 20th century.Photograph credit: Giles Laurent