Andean condor
Vultur gryphus
- Size
- Wingspan up to 3.3m
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- The Andes mountains and nearby coasts
A giant black vulture with a white ruff, white panels on its wings and a bare, wrinkled head.
The andean condor that follows you
This page is high in the Andes mountains. Move your pointer across the grass and rock and your animal will soar, stride, shuffle or hover after you. Choose a different animal at the bottom, and tap the notes to open them.
The Andes right now checking the sky…
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01 · SizeThe heaviest soaring bird
It can weigh 15 kilograms, with wings more than three metres across.
02 · GlideFive hours, no flapping
Scientists recorded one condor flying for five hours, and over 100 miles, without flapping once.
03 · AgeA very long life
Condors can live for 70 years.
04 · ChickOne chick, slowly
A pair raises only one chick every two years, so numbers recover very slowly.
05 · HeadA bald head
A bare head stays cleaner when feeding inside a carcass. The skin flushes red when the bird is excited.
06 · SymbolA national bird
The condor is the national bird of Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia.
Meet them all
Who's who in the Andes
Llama
Lama glama
- Size
- About 1.8m to the top of the head
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- The high Andes, where it is kept by people
A long-necked, woolly relative of the camel, with upright ears. It comes in white, brown, black and patches.
Spectacled bear
Tremarctos ornatus
- Size
- About 1.5 to 1.8m long
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Cloud forest and high grassland of the Andes
A black bear with cream rings round its eyes, like a pair of glasses. It is South America's only bear.
Nine-banded armadillo
Dasypus novemcinctus
- Size
- About 75cm long with the tail
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Grassland and forest from the southern United States to Argentina
A small animal in a suit of bony armour, with bands across its middle, a pointed snout and tall ears.
Ecuadorian hillstar
Oreotrochilus chimborazo
- Size
- About 13cm long
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- High slopes of the Andes in Ecuador, up to 5,000 metres
A small hummingbird of the cold heights, olive-green above and white below. The male has a shining violet-blue hood.
Puma
Puma concolor
- Size
- Up to 1.5m long, plus the tail
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- From Canada to the tip of South America
A big, plain, sandy-brown cat with a small head and a long, heavy, dark-tipped tail.
Through the year
When to look for them
Andean animals are there all year. The dry season, from May to October, has the clearest skies for seeing them. The animal following you is shown in red.
Andean condor
Llama
Spectacled bear
Armadillo
Hummingbird
Puma
Good to know
Six things about the Andes
The longest range
The Andes are the longest chain of mountains on land, passing through seven countries.
High country
Many people here live above 3,500 metres, higher than any mountain in Britain three times over.
Four woolly cousins
Llamas and alpacas are tame. Their wild relatives, the guanaco and the vicuna, still roam the heights.
Cloud forest
On the wet eastern slopes the forest sits inside the clouds, dripping with moss and orchids.
Where potatoes come from
Potatoes were first grown in the Andes, and thousands of kinds are still farmed there.
Volcanoes
The Andes have some of the highest active volcanoes in the world.
Photo gallery
Real photos of the animals on this page. Tap one to see it bigger.
Andean condor
Llama
Spectacled bear
Nine-banded armadillo
Ecuadorian hillstar
Puma
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons and are used under free licences. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews. Open a photo to see who took it.
The longest mountain range
The Andes run for 7,000 kilometres down the whole west side of South America. They hold deserts, glaciers, cloud forest and high grassland, often within a day's walk of each other.
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