The heaviest soaring bird
It can weigh 15 kilograms, with wings more than three metres across.
The Andes
Andean condor
Vultur gryphus
A giant black vulture with a white ruff, white panels on its wings and a bare, wrinkled head.
- Size
- Wingspan up to 3.3m
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- The Andes mountains and nearby coasts
Soars round you without a wingbeat. Move your pointer and see.
When to look
Andean condor
Good to know
Six things about the andean condor
Five hours, no flapping
Scientists recorded one condor flying for five hours, and over 100 miles, without flapping once.
A very long life
Condors can live for 70 years.
One chick, slowly
A pair raises only one chick every two years, so numbers recover very slowly.
A bald head
A bare head stays cleaner when feeding inside a carcass. The skin flushes red when the bird is excited.
A national bird
The condor is the national bird of Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia.
The real thing
Photos of the andean condor
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Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
How to spot one
Colca Canyon in Peru is famous for condors: they rise past the viewpoint on the morning's first warm air.
How to help
Condors are killed by poisoned bait put out for other animals. Support groups that work with farmers and breed condors for release.
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