3/19/2023 0 Comments Andean condor![]() ![]() Naturally, they feed on the largest carcasses available, which can include llamas, alpacas, rheas, guanacos, deer and armadillos. Their excellent eyesight allows them to seek out dead or dying animals while hovering high in the sky. High flyers, Andean condors soar to heights of 5,500 meters (18,000 feet).Īndean condors maintain a large home range, often traveling 200 kilometers (120 miles) a day in search of carrion. They prefer to roost on high places from where they can launch without major wing-flapping effort.Īndean condors are often seen soaring near rock cliffs, using the heat thermals to aid them in rising in the air. Like all vultures, they are carrion feeders, not predators.Īndean condors are active during the day and spend most of their time soaring. This adaption is well suited for a lifestyle of walking and scavenging.Īndean condors are vultures. The feet of Andean condors are much less powerful with shorter blunted talons compared to those of other birds of prey. The bases of their upper and lower mandibles are dark with the rest of the beak being ivory colored. The beak is hooked at the end and functions in tearing rotting meat off a corpse. Sexes also differ in eye color as well, with males having brown irises and females having red. In the male, there is a wattle on the neck and a large, dark red comb or caruncle on the crown of the head. This baldness is presumably a hygienic adaptation, as the bare skin is easier to keep clean and dry after feeding on carrion. The head and neck of adult condors are bare of feathers and are generally black to dark reddish brown, while juveniles have much darker skin and young hatchlings have fluffy grey down on their bodies. When extended, the wing tips have gaps between the primaries which is an adaptation for soaring. They also have white flight feathers on their wings as adults, with those of the male being more pronounced. Their weight can range from 11 to 15 kg (24 to 33 lb) for males and 8 to 11 kg (18 to 24 lb) for females.Īndean condors have dark feathers in maturity (while juveniles are olive-grey and brown), with a white collar or downy plumage around the base of their necks. Overall length can range from 100 to 130 cm (3 ft 3 in to 4 ft 3 in) and wingspan from 270 to 320 cm (8 ft 10 in to 10 ft 6 in). It is also is the largest living land bird capable of flight if measured in terms of average weight and wingspan. The Andean condor is the largest flying bird in South America. In January of 2010 a wild-born, captive condor died at nearly 80 years old at the Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport Connecticut. The Andean condor is one of the world’s longest-living birds, with a lifespan of around 50 years in the wild. It prefers areas with wide open spaces which aid in their detection of food. Its habitat is mainly composed of open grasslands and alpine areas up to 5,000 meters (16,000 feet) in elevation. In the north, its range begins in Venezuela and Colombia, where it is extremely rare, then continues south along the Andes in Ecuador, Peru, and Chile, through Bolivia and western Argentina to the Tierra del Fuego. It is found in South America in the Andes. Reintroduction programs are working to grow populations of these South American birds.The Andean condor ( Vultur gryphus) is a New World vulture. The Andean condor is considered threatened but is in far better shape than its California cousin. A mating pair produces only a single offspring every other year, and both parents must care for their young for a full year. These long-lived birds have survived over 75 years in captivity, but they reproduce slowly. These birds do not have sharp predator's claws, but they will raid birds' nests for eggs or even young hatchlings. Along the coasts, condors will feed on dead marine animals like seals or fish. They prefer to feast on large animals, wild or domestic, and in picking the carcasses, they perform an important function as a natural clean-up crew. Scavenging and DietĬondors are vultures, so they keep their sharp eyes peeled for the carrion that makes up most of their diet. Like their relatives, the California condors, Andean condors have bald heads. These condors are mostly black, but males have a distinctive white “collar” around their necks and some white markings on their wings as well. Andean condors are found in mountainous regions, as their name suggests, but also live near coasts replete with ocean breezes and even deserts that feature strong thermal air currents. ![]() For that reason, these birds prefer to live in windy areas where they can glide on air currents with little effort. Because they are so heavy (up to 33 pounds), even their enormous 10-foot wingspan needs some help to keep them aloft. Andean condors are massive birds, among the largest in the world that are able to fly. ![]()
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