You’d love all these amazing Andean condor facts. The Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) is the world’s largest flying bird. While the California condor lives in North America the Andean condor is found in the western South America.
Andean Condor Facts for Kids
Although the Andean condor is shorter in body size as compared to the California condor, it has a larger wingspan. The wingspan grows 270 to 320 cm in adults. Adult males weigh 24 – 33 pounds and adult females average 18 – 24 pounds in weight. It has an overall length of 100 – 130 cm. The condor has 30 – 33 cm long tail.
Andean condors breed in the Andes, Santa Marta Mountains, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, western Argentina, Tierra del Fuego, Bolivia, and Venezuela.
Where Do Andean Condors Live? The condor makes home in a variety of open habitats such as mountainous areas, alpine areas, grasslands, and rocky regions. It rarely lives in the lowlands for it probably becomes difficu
lt for such a heavy bird to take a flight from the ground. In Brazil, the condors live in the desert areas as well as southern-beach forests in Patagonia. The condor prefers to make habitats at an altitude of 9,800 to 16,400 feet.
What Do Andean Condors Eat? Like most vultures, the Andean condors are scavengers. They are carrion eaters. Condors like to feed on carcasses of rheas, llamas, armadillos, horses, mules, donkeys, pugs, sheep, goats, dogs, rabbits, red deer, birds, rodents, and wild boars.
The female lays 1 to 2 bluish white eggs in February and March. The egg weighs up to 280 grams.
Andean Condor Lifespan: The average lifespan of an Andean condor is about 50 – 60 years in the wild. It is one of the few living birds which have a long lifespan. The oldest specimen died at the age of 72 years.
Predators of Andean condor’s eggs are foxes and birds of prey.
