Andean condor

Andean condors eat animals that have already died.

They look down from the sky to find food. Eating dead animals helps keep the land clean.

Andean condors are scavengers: they eat carrion, the bodies of animals that have already died. In Peru and Chile, some feed on dead seals and fish along the coast.

They use their excellent eyesight to spot a meal from high in the air, and they watch for other birds of prey gathering on the ground or circling in the sky. A condor can eat more than 6.8 kilograms of meat at once and may be too heavy to fly afterward! By cleaning up carcasses, condors help slow the spread of diseases.

Like all vultures, the Andean condor is a scavenger that feeds on carcasses, and in Peru and Chile it descends to the coast for dead seals and fish. It finds food by sight, scanning from great heights and watching for other birds of prey that gather on the ground or circle in the sky.

Its bare head stays cleaner while feeding, and the curved bill tears and rips food. A single meal can exceed 6.8 kilograms, after which the bird may be unable to take off. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance notes that condors have a high resistance to bacteria, and that by consuming carcasses they help reduce the spread of diseases such as anthrax and botulism.

Condors can't sing or call.

They hiss, click and grunt instead. They often sit together in the sun with their wings spread out.

Condors cannot make calls like other birds, because they lack the voice box that birds use to sing. Instead they hiss, click and grunt.

When they are not searching for food, condors may rest in small groups, stretching their enormous wings in the sun or cleaning their feathers. After a meal, a condor rubs its head and neck on the ground to wipe them clean. To court a female, a male spreads his wings, clicks his tongue and hisses, and the skin of his neck turns pale yellow.

Between searches for food, Andean condors may roost in small groups, sunning with wings spread or preening between foraging flights. After feeding, they rub the head and neck back and forth on the ground to clean off food.

In courtship the male spreads his wings, clicks his tongue and hisses while his neck flushes pale yellow; if the female accepts, the pair chooses a nest site, usually a shallow cave on a cliff ledge. Without a syrinx, condors communicate only with hisses, clicks and grunts.

There are fewer Andean condors than there used to be.

People are raising young condors and letting them go in the wild. Local people teach their neighbors about condors.

The Andean condor is listed as Vulnerable, and scientists estimate that about 6,700 adults are left. Some condors are harmed after eating carcasses that people have poisoned to try to stop mountain lions and foxes. Lead from bullets in carcasses, habitat loss and less food also harm them.

There is good news. Since 1989, zoos and partners have released 79 condors into the wild in Colombia and Venezuela, and some have begun to breed. Local condor guards teach their neighbors about the birds.

The IUCN's 2020 global assessment lists the species as Vulnerable, with about 6,700 mature individuals and a decreasing trend. Listed threats include crops and plantations, power lines, hunting and trapping, and invasive species and disease. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance highlights poisoned livestock carcasses, set out by ranchers to kill mountain lions and foxes, as well as lead from bullet fragments, habitat loss and reduced food.

In the late 1980s fewer than two dozen condors flew free in Colombia. Since 1989, when the first birds left a release aviary in Chingaza, Colombia, 79 condors, many hatched at the San Diego Zoo, have been reintroduced in Colombia and Venezuela; radio and satellite tracking show released birds surviving and beginning to breed. Community condor guards and school workshops support the program.