The Andean Condor is a mountain bird that keeps its habitat to high elevations in rainy and forested parts of the Andes of South America, but which regularly descends to sea-level in desert districts, such as along the arid Pacific coast of Peru and also the arid Atlantic coast of Patagonia, from the Rio Negro South of the Strait of Magellan.
It does not form a common ancestral clade with the superficially similar family of Old World Vultures. They were traditional placed in a family of their own in the Falconiformes. All of its living members are found only in the Andes.
The word Condor itself is derived from the Quechua "Kuntur," which means "purifier" and the birds are considered "the cleansers" of decomposing corpses in nature. In the spiritual sense they are in charge of the purification of souls, showing that the human body can be as light as a feather when the heart is cleansed from negative energies, letting the soul elevate itself as high as the bird does.
Condors are found in the Andes Mountains and adjacent Pacific Coasts of Western South America. It is called the Peruvian Condor, Ecuadorian Condor, Argentinian Condor, Bolivian Condor, Chilean Condor, Colombian Condor, after one of the nations from which it nests.
The Andean Condor is the largest flying bird in the World by combined measurement of weight and wingspan. It has a maximum wingspan of 3.3m /10ft 10in exceeded only by the wingspans of four seabirds/water birds (wandering albatross, southern royal albatross, great white pelican, Dalmatian pelican).
The Condor is a scavenger, feeding on carrion. It prefers large carcasses, such as those of deer or cattle. It reaches sexual maturity at five or six years of age and nests at elevations of up to 5,000m / 16,000ft, generally on inaccessible rock ledges. One or two eggs are usually laid. Because it takes condor parents more than one year to raise a young condor, the rate of reproduction is extremely low: usually only one young, on average, every two years. It is one of the World's longest-living birds, with a life span of over 70 years.
Breeding Andean Condors forage for food as far as 200 kilometers from their nests. However, where food is concentrated in a small area, foraging ranges are smaller. For example, on the arid coast of Peru, where the ocean washes ashore dead marine mammals and sea birds, Condors limit their foraging to stretches of beach several kilometers long.
It is presumed to be Plio-Pleistocene (period beginning about 5 million years ago) species, and the bird has been recognized to be not different from the present Andean Condor. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Andean Condor bred along the entire chain of the Andes, from Western Venezuela to Tierra del Fuego. Although it is still found in much of this range, it has suffered intense persecution from human hands and has been extirpated from many localities.
Three habitat requirements Condors look for: 1- Reasonably reliable winds or thermals upon which to soar. 2- Foraging habitat that is sufficiently open to discover and access carrion food. 3- Adequate supplies of carrion.
Condors soar most frequently when winds are moderate (25-48 km/h), and soar least when winds are strong (over 64 km/h).
A few small bones found in a Pilocene deposit of Tarija Department, Bolivia, belonged to a smaller palaeosubspecies. Tajira is located in South-Eastern Bolivia bordering with Argentina to the South and Paraguay to the East.
The Condor played an important role in the mythology and folklore of the Andean People, and has been represented in the Andean art from 2,500 BC onward, and today they still are a part of their religion. It was considered a symbol of power and health. The bird was associated with the sun deity, and was believed to be the ruler of the Upper World.
The Yahuar Fiesta is a celebration, in which the central theme is the tying of an Andean Condor to the back of the bull, allowing the condor to kill the bull with its talons before being released. This ceremony is a symbolic representation of the power of the Andean peoples (the condor) over the Spanish (the bull).
The condor is featured in several cats of arms of Andean countries as a symbol of the Andes Mountains.
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