| The Andean Condor is the heaviest bird of prey, weighing 18-33 pounds (males being the heaviest). They have excellent vision, strongly arched beaks, and blunt claws. Its scientific name is Vultur gryphus, so named because like a vulture, it eats dead animals. While feeding, it becomes covered in harmful bacteria because it has to stick its head into the carcass. Mother Nature protectes them from becoming sick after feeding because as it soars through the air, ultra viloet radiation from the sun kills the harmful bactera it may have attracted to it while feeding. It also will prey upon wounded or newborn animals such as goats, lambs, and llamas.
The Andean Condor can be found in South America among the Andes mountains and along the Peruvian Coast. They are an endangered species but with conservation efforts, such as forcing the parents to lay two eggs, we can protect (or at least delay) them from extinction. Normally, condor parents lay one egg every two years. When researchers take away the freshly laid egg from the nest, the parents will lay one more egg. The second egg will be raised by the condors while the first egg will be raised by scientists. Condors raised in captivity (meaning they are not living freely in the wild) can live up to 75 years.
Credits: Animal information obtained from Guinness World Records and Chaffee Zoo
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