Condor is either of two large vultures found in the Western Hemisphere. The California condor, which once lived wild in many parts of western North America, is critically endangered. Only about 500 California condors survive, about a third of them in captivity. The Andean condor of South America is more common, but it also is in danger of extinction. Andean condors live in the Andes Mountains and along the coast of Peru and Argentina.
Appearance.
California condors are the largest flying land birds in North America, with a wingspan of 8 to 91/2 feet (2.4 to 2.9 meters). They weigh up to 23 pounds (10.4 kilograms). The Andean condor has a wingspread of about 10 feet (3 meters) and weighs up to 33 pounds (15 kilograms). Black feathers cover most of an adult condor’s body. California condors have white on the underside of the wings. The upper wing surface of Andean condors is white. A collar of feathers circles the base of the neck–black feathers on California condors and white feathers on Andean condors. The featherless neck and head are red-orange in California condors and yellow to dark gray in Andean condors. Male Andean condors have a fleshy crest on the head.
Habits.
In the wild, condors spend much of the day resting on high perches. Condors do not build nests. Instead, their eggs are laid in caves, in holes, or among boulders. A female California condor lays just one egg every two years. A female Andean condor also reproduces only every second year, laying one or two eggs.
Condors are powerful, graceful fliers. They can soar and glide for long distances, flapping their wings an average of only once an hour. They may search the ground for food as they fly. Like other vultures, condors eat the remains of dead animals.
Outlook for the California condor.
By the 1980’s, only a small number of California condors survived. Many California condors had been shot. Others died from lead poisoning after eating the remains of animals that had been shot with bullets containing lead. Still others may have died from eating poisoned animal bodies set out to kill coyotes. Increasingly, the growth of urban areas posed a major threat to condor survival. The condor’s way of life requires vast areas of open, hilly country, and urban growth destroys such habitat.
In 1982, biologists began a program to capture all wild California condors. The last wild California condor was captured in 1987. Since then, several hundred condors have been born and raised in captivity. Since 1992, biologists have released some of these condors into the wild in California, Arizona, and Utah.
See also Vulture.
