Classroom lesson · Wildlife · 🇦🇷 Argentina

Andean condor - one of the biggest flying birds

A 3-metre wingspan that lets it glide for hours without flapping

An Andean condor standing on a rock with its head turned

Photo · Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

The Andean condor is one of the largest flying birds in the world. Its wingspan - the distance from one wingtip to the other - is about 3 metres. That is wider than two doors put next to each other. Condors live high up in the Andes mountains and soar over the peaks for hours at a time.

Tell me more

An Andean condor barely flaps its wings. Instead, it rides on warm air that rises up the mountainsides, like a surfer on a wave. Once it has caught a rising current of air, it can glide for hundreds of kilometres without flapping once. That saves an enormous amount of energy.

Condors have bald heads and necks. That isn't because they got too hot - it is because they are scavengers, which means they eat animals that have already died. A bald head is easier to keep clean. Bald skin can also change colour when the condor is excited.

Andean condors only have one or two chicks every few years. Both parents look after the chick for over a year, teaching it to fly. Young condors stay with their families longer than almost any other bird.

Condors are very important in the stories of many people who live in the Andes. In some traditions, the condor is seen as a messenger between the mountains and the sky. Communities in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Argentina all share stories about this giant bird.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01Why might a bird that barely flaps actually be very clever about saving energy?
  2. 02Condor families look after their chicks for over a year. What other animals do you know that take a long time to raise their young?
  3. 03Lots of cultures have stories about birds that fly very high. Why do you think birds turn up in so many stories?
Try this

Classroom activity

Mark out 3 metres on the playground with chalk or string - that's the wingspan of a condor. Stand in a line that long with your arms out. How many of you fit across one condor? Then try to glide (run without flapping your arms) across the playground.

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