The Andean condor is the largest flying bird in the world by combined measurement of weight and wingspan. It is a large black vulture with a ruff of white feathers surrounding the base of the neck and large white patches on the wings. The head and neck are nearly featherless, and are a dull red color, which may flush and change color in response to the bird’s emotional state. The species is considered near threatened by the IUCN and is threatened by habitat loss and by secondary poisoning from carcasses killed by hunters.
About Andean condor in brief
The Andean condor is the largest flying bird in the world by combined measurement of weight and wingspan. It is a large black vulture with a ruff of white feathers surrounding the base of the neck and, especially in the male, large white patches on the wings. The head and neck are nearly featherless, and are a dull red color, which may flush and change color in response to the bird’s emotional state. It reaches sexual maturity at five or six years of age and nests at elevations of up to 5,000 m, generally on inaccessible rock ledges. Unlike the California condor, which is known from extensive fossil remains and some additional ones of congeners, the fossil record of the Andeancondor recovered to date is scant. The Andean Condor is a national symbol of Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru and plays an important role in the folklore and mythology of these countries. The condor has a wider wingspan, ranges from 270–320 cm, and is typically heavier, reaching a weight of 11–11kg for males and 8–11 kg for females. The species is considered near threatened by the IUCN and is threatened by habitat loss and by secondary poisoning from carcasses killed by hunters. Although both are similar in appearance and have similar ecological roles, the New World and Old World vultures evolved from different ancestors in different parts of the world and are not closely related.
The exact taxonomic placement of the Andean condor and the remaining six species of New World vultures remains unclear. The South American Classification Committee has removed the New world vulture from Ciconiiformes and instead described them as incertae sedis, but notes that a move to Falconiformes or Cathartiformes is possible. The generic term Vultur is directly taken from the Latin vultur or voltur, which means \”vulture\”. Its specific epithet is derived from a variant of the Greek word γ ωάξά. The word condor itself isderived from the Quechua kuntur. It can range in length from 100–130cm. Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 75–85cm, the tail is 33–38 cm, and the tarsus is 11–12cm, which can range from 7–8 cm to 2–12 cm. The female condor is smaller than the male,. an exception to the rule among birds of prey. It is the only accepted living species of its genus, Vultu gryphus, and the only species known only from a few small bones found in a Pliocene deposit of palaeo-Pleistocene deposits in Bolivia, Bolivia, Peru and Chile. It has a maximum wingspan of 3.3 m exceeded only by the wingspans of four water birds, the roughly 3. 5 m maximum of the southern royal albatross, great white pelican and Dalmatian pelican.
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This page is based on the article Andean condor published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 01, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
