Andean condors live high in the Andes mountains. These mountains are in South America. It can soar as high as about 5,500 meters above sea level.
Among birds of prey, the condor has the longest wingspan. A condor’s wings stretch up to about 3.2 meters from tip to tip. That is 10.5 feet. A big male weighs up to about 15 kilograms, or 33 pounds. A female weighs less. Its body is about 1.3 meters long at most.
A condor has no feathers on its head. This helps keep it clean while it eats. A male is larger than a female. He has a comb on top of his head.
A condor soars on rising air. It can glide a long way without using much energy. Scientists put recorders on wild condors. They found that the birds flap only about 1 percent of the time they are in the air. In one study, a condor flew for about 5 hours without flapping its wings once. It flew more than 100 miles, or 160 kilometers.
A condor uses its sharp eyesight to find food from high in the sky. Condors mostly eat the dead bodies of large animals, such as deer, cows and sheep. They help keep nature clean this way. It cuts down the spread of disease.
Four countries put the condor on a national symbol. They are Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador.
Condors do not build nests, and the female lays one egg. The parents keep it warm for about two months before the chick hatches. A pair usually raises just one chick every other year.
A wild condor can live about 50 years. As of November 2026, the oldest Andean condor known in a zoo lived to just under 80 years old, at Beardsley Zoo in Connecticut.
Words to know
- wingspan: wing size
- soar: glide high
- disease: sickness
- recorders: tracking tools
- glide: soar smoothly
The short version
Andean condors live high in the Andes mountains of South America. Among birds of prey, the Andean condor has the longest wingspan, up to about 3.2 meters (10.5 feet) from tip to tip. A condor soars on rising air and eats animals that are already dead.
Quick facts
- An Andean condor's wings stretch up to about 3.2 meters (10.5 feet) from tip to tip.
- Scientists found that condors flap their wings only about 1 percent of the time they are in the air.
- Condors help keep nature clean by eating dead animals, which cuts down the spread of disease.
- Andean condors do not build nests, and the female lays one egg.
- A wild Andean condor can live about 50 years.
How does an Andean condor fly without flapping?
A condor soars on rising air and can glide a long way without using much energy. Scientists put recorders on wild condors and found that the birds flap their wings only about 1 percent of the time they are in the air.
What do Andean condors eat?
Andean condors mostly eat the dead bodies of large animals, such as deer, cows and sheep. Condors help keep nature clean by eating dead animals, and this cuts down the spread of disease.
