In a study near Bariloche, Argentina, eight young condors weighing 9.5 to 13.9 kilograms were fitted with recorders, GPS units and radio tags. The tracking study ran from 2013 to 2018 in an area of mountains and flatter steppe. The GPS units were set to record a location once every minute. The recorders held an accelerometer. This is a sensor that can pick out each wingbeat, so scientists could tell exactly when a condor flapped.
Scientists found that the condors flap their wings only about 1 percent of the time they are in the air. A condor soars on rising air and can glide a long way without using much energy. Condors use the rising warm air that spirals up off cliff faces to soar for hours. In one study, a condor flew for about 5 hours and more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) without flapping its wings once. Animal Diversity Web says an Andean condor can travel as much as 200 miles in a day at high altitude while looking for food.
Andean condors nest on bare cliff ledges. The nesting territory around a nest has been described as about 1 kilometer across.
Andean condors may cool down by excreting on their own legs and letting it evaporate. This leaves the legs stained white.
A condor can eat more than 15 pounds (6.8 kilograms) of meat at one meal. It may be unable to fly after such a large meal. The condor also helps keep nature clean. Condors that eat dead animals help reduce diseases such as anthrax and botulism.
The Incas honored the condor in the 15th century with their Temple of the Condor at Machu Picchu. Four countries put the Andean condor on a national symbol: Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador.
The condor was declared extinct in Venezuela in the late 1960s. Only 30 to 60 birds were thought to survive in Colombia in the 1980s. In a separate report, one zoo said in the late 1980s that fewer than two dozen were flying free in Colombia.
As of November 2026, the IUCN Red List lists the Andean condor as Vulnerable. This means it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild. As of November 2026, the Peregrine Fund says the Andean condor is endangered in Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador. As of November 2026, scientists estimate that fewer than 7,000 adult Andean condors live in the wild.
Young condors change feathers slowly and need about eight years before they get their parents’ black and white. Nobody knows how long wild condors really live. The best estimate is about 50 years.
Outside the nesting season, Andean condors often gather in groups to rest and sleep on rocky cliffs. In Patagonia, as many as 196 Andean condors have been counted together at a communal roost.
Words to know
- accelerometer: motion sensor
- wingbeat: one flap
- territory: claimed area
- Vulnerable: at high risk
- roost: resting place
