Condors are a type of vulture, which means they help clean up the environment by eating animals that have already died. They have bald red heads — no feathers there means they stay cleaner when feeding. A condor can go several days without eating and then consume a huge meal all at once.
Condors are expert gliders. They can soar for hours without flapping their wings even once, riding invisible currents of warm air called thermals. Scientists have tracked condors travelling 170 kilometres in a single day without a single flap. Imagine flying that far without even moving your arms!
These birds are very important in Andean culture. For the Aymara and Quechua peoples, the condor is a symbol of strength, health and connection to the mountains. It appears on Bolivia's national coat of arms. Seeing a condor overhead is considered very lucky.
Andean condors can live for 70 years or more — almost as long as a person. They have just one chick every two years, and both parents take care of it for a long time. This means it takes many years to rebuild a condor population if numbers fall, so people work hard to protect them.