The Andean condor flies again

2001/11/12 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Zoologia

The
‘Andean spirit’ is the largest bird in the world, but it has long been in danger of extinction. Therefore, the biologists of Chile and Argentina have collaborated in the Liberation Program of the Count and after several years of work have decided to release eight diners in the Andes.

It is a bird that formerly spread from Venezuela to Patagonia, but was included in the list of endangered species in 1973. In Venezuela it has already disappeared and in Colombia and Ecuador it is believed that there are only a hundred. Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina have also been significantly reduced.

Those responsible for the program consider man as one of the few natural enemies of the tower. In their day, the farmers, convinced that they could act against their animals, saw him as an enemy and for many years have tried to kill as many condors as possible. However, the condor is a scavenger, like a vulture, that only eats dead animals. On the other hand, many considered that the meat of the turret was a source of virility and that it could be used as medicinal against diseases, which also increased the hunting of the same.

On this occasion, however, Argentine and Chilean biologists are delighted. Curiously, one of these condor puppies is the son of a pair of condors that Salvador Allende gave to Fidel Castro in 1972. On the other hand, as soon as the condalas are released, they will have the help of NASA to track the footprint of their flights and know where they nest.