Meghan Sullivan

Sophomore College Final Paper

10/16/16

The Andean Condor ( Vultur gryphus )

Introduction

A common theme throughout our readings in the Patagonia Sophomore College was the

negative impact of humans on animals. Indeed, many conservation problems arise because of

human carelessness. This is true for the Andean Condor of Patagonia, which in the past has been

hunted excessively by humans. Even though this problem has been addressed, the Andean Condor

still faces population decline. In recent years, the number of tourists visiting Torres del Paine

National Park has risen by 1400% between the years of 1986 and 2006. (Herrmann et al 2010: 6)

If humans do negatively impact condors, then now more than ever, measures should be put in

place to mitigate the effect. This research paper explores the relationship of humans and Andean

Condors today. It will attempt to determine if human impact still negatively affects the Andean

Condor population.

Background

At a wingspan of up to 10 ft, a height of up to 4 ft, and a weight of around 30 lbs, the

Andean Condor is the largest flying bird in the world. It is known for it’s bald head, black body

feathers, and white feather collar which is found only on the males. (National Geographic 2016)

Man compared to Andean Condor (National Geographic 2016)

Male Andean Condor (National Geographic 2016)

They can be found from the Patagonian region of South America all the way to Ecuador.

However, the population is not evenly distributed throughout these areas. As the Andean Condor

Condor territory stretches more north, the population decreases. The Patagonian area has by far the

most condors, with the IUCN listing the population there at around 300 compared to Ecuador’s 65.

Total, there are around 10,000 Andean condors in South America. (IUCN 2012) The condor

resides in the coastal and mountainous areas of these regions, as pictured below. This is partly due

to the condor’s role as a scavenger, seeing as a heavily forested area would prohibit them from

easily viewing carcasses. It is also due to their unique flying patterns. Condors primarily coast on

the breeze, only flapping their wings during take off. Due to their large body mass, condors often

have difficulty taking off if they are not in an area with substantial breeze. They often fly up to

16,000 ft in the air, so wind needs to be consistent throughout different altitudes in that region.

Since coastal areas and mountainous regions often have windier environments, these locations are

prime for condor habitats. (Herrmann et al 2010: 4)

Andean Condor in flight (taken on our expedition)

Condor habitats highlighted in yellow

Condors are part of the Cathartidae family, which means they are related to the California

condors. There are many similarities between the California condor, but overall the Andean condor

is bigger, flies higher, and deals with more extreme habitat conditions (such as colder climate and

higher wind speed). However, one similarity remains between the two: their endangerment.

(National Geographic 2016)

In the 1970s, the Andean condor was put on the endangered species list. (IUCN 2012)

Since then, it has been moved to the near threatened category, which means that although it is no

longer endangered, its population is still declining. When one takes into consideration the condor’s

maturity rates and reproductive patterns, this is particularly alarming news. The condor has an

extremely long lifespan - up to 70 years in some cases. They also have an interesting reproduction

pattern: it takes them around 8 years to reach maturity, and once they reach that point they only

breed every two years. During their breeding season, they have one mate and only lay one egg.

These factors create a very low reproduction rate. This means that when death rates are high, it is

hard for their reproduction rates to exceed their mortality rate, and in result the population remains

unstable.

Their endangerment may appear counterintuitive at first. The Andean Condor was revered

in many South American indigenous cultures and legends. Currently, the Andean Condor is on the

national seal for Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. Clearly, there is great cultural significance to

the bird. (Herrmann et al 2010: 6) However, their population decline stems from various factors.

Because condors are scavengers, they are affected by changes in the animals they feed on. Much

like the California Condor, the Andean Condor fell prey to lead poisoning via lead bullets in dead

animals. Along with that, local hunters often mistook the condor’s scavenging as hunting, and in

result would kill the condors to prevent their livestock from being harmed. (Lambertucci et al

2009: 3)

Condors often feed on deceased sheep, which has been mistaken in the past as the condor killing

the sheep

A guanaco, one of the traditional animals that condors scavenge on

Since the condor was first recognized as endangered, there have been efforts to stabilize

their population. Bans were imposed on the killing of condors, and campaigns were launched

which highlighted how the scavengers were of no threat to livestock. However, the population has

still not returned to normal. (IUCN 2012) This leads to many unanswered questions, as the

perceived main sources of their deaths have been addressed. An interesting correlation appears that

might explain the continual decline: the population of condors decreases in areas where human

population increases. (National Geographic 2016) Could the condor’s decline be due to human

interaction?

Hypotheses

Hypothesis #1: Human impact causes the condor breeding and roosting

areas to decrease.

Hypothesis 1 explores the relationship between humans and condors when humans infringe

on the condor’s roosting grounds. According to a 2010 study by Herrmann et al, condors are

affected by humans from up to 200 meters away. The study, which examined the reactions of

Torres Del Paine condors in their nesting areas when humans entered a 200 meter radius, showed a

variety of reactions from the condors. While most of the condors hesitated to land on the roost,

around 30 of them stayed away from the roost and around 10 abandoned the roost altogether.

(Herrmann et al 2010: 7)

No matter how one looks at the data, it shows that humans have a significant impact on

condors. As shown above, only less than 5 condors had no reaction at all. Even more alarming was

the fact that sound had an effect as well. As the study states, “Extremely loud noises, such as those

made by helicopters provoked the greatest lack of attendance at roosts even when they came from

a distance of more than 1.5 kilometers” (Herrmann et al. 2010: 3)

Although noise was not the main focus of Herrmann’s study, that small portion of the study

did prove that human externalities can also affect condors. Compared to the more urban

environments one would find in Ecuador, places such as Torres del Paine are relatively devoid of

human externalities. However, roads still stretch through these remote locations. A study by

Speziale et al examined the effect of roads on the condor.

In the study, they placed carrion 50-350 meters from a road in the Rio Negro province of

Northwest Patagonia, then placed the same type of carrion 500-6000 meters away from the road.

With a pool size of about 196 condors, they carefully measured the different reactions the condors

had. The reactions of the condors were viewed over a period of about 66 days. As the graphs

below show, more condors scavenged away from the road than near it. When they did scavenge on

the road, they spent less time there, often leaving before they could eat. (Speziale et al 2008) This

is significant for a couple reasons. One, it shows that condors are not only bothered by humans

themselves, but are also bothered by other externalities that humans cause such as roads and noise.

Two, the study concluded that “a strip of up to 350 meters away from a road is a bad habitat

Andean Condors.”(Speziale et al 2008: 6) This means that not only will the condors avoid eating in

areas near the road, but also avoid roosting near the road. As tourism increases, and more roads are

eventually built, this could have a severe impact on roosting sites that are in the vicinity.

Finally, it’s not only humans that drive condors away from their nests. Donazar et al

examined a communal roost of around 30 mating pairs in Condorito National Park of Argentina.

They found that “situations where preferred roosting places are limited, competition among

individuals is expected and adjustments in social structure should occur.”(Donazar et al 2002: 3)

Essentially, when humans are near roosting sites, condors start to compete with each other, driving

the less dominant condors away from the roosting site. This poses a problem as the older and more

dominant condors receive the safest roosting spots, while the younger condors are pushed into

roosting areas with higher mortality rates. Because of this, condors who may only have a few years

left to live are receiving the better benefits of the more ideal roosting sites, while young condors

who are the hope for repopulation are being sent to their deaths. As Donazar noted, “Peripheral

places, more prone to predation and hypothermia, were more commonly occupied by subordinate

individuals” (Donazar et al 2002: 4) The two graphs below detail this, with the black bar

indicating poor roosting grounds and the light bar indicating the preferred roosting grounds.

A = adult, M = male, J = juvenile, and F = male (Donazar et al 2002: 6)

In conclusion, hypothesis 1 was confirmed. Although the pool sizes of condors were often

small, in each study, human impact caused clear negative reactions from the condors. Human

impact includes anything from humans themselves as seen in the Herrmann study, or human

externalities such as roads and noise. Perhaps the most surprising conclusion was that when

condors feel that humans are encroaching on their territory, they turn aggressive towards each

other as well. While in some cases, the condors merely left their nests for several hours, other

cases observed the complete abandonment of the nests all together.

Hypothesis #2: Communal roosting and breeding grounds increase condor

population.

After finding that humans do cause condors to leave communal roosting grounds, the next

logical step is to examine the benefits that these roosting grounds have. My second hypothesis is

the following: communal roosting and breeding grounds increase the condor population.

Communal roosting grounds are areas where several condor mating pairs nest and breed. This

number could be anywhere from 10 to 50 bird pairs. For the Andean Condors, these communal

roosting ground are usually on cliffs or mountain sides. Throughout the seasons, the use for these

communal roosts change. During the pre breeding season, there are many birds, and the condors

can be seen building nests and laying eggs. During the chick rearing period there are a medium

amount of birds, and as it moves into the fledgling period there are very few birds, as chicks can be

left unattended. (Lambertucci et al 2007: 7-10)

Studies such as Donazar’s and Herrmann’s conclude that many communal roosts have

better conditions, which make them more attractive to condors. “Better roosting conditions” are

defined as roosts with more hours of sunlight, stronger slope and thermal winds, and located by

areas with more carrion. (Donazar et al 2002: 5) The longer hours of sunlight are beneficial in

order to increase hunting hours and decrease chances of hypothermia. The stronger thermal winds

are essential for the condor’s takeoff. Closer access to food saves the condor time and energy and

can be essential when training their chicks. (Donazar et al 2002: 6) Condors also “showed

preference for ledges on rocks, difficult-to-access caves” that protected them from the elements.

(Herrmann et al 2010: 10)

Essentially, if condors did not communally roost, there would be more nests in unideal

locations, and therefore premature condor deaths would be more likely. By communally roosting,

more condors are able to reap the benefits of an ideally located roost, instead of only having one or

two condors benefit from it.

The graph above shows an overwhelming amount of communal roosts were on the East side of a

cliff, which is attributed to the longer hours of sunlight received on the eastern side (Herrmann et

al 2010: 11)

In conclusion, hypothesis 2 was partially confirmed. The studies prove that communal

roosting locations have better conditions. Communal roosting allows more condors to access these

better conditions, instead of being left to bad roosting areas with dangerous conditions. However,

there were no studies available that gave a concrete measurement of condor deaths related to solo

roosting. More research is needed in this area, but for now it does appear as though there are

benefits to communal roosting.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Overall, humans do have an impact on the Andean Condor. While the impact doesn’t

directly lead to the condors death as it once did in the past (i.e. humans aren’t physically hunting

them anymore), human presence is indirectly leading to population instability. When human

presence is near, condor's abandon their nests or relocate to nests in worse conditions. This causes

the reproduction rate to sink even lower, and in turn makes the population hard to stabilize. It is

important for national parks to survey the land and make note of where condors roost. Once this

information is obtained, buffer zones can be put in place around the roosts. The buffer areas would

keep out humans, therefore minimizing human impact on condors.

Education is also important when dealing with condor population decline. If tourists were

better educated on what a roost looks like and knew the importance of staying away from them,

then maybe tourists would be less inclined to bother condors. As more studies are conducted and

the general public learns more about the importance of conservation, the condor population could

begin to stabilize.

The decline of the Andean Condor is not a lost cause. After all, during our expedition in

Patagonia, we were able to see around 5 Andean Condors soaring in the distance. Much of the

literature on Andean Condors suggested that this would be a somewhat unusual sight to see. After

researching the Andean Condor, nothing compared to seeing them magnificently soaring in reality.

If experiences like that could be conveyed to the general public who have not witnessed such a

sight, then maybe there could be hope for the conservation of the Andean Condor.

One of our stops on the road where a Andean Condor was reportedly spotted

A group of Andean Condors in the distance

Bibliography

Donázar, J. A., & Feijóo, J. E. (2002). Social Structure Of Andean Condor Roosts:

Influence Of Sex, Age, And Season. The Condor Condor, 104(4), 832.

Speziale, K., Lambertucci, S., & Olsson, O. (2008). Disturbance from roads negatively

affects Andean condor habitat use. Biological Conservation, 141(7), 1765-1772.

Lambertucci, S. A., Jacome N. L., & Trejo A. (2008). Use Of Communal Roosts By

Andean Condors In Northwest Patagonia, Argentina. Journal Of Field Ornithology

Gailey, J., & Bolwig, N. (1973). Observations on the Behavior of the Andean Condor

(Vultur gryphus). The Condor, 75(1),

Society, N. G. (n.d.). Andean Condors, Andean Condor Pictures, Andean Condor Facts -

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