Species profile
Vultur gryphus
Andean condor
VU · Vulnerable — Vulnerable — high risk of extinction in the wild
About this species
Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) is part of the curated SpeciesWatch catalogue and is classified as Vulnerable. The Andean condor can glide for hours over the mountains without a single wingbeat, riding thermal updrafts along the Andes at altitudes above 5,000 m. Its recorded population direction is decreasing, so the category needs to be read alongside continuing losses of individuals or local populations.
Habitat, behaviour and ecological role
This profile associates the species with terrestrial, mountain. These labels summarise environments used during different stages of its life rather than drawing an exact range boundary. It is one of the heaviest flying birds on Earth — so heavy that it prefers to launch from cliffs, letting gravity do the work of take-off. Its anatomy and behaviour are responses to those environments, while movement can connect distant places requiring different forms of management.
Why this species is at risk
The condor appears on the coats of arms of several Andean nations and has been sacred in Andean cultures for thousands of years. The catalogue records 3 principal pressures for this profile: Poisoning, Persecution, Habitat loss. They should not be treated as isolated causes. Habitat change, exploitation, pollution, disease and climate stress can reinforce one another, while the importance of each pressure varies between regions and through time.
Conservation outlook
Protecting and reconnecting habitat is a priority, together with infrastructure planning that keeps feeding, breeding or migration routes functional. Direct protection needs to combine enforcement with conflict prevention, demand reduction and local benefits that make coexistence viable. Actions need long-term monitoring and revision as evidence changes; a positive intervention in one place does not by itself represent recovery across the species.
Editorial review: 2026-08-21
Threat factors
Known occurrences
Dots are georeferenced occurrence records from OBIS (marine) and GBIF (global), not individual animals and not a complete range map. Up to 500 recent API results are cached; the profile renders at most 500 points.
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Listen to this species
Tocancipá, Tocancipá, Cundinamarca · 0:21 · https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/