Myra Wagner, age 14, of Birmingham, Ala., for her question:
IS THE CONDOR REALLY A VULTURE?
Condor is the common name for two large birds of prey: the almost extinct California condor and the Andean condor. Both of these birds are definitely in the vulture family.
Both condors are the largest living flying birds. Each type has a wingspan of about 10 feet and adults weigh between 20 and 25 pounds. They are officially classified as New World vultures.
Unfortunately, the California condor is one of the rarest birds in the world. Just a few remain in California's Los Angeles Zoo and the San Diego Zoo, where breeding programs are under way that may again make it possible someday for the birds to go back to their natural home in the coastal range of California.
The California condor's chief enemy has always been man. It often has been shot down by people who could not seem to resist such a large flying target.
The California condor's near disappearance has also come about because many were poisoned by strychnine, which ranchers inserted into dead cattle to kill coyotes and wolves.
There are two other reasons the California condor is almost extinct. First, as the West has been settled, there has been a great decline of the condor's normal food of wild animals. Remember, this is a vulture and its usual diet is dead and decaying flesh of animals, which is called carrion. The second reason is that the condor reproduces very slowly. The bird only lays one egg each mating season and it does not breed until it is at least 6 years old.
Not in the same danger of extinction as the California condor is the great Andean condor. This bird lives high in the Andes mountain range from Venezuela and Colombia south to Patagonia.
The Andean condor's range covers an extremely large expanse of thinly settled countryside so its chances of staying happily alive are better than the chances of its California cousin. Man is no great problem to this bird.
The condor in the wilds builds its nest of a few sticks on bare rocks high on mountain cliffs. Its baby doesn't fly during its first year of life.
While the baby is in the nest during this first year, the parents bring it carrion or dead flesh regularly. On occasion, however, the condor may attack living prey if it is desperate for food.
The California condor isn't the most beautiful bird you've ever seen. It has a bare, yellowish head and its neck has a ruff of dark feathers. The body plumage is a dark gray black with touches of white.
The South American Andean condor isn't quite as large as its North American relative, but it usually weighs more. It has a bare head that is covered with wrinkled gray skin. The male has a wattle under its jaw and its head has a red, cartilaginous comb.
No other bird in the world flies higher than does the Andean condor. It has been spotted at 23,000 feet and it regularly sails along at an altitude between 10,000 and 15,000 feet.