Beloved Andean condor facing threat of extinction

[Judi Lynn]

Beloved Andean condor facing threat of extinction
Expanding human development in the Andes is altering the fragile environment of the condor, which is slowly disappearing.
Posted on Thu, Jul. 24, 2008

BY JACK CHANG
McClatchy News Service

TALAGANTE, Chile -- The people of the Andean mountain range have long seen the condor as more than just a big bird. With a wingspan stretching up to 10 feet and a cruising altitude higher than 16,000 feet above sea level, this majestic creature was considered a supernatural being, a source of national pride and even an immortal divinity.

Today, however, the Andean condor is in danger of becoming nothing more than a myth.

Expanding human development in the Andes Mountains, which stretch down the length of South America, has upset the delicate balance of food that the condor depends on to survive, and the consequences have been drastic.

The condor has become virtually extinct in Venezuela and is highly endangered in Colombia and Ecuador, in the continent's north. The bird is considered endangered in Peru and Bolivia, farther down the Andes, and flourishes only in the southern end of the mountain range, in Chile and Argentina.

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/616153.html