Andian Condor

With wings stretching nearly 11 feet (3.3 m) across, a height over 4 feet (1.2 m), and weighing up to 33 lbs (15kg), it’s the largest flying bird on Earth by combined size and weight. Riding columns of rising air, they can travel for hours without a single wing flap, scanning the valleys below for the scent of life’s endings. Once worshiped by the Inca as a sacred bridge between the living and the gods, the condor remains a symbol of endurance and freedom; though fewer than 7,000 remain in the skies today.