![\"Patagonia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Patagonia-National-Park.jpeg\")
Patagonia National Park is home to a range of animal species, including the Andean condor, huemul deer, Darwin\u2019s rhea and puma. Credit: Linde Waidhofer<\/p>\n
Weighing in at up to 15kg with a wingspan of over 3m (about 10ft), the Andean condor<\/a> is the world\u2019s heaviest and biggest raptor. <\/p>\n The bald-headed, white-ruffed vulture is found in the Andes mountains and adjacent Pacific coasts of western South America, but it is under threat.\u00a0<\/p>\n Habitat loss is a problem, but the biggest issue is \u2018secondary poisoning\u2019 which occurs when the scavengers<\/a> eat carrion contaminated with poison used to control the predators of domestic livestock.\u00a0<\/p>\n The species has been in steep decline in central Chile, but in the Patagonia National Park, things are taking off.\u00a0<\/p>\n Footage shows the condors being released in Patagonia National Park, Chile. Credit: Rewilding Chile<\/p>\n Carmen is a female condor born in captivity in 2023. Auquinco is a juvenile male rescued in Lago Ranco with a damaged wing, and Farell\u00f3n is a male discovered in the mountains of Chile\u2019s Metropolitan Region with a fractured foot.\u00a0<\/p>\n Several months ago, the trio was transported from the Raptor Rehabilitation Center in Central Chile to pre-release pens in the Park, where they were quarantined and received health checks. When they took to the sky, they joined around two dozen other Andean condors, all released over the last decade as part of the Manku Project.\u00a0<\/p>\n Behind the scenes of the Andean condor release. Credit: Rewilding Chile<\/p>\n The birds are all fitted with satellite and radio transmitters. \u201cSince 2019, we have been using the satellite monitoring of flight patterns to understand the condors\u2019 movements, their threats, and identify where the critical risks are concentrated,\u201d says Francisca Cort\u00e9s Solari, executive president of Philanthropy Cort\u00e9s Solari. \u201cThis helps design policies, and measures of protection within territorial strategies to truly contribute to the effective conservation of this emblematic species for Chile and our region.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The Andean condor is a national symbol of Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, where it plays an important role in folklore and mythology. It\u2019s also a critical ecosystem engineer. \u201cCondors play a key role in nature,\u201d says Cristi\u00e1n Saucedo, wildlife director of Rewilding Chile. By scavenging carcasses, condors help to prevent the spread of disease<\/a> and return nutrients to the soil. They are also as an indicator species. Their population status reflects the overall health of their ecosystem.\u00a0<\/p>\n Top image: Condor release. Credit: Diego M\u00e1rquez for Rewilding Chile<\/p>\n More amazing wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cheered on by local community groups, three rehabilitated Andean condors have been released into the skies of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":{"0":"post-245982","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}