The national animal of Ecuador is the Andean condor. By weight, this is one of the largest flying birds in the world and considered, by some definitions, the largest bird of prey in the world. They are an incredible sight and an iconic animal all across Latin America including in Ecuador.
The sight of a Condor is really like nothing else in nature.
You can never be prepared for how large they are whether you see them close up or from afar.
They are both majestic and awe-inspiring, and certainly for some even fearful.
They are very important Ecuadorian symbols, so let’s find out more.
What is the national animal of Ecuador?
The national animal of Ecuador is the Andean condor.
The Andean condor is among the most important animals in South America though its range is quite a lot smaller than it once was.
It is certainly a great deal more common in certain parts of the continent than in others, but nonetheless, it remains important symbolically to many nations.
They are seen in Ecuador, though they certainly do become more common as you travel further south.
They play a very important role in the folklore and mythology of Ecuador and many neighboring countries.
They can be seen as both bad and good omens, and today even those who may never have seen a vulture or condor are aware of the connotations that they carry.
They eat mostly carrion, meaning they scavenge from corpses and are known to circle dead and dying creatures in their last moments.
They prefer large carcasses like deer or cattle.
They have almost entirely black plumage, except for a white ruff around the neck and they have mostly bald heads.
The males have a wattle on the neck as well as a dark red comb on the head, sometimes called a caruncle.
Females are usually smaller than males, which is not very common, indeed an outright exception to the rule, for birds of prey.
They were first described by Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus in 1758, and still retain the binomial name he gave them at the time.
Today they are the only accepted living member of their genus, though the exact taxonomic status of Andean condors, as well as the other New World vultures, is still not entirely clear.
They have evolved from different ancestors from the Old World vultures and are not all that closely related.
Why, then, are they the national animal of Ecuador?
Why is the Andean condor the national animal of Ecuador?
The Andean condor is the national animal of Ecuador for a variety of reasons.
They are considered to be important national symbols of a variety of different things, including freedom, liberation and emancipation.
They are truly awe-inspiring sights to see them so high in the sky and yet still appearing so large in the distance.
There is, of course, also the historic role in folklore and mythology that they have played in this part of the world.
Long before Europeans reached the Americas, condors were naturally very important in the minds of the people that lived there.
They are also seen as symbols of the country’s natural beauty.
Ecuador is a rugged country with a great deal of very high mountains in the Andes range, and the Andean condor often likes to make its home very high in the mountains.
Thus, they are seen to embody this aspect of Ecuador’s geography.
On the other hand, they are seen as a vulnerable species under threat of extinction.
The Ecuadorian government also hopes, by making it the national animal, to bring attention to the fact that they are under a grave threat from many aspects of human activity.
Is the Andean condor a raptor?
You may get a different answer to this question depending on whom you ask.
They do not have the clutching talons of a typical bird of prey like an eagle or a hawk, so by this definition, they are certainly not raptors.
However, they are sometimes known to catch and kill live prey, so most do consider them to be a bird of prey.
It’s really just a question of nomenclature: they are mostly scavengers but sometimes eat live prey.
They are not, though, raptors by any meaningful definition.
As birds of prey, though, they are perhaps the largest in the world.
Is Andean or Californian condor bigger?
Andean condors weigh considerably more than Californian condors and have a much wider wingspan.
They weigh around 33 pounds and have a wingspan of around 10.5 feet.
On the other hand, Californian condors are a bit longer at around 4.5 feet, so it does depend on the metric you use.
Generally, though, the Andean condor is considered to be the biggest condor of them all, though it may not be quite as long as the California condor.
They are much heavier and have a larger wingspan, so they certainly are bigger by the more important metrics.
So, they are by many metrics among the largest flying birds in the world.
They are usually considered to be a bird of prey despite mostly eating carrion, making them the largest bird of prey in the world.
In Ecuador, they represent a number of things but perhaps most simply and importantly the country’s rugged, natural beauty, soaring high above even at the highest elevations as the birds are known to do.