Numbers From the Condor Tags: teacher key

Andean Condors, grade 10 edition, written for 10th grade. Tags on wild condors gave scientists numbers on climbing, soaring and flapping. Read what the numbers show, what condors and black vultures eat and how condors were counted in Colombia.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. How fast could condors climb in strong thermals?
   • As fast as 8.0 meters per second (answer)
   • As fast as 80 meters per second
   • As fast as 1 meter per hour
2. Which did the condors spend more flight time in?
   • Air pushed up by hillsides
   • Thermals (answer)
   • Still air
3. What did Andean condors and black vultures mostly eat in Patagonia?
   • Fish
   • Carcasses of farm animals (answer)
   • Seeds
4. What was the plan of the 1989 Colombian reintroduction?
   • To return condors to their native Colombian home (answer)
   • To move condors to Argentina
   • To count condors
5. More than three quarters of flapping was linked to takeoffs. What does that suggest about flapping in the air?
   • Condors flap most while cruising
   • Condors flap little once they are up (answer)
   • Condors flap only at night
6. What does carcasses mean in: farm animals' carcasses?
   • Dead animals' bodies (answer)
   • Young animals
   • Animal homes

Words

• thermals: rising warm air
• takeoffs: leaving the ground
• scavengers: eaters of carrion
• carcasses: dead animals
• reintroduction: return to wild