Giants of the Andes Sky: teacher key

Andean Condors, grade 6 edition, written for 6th grade. An Andean condor is a giant bird that glides on rising air and cleans up after other animals. Learn how it raises its young and what the numbers say about condors today.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. Which birds of prey have the longest wingspan?
   • Eagles
   • Andean condors (answer)
   • Owls
2. What did the recorders show about condor flight?
   • Condors flap about 1 percent of their time in the air (answer)
   • Condors flap all day
   • Condors never leave the ground
3. What do condors that eat dead animals help reduce?
   • Wind
   • Rain
   • Diseases such as anthrax and botulism (answer)
4. Why do condor numbers recover slowly after losses?
   • Condors raise young slowly (answer)
   • Condors fly too high
   • Condors eat too little
5. A pair usually raises one chick every other year. What does this tell you?
   • Chicks are born every week
   • A pair has few chicks over time (answer)
   • Condors have no parents
6. What does range mean in: threatened over most of their range?
   • The area where they live (answer)
   • A kind of food
   • A mountain peak

Words

• wingspan: wing size
• estimate: careful guess
• range: where it lives
• glide: soar smoothly
• recorders: tracking tools