Where the Flapping Happens: teacher key

Andean Condors, grade 9 edition, written for 9th grade. A study near Bariloche found that condors flap for only 1.3 percent of their flight time, mostly at takeoff. Read how condor weights compare, what condors eat and how a return to Colombia began.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. In the Bariloche study, what was most of the flapping linked to?
   • Takeoffs (answer)
   • Landings
   • Nesting
2. How much of their recorded flight time did the eight condors flap?
   • 1.3 percent (answer)
   • 13 percent
   • 50 percent
3. More than three quarters of flapping came with takeoffs. What does that suggest?
   • Getting a heavy bird off the ground takes the most flapping (answer)
   • Condors flap more in the air than on the ground
   • Condors never take off
4. Which extinct bird of Argentina is estimated to have weighed about 72 kilograms or more?
   • Andean condor
   • Argentavis (answer)
   • California condor
5. What does reintroduction mean in: the 1989 Colombian reintroduction?
   • Returning a species to a place where it once lived (answer)
   • Building a nest
   • Counting birds from a plane
6. What is the Andean condor’s beak like?
   • Short and round
   • Flat like a duck’s
   • Hooked at the end (answer)

Words

• takeoffs: leaving the ground
• reintroduction: return to wild
• Vulnerable: at high risk
• scavengers: eaters of carrion
• carcass: dead animal