Latest news with #Andes
Forbes
2 days ago
- General
- Forbes
A Biologist Spotlights The Largest ‘Bird Of Prey' In The World (Hint: It's Also The World's Heaviest Soaring Bird)
Birds, by design, tend to be small, light and streamlined. Yet there are some that push the ... More boundaries of size. Here is the avian world's best example of an ultra-heavyweight flyer. Birds of prey are defined by their sharp talons, hooked beaks, keen eyesight, and carnivorous diet – all of which enable them to hunt, kill or scavenge other animals for food. The bald eagle is a classic example of a bird of prey. It has a powerful, hooked beak. It has sharp talons for catching fish. Its eyesight is incredible. And it has a carnivorous diet, mainly eating fish and small mammals. An example of a bird that wouldn't qualify as a bird of prey is the American robin. The robin is much smaller and has a diet consisting mainly of worms, berries and insects. It doesn't have talons and its eyesight isn't nearly as impressive as a bald eagle's. There are several hundred birds of prey that exist in the world today. Some belong to the family Accipitridae, which comprises hawks, eagles, kites and harriers. Others belong to the family Falconidae and are falcons. Owls, ospreys, vultures and the snake-hunting secretarybird also fall into the bird of prey category. The largest bird of prey happens to be a vulture – a condor, to be precise. It is the Andean condor and it weighs up to 35 pounds. It is not the heaviest bird (that would be the flightless ostrich) and it is not the heaviest flying bird (that would be the great bustard) but it is the heaviest bird of prey. Here is the story of this fantastic flying creature. The Andean Condor – A Superlative Among Superlatives Andean condor perched on a rock, displaying its powerful build and characteristic bald head. The Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) has a wingspan of 10+ feet (the largest wingspan of any land bird). Despite its 30+ pound physique, it soars effortlessly, gliding on thermal air currents with minimal wing-flapping. This is a skill that conserves energy during long flights. Unlike many birds of prey that actively hunt, the Andean condor is primarily a scavenger. It feeds mainly on the remains of dead animals, often spotting carcasses from high in the sky due to its exceptional eyesight. This role is vital in its ecosystem, as condors help clean up dead matter, making sure none of nature's bounty is wasted. Its bald head, often tinted with red or yellow hues, is an evolutionary adaptation to its scavenging lifestyle, helping to keep the head clean when feeding on carcasses. The condor's size and soaring ability allow it to travel vast distances across the rugged Andean landscape in search of food. Its wings are broad and equipped with 'primary feathers' that spread out like fingers, providing extra lift and maneuverability, which is crucial in navigating mountainous wind currents. Remarkably, these birds can fly for hours without landing, covering more than 150 miles in a single day without flapping their wings. Sidebar: Impressed by the Andean condor? Meet the world's tallest, and rarest, eagle here: The Andean condor's soaring ability has been quantified in extraordinary detail. A 2020 study published in PNAS used high-resolution biologging data to track every wingbeat of wild Andean condors across more than 200 hours of flight. The researchers found that condors flap their wings for less than 1% of their total flight time, with one bird covering over 100 miles in a single stretch without flapping at all. Most of the energy expenditure is concentrated during takeoff, while the rest of their movement is powered almost entirely by rising air currents. Even immature birds with limited experience were able to navigate mountainous terrain for hours at a time without powered flight, highlighting the species' extreme specialization for energy-efficient soaring. This efficiency is essential for aerial scavengers like the condor, since their large bodies make each wingbeat metabolically expensive. Andean condor soaring over the Andes, showcasing its massive wingspan and effortless gliding ... More ability. Engineers have even recently looked to the Andean condor for inspiration in designing more efficient wind turbines. You can read this article for the full details, but here are the cliff notes: A 2024 study published in the journal Energy found that mimicking the shape of the condor's wings led to a more efficient wind turbine blade, with an estimated 10 percent increase in energy production. Researchers added curved tips, known as winglets, to existing turbine blades. Modeled after the condor's splayed wingtips, these modifications created a more aerodynamic design that reduced drag and increased lift. The Andean condor is culturally important to the indigenous peoples of the Andes. It is looked to as a symbol of power, health and freedom, and features prominently in Andean mythology and folklore. The Andean condor faces many conservation challenges. Habitat loss, poisoning from carcasses tainted with pesticides or lead, and hunting have led to declining populations in some areas. Conservation efforts, including captive breeding and habitat protection, are ongoing. When comparing the Andean condor to other large birds, it holds a unique niche. While the ostrich dwarfs the Andean condor in weight, the ostrich is flightless. The great bustard, though sometimes larger than the Andean condor, is not nearly as capable a flyer. The condor, however, combines size with unparalleled soaring ability, making it the king of birds of prey. Are you an animal lover who owns a pet, perhaps even a pet bird? Take the science-backed Pet Personality Test to know how well you know your little friend.
Gizmodo
3 days ago
- Science
- Gizmodo
A Rare Interstellar Object Is Zipping Through Our Solar System. This Brand-New Telescope Saw It First
Nearly a month ago, a mysterious object was seen hurtling through the solar system and later confirmed as an interstellar visitor traveling toward the Sun. Several telescopes have since turned their attention to the wandering object, but it turns out the brand-new Vera C. Rubin Observatory was the first to catch a glimpse of 3I/ATLAS. In an act of cosmic serendipity, astronomers pointed the Rubin Observatory toward the patch of sky where the interstellar object appeared during its commissioning phase. Images captured by the observatory, perched atop a mountain in the Chilean Andes, later revealed the comet in its full glory. Rubin's observations of 3I/ATLAS were recorded on June 21, around 10 days before its official discovery, according to a recent paper available on the preprint website arXiv. The Rubin Observatory, overseen by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy (DOE), boasts the largest digital camera ever built for astronomy. Its car-sized, 3.2-gigapixel camera is designed to capture ultra-high-definition images and videos of the cosmos. The observatory unveiled its first images to the public on June 23, observing millions of galaxies and stars in the Milky Way over a period of just 10 hours. The images were not only beautiful—they also revealed supernovas and distant galaxies that could help astronomers study the universe's expansion. With its revolutionary precision, it's no wonder then that the Rubin Observatory captured the recently discovered comet before any other telescope. 3I/ATLAS was first spotted in data collected by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) between June 25 and 29, and again on July 1. By July 2, the Deep Random Survey remote telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, had seen it too. The International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center confirmed that this comet came from outside our solar system on July 2, marking the third discovery of an interstellar object. Since then, astronomers have been rushing to gather as much data as they can on the mysterious object. The Gemini North telescope on Maunakea, Hawaii, recently snapped a close-up view of 3I/ATLAS, capturing the comet's coma in extreme detail. Initial observations of 3I/ATLAS suggest it's the oldest comet ever found, around 2 billion years older than our solar system. Compared to the two previously discovered interstellar objects, 'Oumuamua and Comet 2I/Borisov, 3I/ATLAS is not only older, but it's also faster. A recent study, which has yet to undergo peer review, found that 3I/ATLAS has a hyperbolic velocity of about 37 miles per second (60 kilometers per second). Rubin's early observations of 3I/ATLAS are important considering they are the earliest images captured of the comet by a high-precision telescope. The new paper includes 49 images in total, although some were excluded because they were captured during Rubin's alignment sequence and were out of focus. Nineteen of the images were captured during intentional operations and confirm that 3I/ATLAS does in fact behave like a comet, with a cloud of gas and dust surrounding its icy nucleus, according to the paper. Just as it was the first to spot the comet, Rubin will also be the first to lose sight of it. On August 22, 3I/ATLAS will shift out of the area in the sky currently being watched by the observatory. Until then, the astronomers behind the paper will keep an eye out for the interstellar visitor in Rubin's images.
NHK
6 days ago
- Climate
- NHK
Climate crisis visible in tropical glaciers
The melting of glaciers in the Andes due to global warming is raising the risk of imminent disasters and future water shortages.
The Independent
7 days ago
- Science
- The Independent
Teeth marks on fossil show ‘terror bird' may have been killed in vicious battle with caiman 13 million years ago
Teeth marks seen on the leg bone of a so-called 'terror bird', which were predators 13 million years ago, suggest it may have been killed by an even bigger reptile. The enormous, flightless birds were found in the Americas and could reach up to 3 metres tall. They had powerful legs and vicious beaks which could tear the flesh of its prey. In a fossilised leg bone of one of the huge birds, four deep teeth marks have been discovered, prompting professor Andrés Link of the University of the Andes in Colombia to search for what might have been the bird's killer. Researchers now believe it was a caiman. 'Terror birds were undoubtedly at the top of the food chain,' says Prof Link in the study published by journal Biology Letters. 'But this evidence shows us that they could also fall as prey of large caimans when approaching large water bodies. Maybe they went there to look for prey or [were] moving across this complex ecosystem.' Using 3D scan of the bites, scientists were also able to reconstruct the possible battle between the terror bird and another reptile - a battle the bird appears to have lost. To discover which animal might have killed the terror bird, scientists created a digital model of the tooth marks by scanning the surface of the fossil, which they then compared with the teeth of ancient predators from the region. 'There's no evidence of gnawing and the marks are rounded and in [a] line, more similar to those inflicted by crocodiles and caimans,' professor Link said, with the scientist ruling that it was unlikely to be a mammal behind the attack. The bones, which were first found more than 15 years ago in Colombia's Tatacoa Desert, provide rare evidence of an interaction between two of the top predators on the continent 13 million years ago. But the research team notes that they can't rule out the possibility that the bird was already dead at the time it was apprehended by the caiman, and that the tooth marks could be evidence of scavenging by the reptile. "There is no sign of healing in the bite marks on the bone," explained professor Link. "So if it wasn't already dead, it died in the attack. That was the last day that bird was on this planet - then a piece of its leg bone was found 13 million years later." These types of tooth traces are 'more common than people think', said Carolina Acosta Hospitaleche of the National University of La Plata in Argentina. Last year, she discovered tooth marks on a smaller and older terror bird fossil, around 43 million years old, from Argentina.
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
For years this law firm has sent hundreds on multi-day backpacking trips: ‘There's nobody out there who is going to do anything for you, other than your colleagues'
Good morning! For more than 30 years, law firm Quinn Emanuel has hosted company offsites in some of the most remote locations across the globe. But they're the farthest thing from a vacation. These annual hiking trips are grueling sometimes multi-day rituals meant to build camaraderie and put legal teams to the test. 'It's intense,' says Tigran Guledjian, partner at Quinn Emanuel and co-chair of the firm's national intellectual property litigation practice. He helps run the hikes, and has been attending them for more than 20 years. 'You carry your own backpack with your own tent, and your own sleeping bag, and your own food, and you are responsible for yourself. There's nobody out there who is going to do anything for you, other than your colleagues.' The firm's hiking tradition began in 1993, when founder John B. Quinn led 15 legal analysts through Coyote Gulch in Utah. Since then, the outing has grown significantly, and the firm started travelling internationally in 2008. Now hundreds of employees flock each year to iconic trails like Switzerland's Faulhornweg, Japan's Mount Fuji, and Greece's Mount Olympus, to name a few. Last month the firm took around 250 employees, a quarter of the company, to Cusco, Peru to hike part of the Andes mountain range. They could choose between an 8.5-mile trek to 14,000 feet or an even more rigorous 18-mile overnight to more than more than 15,000 feet. 'These are not easy hikes,' says Stephen Wood, managing partner of the firm's Salt Lake City Office, who also helps execute the event. 'They challenge everyone and we have a broad spectrum of people who are there, from collegiate athletes and those who do Iron Mans for fun, to those who have never camped out in their lives.' Partners say while the trip is expensive for the law firm, the costs are worth it because employees learn to lean on each other when times get rough, and build valuable relationships in the process. In fact, those who have the most difficult time, Guledjian says, are the ones who end up having 'the most rewarding experience.' You can read more about the firm's extreme offsite ritual here. Brit This story was originally featured on Solve the daily Crossword
