1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:07,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:11,719 Speaker 1: Lauren bogel Bomb Here. Imagine your average three year old 3 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:14,840 Speaker 1: human child, something around three ft or a meter tall, 4 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:19,079 Speaker 1: probably covered in jam. Now imagine that child trying to 5 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:21,640 Speaker 1: get off the ground with a pair of wings. They 6 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:25,880 Speaker 1: have to be pretty big wings. Welcome to the plight 7 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 1: of the Andean condor, species name Voltore griffiths, the heaviest 8 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:34,280 Speaker 1: flying bird in the world, weighing in it up to 9 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:37,600 Speaker 1: thirty three pounds or fifteen kilos. They keep their heavy 10 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: bodies in the air with some of the longest wings 11 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:43,480 Speaker 1: in the world. Their wingspan can range over ten ft long, 12 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:46,680 Speaker 1: that's over three meters. There are only a handful of 13 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 1: birds currently living on our planet that have larger wingspans, 14 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:54,280 Speaker 1: and they're all pelagic birds. Polagic birds being seabirds that 15 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:56,920 Speaker 1: soar over the open ocean for weeks at a time, 16 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:01,600 Speaker 1: such as albatross, petrols, and shear waters. As far as 17 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:04,200 Speaker 1: we know, the largest bird ever to fly was the 18 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 1: polygornous sandersy, which lived twenty five to twenty eight million 19 00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:10,319 Speaker 1: years ago and was twice as large as the biggest 20 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:13,279 Speaker 1: bird living today, with a wingspan of twenty four ft 21 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:17,639 Speaker 1: or over seven ms. The seabirds can accomplish this thanks 22 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:21,319 Speaker 1: in part to the literally uplifting winds that flow over oceans. 23 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:25,640 Speaker 1: The Indian condor, however, mostly relies on up drafts high 24 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:28,720 Speaker 1: in the Andes Mountains across much of western South America. 25 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:32,319 Speaker 1: The problem with being such a huge bird is that 26 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: it makes getting off the ground or even flapping those 27 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:39,319 Speaker 1: giant wings in flight a bit of an ordeal. Soaring 28 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:41,800 Speaker 1: is easy once they're up in the sky, and that's 29 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:45,720 Speaker 1: mainly what Andian condors do. They just float like hang 30 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 1: gliders in the air currents, sometimes surveying the ground for 31 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 1: dead animals to eat as it's a scavenger, and sometimes 32 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:55,440 Speaker 1: just having a nap. But this means that taking off 33 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: is the most costly part of the bird's overall energy supply, 34 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 1: a sign Tists have always known that they spend very 35 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: little time flapping their wings, but a study published in 36 00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:08,519 Speaker 1: July in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 37 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:12,079 Speaker 1: found the Antian condors flap their wings a sum total 38 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:16,560 Speaker 1: of almost never. Not only did the researchers find that 39 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:19,840 Speaker 1: the colossal birds only flap their wings around one percent 40 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:22,839 Speaker 1: of their total flight time. They discovered a bird could 41 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:25,600 Speaker 1: fly for five hours and more than a hundred miles 42 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:29,000 Speaker 1: or a hundred and fifty kilometers without flapping them once. 43 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:32,799 Speaker 1: The research team found that weather didn't affect how much 44 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 1: flapping the condors were doing. Study co author Hannah Williams, 45 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:41,359 Speaker 1: a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior, 46 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:45,120 Speaker 1: said in a press release. This suggests that decisions about 47 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:48,640 Speaker 1: when and where to land are crucial, as not only 48 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:50,959 Speaker 1: do condors need to be able to take off again, 49 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:55,679 Speaker 1: but unnecessary landings will add significantly to their overall flight costs, 50 00:02:56,840 --> 00:03:00,160 Speaker 1: all of which means that Indian condors must understand how 51 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 1: to use thermals thermals being invisible patterns and bubbles of 52 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:07,560 Speaker 1: air moving all around in the atmosphere to their advantage, 53 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 1: and they must understand this much better than scientists previously 54 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:19,079 Speaker 1: gave them credit for. Today's episode was written by Jesselyn 55 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:21,519 Speaker 1: Shields and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this 56 00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:23,840 Speaker 1: and lots of other high flying topics, visit how stuff 57 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:26,160 Speaker 1: works dot com. Brain Stuff is a production of I 58 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:28,880 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Or more podcasts to my heart radio, visit 59 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: the iHeart Radio app Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen 60 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:32,720 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.