The Andean condor holds a mythic place in South American history, represented in Andean art dating to 2500 B.C. and still today the official symbol of a number of nations. It also faces threats—from the farmers that view the bird as a danger to their livestock, from the loss of its habitat, from power lines, which condors sometimes collide with.

Since the early 1990s, WCS has worked with local Bolivian communities on sustainable natural resource management in the country's Madidi ­Tambopata landscape, a 42,500­-square-mile stronghold for condors, among others. Here, WCS scientists are monitoring wildlife populations and working to develop trans­boundary conservation plans that encompass the landscape's borders in northern Bolivia and southern Peru.

Ongoing programs in Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina will allow WCS staff to monitor annual migratory patterns in adult Andean condors, to gain information involving the distribution of those populations.