World's largest soaring bird can fly for miles without flapping

The world's largest soaring bird, the Andean Condor can fly for hours without flapping its wings, a new study suggests. Scientists at the Swansea University in Wales strapped daily diaries or recording equipment on 8 condors in Patagonia to study their wing beat over 250 hours of flight time. They found that the Condor, with a 10-feet wingspan and weight up to 15 kilos, spent just 1% of its time flapping its wings during take off. One of the birds even flew over 5 hours, covering over 160 kilometers without flapping. Another scientist, from the National University of Comahue in Argentina, added that the soaring skills of these birds are essential for their scavenger-type lifestyle as they have to soar over high mountains for hours for a meal. The devices that were strapped on them were put in such a way that they would fall off in about a week.