Nervous System
Like all vertebrates, the center of the condor's nervous system is the spinal cord, connecting to an anterior brain, which provides them with exeptional eyesight and hearing.
Skeletal/Muscular Systems
Like all vertebrates, California condors have a hard, supportive endoskeleton. As with all birds, California condors have close to 175 different muscles to control wing, leg, eye, neck, organ, etc. movements, and the muscles are concentrated toward the center of gravity.
Circulatory System
California condors have a closed circulatory system (their blood pumps throughout the body in closed blood vessels), and a ventral heart, four-chambered heart. Arteries take oxygenated blood to the tissues, and veins carry blood back to the heart.
Respiration/Vocalization
California condors do not have vocal cords, thus they only vocalize with hisses, grunts, and snorts. (They communicate mainly through body language).
As land animals, California condors take in oxygen with paired lungs.
Reproductive System
Like all birds, California condors lay eggs. Males have an internal pair of bean-shaped testes, where sperm is produced. The females' reproductive system is far more complex, consisting of a single ovary, infundibulum, magnum region, isthmus region, uterus, and vagina. All these parts are necessary for creating the egg before it is laid.
When courting, the male condor stands with his wings half-stretched, and his head down and forward. In this position, he turns in a slow circle, rocking side to side as he does so. A mated pair will also perform acrobatic flights with eachother.
There is no way to distinguish a male condor from a female; both genders are similar in size and color. As of now, the birds are sexed using genetics.
Digestive System/Feeding
Being vultures, California condors feed strictly on carrion. They typically eat the carcasses of large mammals, such as deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, and cattle, (cattle being their main food source currently). They will also eat the bodies of rodents and other small animals, and even the bodies of beached marine mammals.
California condors scavenge for food using their well-developed eyesight or by following other birds of prey. They use their sharp, powerful beaks to tear the soft tissue off a carcass, generally avoiding the hide (if hide or any other indigestible material is eaten, the bird will regurgitate it as a pellet). The food enters a pouch just below the throat called the crop, where it is stored and partially digested before being passed into the stomach. Condors must eat around 1-2 pounds of food per day, but can eat up to 3-4 pounds at one time. If they perform this behavior, they may not need to feed again for several days. California condors eat quickly; feeding typically lasts 20-45 minutes.
The eyes are important features in feeding, since condors rely primarily on their eyesight while scavenging. The main organs in the actual digestive process include the beak, crop, stomach, liver, gizzard, and intestines.
Like all vertebrates, California condors have a hard, supportive endoskeleton. As with all birds, California condors have close to 175 different muscles to control wing, leg, eye, neck, organ, etc. movements, and the muscles are concentrated toward the center of gravity.
Circulatory System
California condors have a closed circulatory system (their blood pumps throughout the body in closed blood vessels), and a ventral heart, four-chambered heart. Arteries take oxygenated blood to the tissues, and veins carry blood back to the heart.
Respiration/Vocalization
California condors do not have vocal cords, thus they only vocalize with hisses, grunts, and snorts. (They communicate mainly through body language).
As land animals, California condors take in oxygen with paired lungs.
Reproductive System
Like all birds, California condors lay eggs. Males have an internal pair of bean-shaped testes, where sperm is produced. The females' reproductive system is far more complex, consisting of a single ovary, infundibulum, magnum region, isthmus region, uterus, and vagina. All these parts are necessary for creating the egg before it is laid.
When courting, the male condor stands with his wings half-stretched, and his head down and forward. In this position, he turns in a slow circle, rocking side to side as he does so. A mated pair will also perform acrobatic flights with eachother.
There is no way to distinguish a male condor from a female; both genders are similar in size and color. As of now, the birds are sexed using genetics.
Digestive System/Feeding
Being vultures, California condors feed strictly on carrion. They typically eat the carcasses of large mammals, such as deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, and cattle, (cattle being their main food source currently). They will also eat the bodies of rodents and other small animals, and even the bodies of beached marine mammals.
California condors scavenge for food using their well-developed eyesight or by following other birds of prey. They use their sharp, powerful beaks to tear the soft tissue off a carcass, generally avoiding the hide (if hide or any other indigestible material is eaten, the bird will regurgitate it as a pellet). The food enters a pouch just below the throat called the crop, where it is stored and partially digested before being passed into the stomach. Condors must eat around 1-2 pounds of food per day, but can eat up to 3-4 pounds at one time. If they perform this behavior, they may not need to feed again for several days. California condors eat quickly; feeding typically lasts 20-45 minutes.
The eyes are important features in feeding, since condors rely primarily on their eyesight while scavenging. The main organs in the actual digestive process include the beak, crop, stomach, liver, gizzard, and intestines.