When we went in January most of the parents were off fishing for the youngвЂ™uns except this small group below. The best time to view them is in summer time вЂ“ October through March. The best viewing places that I know of are Isla Magdalena near Punta ArenasВ andВ Martillo Island off Ushuaia, Argentina but there areВ also a few small islands off Chiloe and probably other smaller areas all up the coast. They also live in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, and Argentina.ДЄnd here in Chile, we have 2 kinds. The farthest north you will find them is the Galapagos Islands. Surprisingly many live outside the Antarctic (they donвЂ™t need the icy temps) and they donвЂ™t live with polar bears. Who doesnвЂ™t love penguins! Well, you need to travel to the Southern Hemisphere to see them unless they are the Pixar kind. It is on the endangered species list but is making a comeback in some countries through the release of captive bred birds and through education of the local people that condors donвЂ™t kill livestock just clean up the dead ones. It is also one of the longest lived birds living up to 70 years. The head and neck are featherless because vultures are carrion eaters. The condor is one of the largest flying birds in the world reaching a wingspan up to 10 feet 10 inches or 3.3 meters. Love that white ruffle around the neck which is absent in females. What a handsome guy! The Andean condor ( Vultur gryphus) ranges from Colombia all the way down the western coast of South America to the southern parts of Chile. Predators include magellanic horned owls, the fox, and pumas. Herbivorous, they live in the bamboo thickets of the Valdivian rainforest. Fawns are born in November through January which is the austral summer months singly or in pairs. Pudus are mostly solitary and only come together during mating. All pictures were borrowed from Wikipedia. The antlers found only on males and shed annually grow a couple of inches long and can curve back like a mountain goat.You can see the antlers in the picture above. It only grows to 35-45 cm at the shoulders that is 14-18 inches tall and 6-13 kg or 14-30 pounds. The southern species is classified as near threatened. The southern species is native to Chile and Argentina while the northern species is native to Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, and Colombia. The name is from the Mapudungun language of the Mapuche people of central Chile who also called it the Chilean mountain goat as it lives on the slopes of the Andes. The condor and the deer are wearing naval crowns that represent the heroic deeds of the Chilean navy. The colors red, white, and blue are found on the flag with the single star.

The plumes represent the plumes worn on the hat of the president of the Republic of Chile. The coat of arms was designed in 1834 by English artist Charles Wood Taylor. TodayвЂ™s post is about the Chilean coat of arms because it includes two of its most unique animals : the condor and the pudu. It is one of the largest parks in South America with 402,000 hectares or 993,000 acres. This site features many national parks from Los Lagos south including the beautiful Pumalin Park which was donated to Chile by Doug Tompkins in 2017. The farther south you go the more remote the parks become and the greater the biodiversity. Only 40% of the forest is still in existence but much of it is now protected in vast preserves and national parks. Many hectares of land especially in the Los Lagos region were converted to farming and in the Los Rios and Araucania regions the forests were converted to monocultures of Pine and Eucalyptus for logging. Since 1860, the immigration of many Germans has changed the landscape of the Valdivian Rainforest. Half of the plants are endemic to Chile like the southern beeches in the Nothofagus family, the nalca plant, the bamboo, the fuschia bush, and the copihue vine which is also the Chilean national flower. The forest extends from 37 degrees south latitude which is around the city of Concepcion in the Bio Bio Region to 48 degrees south which is the Aysen region.

Chilean coat of arms meaning