NPR

Video: What Is This Wild Condor Doing?

Could the condor in this video that went viral be expressing affection or, even, gratitude? Anthropologist Barbara J. King explores what's really happening.
Source: Getty Images/iStockphoto

A video clip posted this month on YouTube and other sites shows a wild condor, having just flown down from the sky, walking toward and embracing a man in a very moving way. It is capturing attention worldwide and raising some intriguing questions about animal behavior.

According to the text accompanying the video, the man — a cattle rancher named Edgardo, who lives in Loncopué, Argentina — discovered the condor on his patio at home back in March. The bird, then an infant, suffered from a leg injury and had somehow become separated from his parents. Edgardo cared for and fed the condor, who recovered and flew off, but who returns to his rescuer regularly.

Edgardo can be by the organization Breathing with Peace, this comment was included: "Without forgetting the man, the animal always visits his rescuer in gratitude."

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