The Andes has a rich plant population and is home to about 30,000 various species of plants. Other animals include llamas and alpacas the Andean condor, the largest vulture in South America and the vicuña, a member of the camel family. Their fur gets thicker in the colder, higher altitudes and their ability to jump and climb serves as a protection from predators. One of the most well-known animal inhabitants of the Andes is the chinchilla. To survive in the Andes, animals have to be rugged, agile and be able to keep warm. While Bingham thought he had stumbled upon the Vilcabamba, or lost city of the Incas, when he came upon Machu Picchu, he would later find the so-called lost city when he discovered another ruin, Espíritu Pampa. (Image credit: Ammit Jack (opens in new tab) Shutterstock (opens in new tab)) Vicuñas, which live in the high alpine areas of the Andes, are related to camels.
It now serves as a major tourist destination. Their existence was largely undiscovered, save for some local residents, until July 24, 1911, when the locals led Yale University professor Hiram Bingham to Machu Picchu, at an elevation of 7,710 feet (2,350 m) in the Peru portion of the mountain range.īecause it was relatively undisturbed, Machu Picchu provided a glimpse into the life of the Incas and scientists believe it served as the palace compound of Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, who reigned from about 1438 to 1471. The Incas managed to establish themselves in the Peruvian Andes in the 15th century, only to be wiped out by civil wars and disease from European invaders to which they had not developed immunities. The mountain shepherds have survived at higher altitudes of 17,000 feet on a permanent basis because their bodies have been able to adapt, including changes to the makeup of their cells. The lack of oxygen at high altitudes and rough terrain made it hard for people survive. There is not a lot of evidence of early human life in the Andes, with the oldest human remains being an average of 10,000 to 12,000 years old although scientists believe there was human habitation prior to that time.
Ī male Andean condor flies above the highlands of Ecuador. The Andes are also home to the world’s highest volcano when measured above sea level, Ojos del Salado on the Chile-Argentina border, which reaches 22,615 feet (6,893 m), and more than 50 volcanoes that reach 19,685 feet (6,000 m).
The Andes Mountains of South America are home to 99 percent of tropical glaciers - permanent rivers of ice at high enough elevations not to be affected by the types of balmy temperatures usually associated with the tropics. The mountains form a rain cover over the eastern plains of Argentina, which have extremely dry weather. To the west, the dry climate is dominated by the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.
The northern part of the Andes is typically rainy and warm, and the weather is also wet in the eastern part of central Andes, and the area to the southwest. Because the Andes act as a large wall between the Pacific Ocean and the continent, they have a tremendous impact on climate in the region.
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