Cuenca's Baby Condor Kimsa Just Hit 11 Months — And She's Almost Ready to Spread Her Wings

If you haven't met Kimsa yet, you're missing one of Cuenca's best feel-good stories.

The Andean condor chick — born on June 11, 2025 at Bioparque Amaru — just turned 11 months old, and her keepers say she's hitting some big developmental milestones.

How She's Doing

According to her care team, Kimsa's extremities have gained significant strength, her posture is noticeably more stable, and the feathering process continues — that's the pre-flight stage where those massive wing feathers start coming in. She receives permanent veterinary monitoring and a controlled diet as part of the park's ex situ conservation program.

Here's a detail that might surprise you: her handlers use puppets during feeding and care to avoid direct human contact. The goal is to keep her from imprinting on humans, which is essential if she's ever to be released or contribute to wild population recovery.

Why This Matters

The Andean condor is catalogued as critically endangered in Ecuador. Bioparque Amaru's breeding program is one of the only efforts in the country working to change that. Kimsa isn't just a cute animal story — she's part of a species-level recovery effort.

Go See Her

Bioparque Amaru is one of Cuenca's hidden gems. It's a short cab ride from El Centro and makes for a great half-day outing, especially if you have visitors in town. Watching Kimsa grow up in real time is something you can only do here.

Source: El Mercurio