The Andes Mountains in southern Peru

The Andes Mountains in southern Peru Today’s Video of the Day from the European Space Agency features the Andes mountains in southern Peru.

In this false-color image, vegetation appears blue and irrigated vegetation appears bright blue.

Extending 7,000 kilometers through seven South American countries, the Andes mountains make up the longest continental mountain range in the world. 

The Andes are also the world’s highest range outside of Asia. Mount Aconcagua in Argentina has the highest elevation, reaching 22,838 feet above sea level. Asia is Earth’s largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the Eastern and Northern Hemispheres. It shares the continental landmass of Eurasia with the continent of Europe and the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with both Europe and Africa. Asia covers an area of 44,579,000 square kilometres (17,212,000 sq mi), about 30% of Earth’s total land area and 8.7% of the Earth’s total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the human population, was the site of many of the first civilizations. Its 4.5 billion people (as of June 2019 ) constitute roughly 60% of the world’s population. In general terms, Asia is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Indian Ocean, and on the north by the Arctic Ocean. The border of Asia with Europe is a historical and cultural construct, as there is no clear physical and geographical separation between them. It is somewhat arbitrary and has moved since its first conception in classical antiquity

Thousands of animals are native to the Andes Mountains. Some of the most well-known are the llama, mountain tapir, vicuna, and alpaca.

Overall, there are about 3,700 different animal species in the Andes, including 600 species of mammals, 600 species of reptiles, and more than 1,700 species of birds.

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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer

Video Credit: ESA