- Peru is home to one of the world’s largest flying birds, the Andean condor, which has a wingspan of around ten feet (nearly double the height of an average person).
- The Incan Empire was larger than the Roman Empire at its peak. Both built huge road networks, with the Incan network of roads, bridges, tunnels and causeways stretching a whopping 24,855 miles in total.
- It is believed that the Incas did not have any wheels, so they managed to build all of these roads and other impressive structures without them. This meant they probably had to carry huge stones up the mountains by hand, or chisel them out of the mountains themselves.
- Potatoes originated in Peru and were first cultivated by the Incas thousands of years ago. They were then brought over to Europe by the Spanish, who invaded Peru in the 16th century. Today there are over 3,000 varieties of potato growing in Peru.
- Peru is home to a colourful stripey mountain, called Rainbow Mountain or Vinicunca. It is made up of seven different colours, which vary depending on the mineral content in the ground.
- Cotahuasi Canyon and Colca Canyon in Peru are both around twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the USA, and are two of the deepest canyons in the world.
- The Amazon Rainforest covers about 60% of Peru.
- Peru is home to the world’s highest sand dune – the Cerro Blanco in the Sechura Desert, which measures a huge 3,860 ft from top to bottom.
- Three quarters of all the alpacas in the world live in Peru – that’s about 2.5 million alpacas.
- The Amazon River (the largest river by volume in the world) begins in Peru, up in the Andes.
