Days of the condor.
Earlier in June, wildlife enthusiasts were excited over a pair of young bald eagles that flew out of their nest for the first time, hovering high above Big Bear Lake.
This week, the focus is on 10 condor chicks that were hatched at the Los Angeles Zoo, making them eligible to be released into the wild to help restore the state’s depleted condor population.
“This year’s chicks will eventually help increase the genetic diversity of the wild population of condors,” Denise Verret, chief executive and director of the Los Angeles Zoo, said in a news release. “This iconic species represents a conservation win for Los Angeles and for California.”
Four of the chicks are being raised under a double-brooding method, which means two chicks are being raised at the same time by two surrogate California condors, according to the release. The Los Angeles Zoo was the first zoo to use this breeding technique.
[…]
Condors are under threat from lead poisonings and other toxins. According to a 2022 study, there were 40 DDT-related compounds—or chemicals that had made their way to the top of the food chain from contaminated marine life—found in the blood of wild California condors.
There were only 22 California condors left on Earth when the California Condor Recovery Program started four decades ago. As of 2024, there were 561 condors, with 344 living in the wild. The species remains critically endangered.
HABITAT
California condors live in the grasslands and chaparral-covered mountains of California, Arizona, and Baja California, Mexico.
DIET
As vultures, condors are carnivorous scavengers, feeding on a variety of carrion from livestock to deer and smaller animals, bison, pronghorn, and marine mammals.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Adult condors measure three to four feet in body length and typically weigh between 17 and 24 pounds. They can live more than 50 years. The oldest bird at the L.A. Zoo, Topatopa, was born in April 1966.
What incredible birds. They are dinosaurs living among us. Let’s hope we can save them.