Condors are Beautiful

In 1985, the wild population of California condors consisted of nine individuals. Critically endangered due to loss of viable habitat and environmental hazards, these last California condors were brought into conservation breeding programs at the San Diego Wild Animal Park and the Los Angeles Zoo.

due to the sensitive nature of the breeding program. However, Park visitors can view California condors not in the breeding program at the Park's Condor Ridge exhibit area.

By 1992, successful breeding at the Wild Animal Park and the Los Angeles Zoo had doubled the number of condors in the world. In 1993 a flock of 12 condors was sent to The Peregrine Fund's World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho. In November 2003, 12 condors were sent to the Oregon Zoo's new California condor conservation center to establish a breeding program there. In addition, California condors have been released back into the wild in four areas: Southern California, Northern California, Arizona, and Baja California, Mexico.

All condors alive today are descended from only 14 birds. They can be divided into three distinct groups or clans, and each clan is highly inbred. Because genetic diversity is critical to a species' survival, the population is carefully managed genetically. Chromosomal analysis of each bird is necessary before decisions on pairings or releases can be made.

The first release of conservation-bred California condors occurred in January 1992 at California's Sespe Condor Sanctuary in Los Padres National Forest. The San Diego Zoo helped to construct a release structure, replicating a mountain cliff rock cavity like the ones in which condors usually nest. Two California condors—a female from the Los Angeles Zoo and a male from the Wild Animal Park—were released with two female Andean condors in order to create a small flock. Six additional California condors were released in December 1992. The young birds were provided with supplemental, contaminant-free food every four to five days. (Field biologists seed strategic feeding sites with livestock carcasses and roadkill in an effort to keep the condors away from the human population while they learn to scavenge on their own. This is done because it takes considerable time for young condors to build up enough strength for long, sustained foraging flights. They also have to learn how to utilize local wind patterns and become familiar with the new environment.)

All released condors are equipped with two radio transmitters: one on the fold of skin in front of the main segments of the wing, and one mounted on the tail. They also have colored code numbers on each wing. Movements and behavior are closely monitored for the first two to three years of each bird's release.

Because they are scavengers, condors tend to be highly curious. They are attracted to human activity and tend to perch on power lines. These hazardous activities have resulted in the electrocution of several released birds, and the poisoning of others (antifreeze ingestion and lead-poisoning from hunter-killed deer). California condors have been retrapped and re-released in more remote areas, and now all condors scheduled for release are given "aversion training." The birds are provided with a choice of perches: natural snags and mock power poles. When they land on the power poles they are given negative reinforcement in the form of a mild shock. They are also subjected to a series of human aversion exercises.

In 2004, three chicks hatched in Ventura County, including one fathered by the last California condor brought in from the wild back in 1985. "To have an original wild condor reproducing again in the wild after 17 years is very gratifying. We have come full circle," said Steve Thompson of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

As of September 2007, the California condor population numbers 305 birds, with 145 now living in the wild. The California Condor Recovery Program is a team effort managed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in conjunction with the  San Diego Zoo, Los Angeles Zoo, The Peregrine Fund, California Fish and Game, Arizona Game and Fish, the Bureau of Land Management, the Oregon Zoo, and Mexican partners including the Instituto Nacional de Ecología, the Comisián Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas, the Centro de Investigacián Científica y de Educacián Superior de Ensenada, and the Direccián General de Zoolágicos y Vida Silvestre, among others.