U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The waiting begins to see if the adults accept the hatchling and can learn how to raise it
For the 1st time since captive-bred California condors were reintroduced to the wild 9 years ago, a California condor chick hatched today in a nest in Los Padres Countrywide Forest in Santa Barbara County.
"This is really amazing," said biologist Mike Barth, who was on hand at 12:23 p.m. to witness the historic hatching. ""I still can't stop smiling." Barth said the female condor pried at the shell to help the chick out, spun the egg around, and watched as the chick fell out. "The female looked surprised," Barth added.
"The hatching of a condor chick is wonderful and exciting news and furthers our effort to bring the California condor back from the brink of extinction," said Interior Secretary Gale Norton. "It again emphasizes the importance of private/public partnerships in restoring our wildlife heritage."
The chick's parents were captive-reared condors at the Los Angeles zoo. Biologists from the U.S.F.W.S. and San Diego Zoo removed 2 eggs from the nest on June one and replaced them with a single fake egg. One of the removed eggs was dead and other was in danger of dying of exposure and development complications. That egg was taken to the Los Angeles Zoo where it hatched June 17 after receiving extensive care. The chick has been accepted by a pair captive-reared condors there and appears healthy.
The condors continued to incubate the fake egg until biologists replaced it June 18 with an egg laid by the zoo-reared condor that was showing signs of hatching.
"This is the event everyone who has worked so hard for the recovery of the condor has been waiting for," said Bruce Palmer, U.S.F.W.S. condor coordinator. "With the hatching of this chick, we have jumped several years ahead in the recovery of this majestic bird. If all goes well, this chick may be the beginning of a new phase in the return of wild condors to their native territory."
In moving the zoo-reared egg to the wild, biologists waited until the embryo began to pierce the egg's inner air cell before transporting it by helicopter from the Los Angeles Zoo to the condor nest. Just a day after the zoo-reared egg was placed in the nest by biologists, the chick began to peck through the egg. The hatchling -- which at this stage would fit into the palm of a hand -- appears to be in good health and the adult condor is covering it with its body to provide warmth. High in its remote cliff-face nest, the chick will be dependent on its parents for food through most of the next year.
"We could not have asked for a better candidate in an egg to be foster-reared by these wild parents," said Susie Kasielke, Los Angeles Zoo's curator of birds. "Just minutes before the egg was placed in the nest, the embryo could be heard vocalizing, which is a very healthy sign. We hope that efforts to ensure the success of these birds now beginning to breed in the wild will result in the 1st California condor chick to fledge in the wild in 17 years."
"It is truly gratifying for all of us in this long-term plan to finally have our captive-reared birds be reproducing in the wild," said Mike Wallace, California condor recovery team leader for the San Diego Zoo. "This breeding, as managed as it was, is right on schedule with our expectations."
The main purpose in switching the eggs was to give the birds the most experience possible in raising a chick. The ultimate goal, say biologists, is to get free-flying condors to raise a chick on their own without human intervention. It may take several breeding attempts over several years for the condors to learn all the appropriate behaviors to successfully raise a chick.
"We want to see a chick raised in a truly wild setting. This chick, by being raised in the wild, will be more likely to successfully raise its own chick in the wild," said Palmer .
The last condor to hatch in the wild was in1984. This nesting is unusual because 2 females occupy the same nest. These females each produced one egg after mating with a single male. Scientists believe that inexperience played a primary role in the adult birds' confused incubation behavior as they continually switched places in an attempt to incubate the eggs. The male and one of the females left the nest location about a week ago, and only the one female remains. All these birds were released to the wild in 1995.
In 1987, the last of 27 California condors were removed from the wild and brought into the captive breeding plan at the Los Angeles Zoo and San Diego Wild Animal Park. Reintroductions to the wild of juvenile captive-bred condors began in 1992. Condors do not reach maturity until they are 6 or 7 years old. This is the 1st year that reintroduced condors laid eggs in the wild. Currently, there are 34 condors in the wild in 2 areas in California, and 25 free-flying condors in the Grand Canyon area in Arizona. On March 25, 2001, the 1st egg laid by reintroduced condors was discovered in the Grand Canyon by biologists working for The Peregrine Fund, which manages the release plan there. That egg was broken by the condors and the nesting attempt failed. There are 130 California condors being held in captivity.
Condors are scavenging birds that soared over the Southern California mountains and other areas since prehistoric times but their numbers plummeted in the 20th century. The causes of their decline are not completely known but lead poisoning is believed to be among the factors. Condors were listed as an endangered species in 1967, under a law that predated the existing Endangered Species Act. In 1982, the condor population reached its lowest level of 22, prompting Service biologists to start collecting condor chicks and eggs for a captive breeding program. By late 1984, only 15 condors remained in the wild and 6 of them died within a short period, several from lead poisoning. Lead poisoning occurs after scavenging birds such as condors, turkey vultures, golden eagles and bald eagles eat the meat of dead animals that contain lead fragments from bullets.
The goal of the California Condor Recovery Project is to establish 2 geographically separate populations, one in California and the other in Arizona, each with 150 birds and at least 15 breeding pairs. Condors still face threats that caused their decline. The birds' slow rate of reproduction and years spent reaching breeding maturity make the condor population vulnerable.
The Service's condor recovery plan is a multi-entity effort that includes the Los Angeles Zoo, the Zoological Society of San Diego, the Peregrine Fund, the Vientiane Wilderness Society, California Department of Fish and Game, -and Los Padres Countrywide Forest.
The U.S.F.W.S. is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 94-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses in excess of 535 National wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 70 Countrywide fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid plan that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
-
