The Los Angeles Zoo has celebrated a record-breaking 2024 breeding season for the California Condor, hatching a total of 17 chicks. This surpasses the previous record set in 1997 with 15 chicks. Each of these new chicks will be a potential candidate for release into the wild as part of the California Condor Recovery Program (CCRP).

Rose Legato, Curator of Birds at the Los Angeles Zoo, praised the efforts of their condor team saying, “Our condor team has raised the bar once again in the collaborative effort to save America’s largest flying bird from extinction.” She also highlighted the effectiveness of new breeding and rearing techniques developed by their team, which involve raising two or three condor chicks with adult surrogate condors.

The last chick of this season hatched in June and is doing well. The LA Times featured this famously described “ugly” bird during birth in a series titled “Ugly-cute baby photos.”

These new techniques have allowed for more chicks in the program and ultimately more condors in the wild. In 2017, the LA Zoo was the first to place two condor chicks with a surrogate condor for rearing, a technique not attempted by any other zoo or CCRP partner until that time. This year, they implemented a technique allowing three chicks to be raised at the same time by a female—another first for the program.

The triple brooding process enhances the zoo’s ability to raise condors without human interaction, aiding in easier adjustment when released into the wild. It also allows breeding pairs to produce more than one viable egg in a season.

In this record-breaking breeding season, LA Zoo staff successfully reared three single chicks, eight chicks in double brood situations, and six chicks in triple broods with adult mentors.

The condor breeding program at the LA Zoo started back in 1967 with a malnourished fledgling named Topa Topa, who was rescued from the wild. By 1983, only 22 California condors were left in the world, leading to the creation of a captive breeding program for the species by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Fish and Game Commission. The LA Zoo has been a founding partner in this initiative.

As of December 2023, there are 561 California condors globally, with 344 living in the wild. These numbers fluctuate due to various external factors.

California condors are North America’s largest land birds, boasting wingspans of almost 10 feet. Adults can soar to heights of 15,000 feet and travel up to 150 miles a day. They feed on carcasses of large mammals like deer, and cattle, and marine mammals such as whales and seals, playing a crucial role in nature’s cleaning crew.

The chicks will remain under the zoo’s care for approximately a year and a half. Following this period, they will be evaluated for their potential to be released back into the wild, continuing a practice that has seen over 250 chicks born at the zoo returned to their natural habitat over the years.

Source: Good News Network