Defenders' Experts
California Condor Background and Recovery
Condor Basics
The California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) is North America’s largest terrestrial bird, weighing up to 25 pounds with a wingspan of nine and a half feet. It can reach altitudes of 15,000 and may fly more than 150 miles a day in search of the carrion on which it feeds.
Condors are obligate scavengers, meaning they do not kill for their food but eat dead animal carcasses – think of them as nature’s cleaning crew. Unlike many other scavengers, condors do not have an acute sense of smell, but instead rely on their keen eyesight to find their next meal.
Condors can live 45-80 years, but average about 60 years if conditions are right for their survival. Condors have a slow reproductive cycle, and do not reach sexual maturity until they are six to eight years old, and typically only produce one egg every two years.
California Condor Range
In prehistoric times, the species ranged from southern British Columbia to Baja California and across the southern United States to Florida. However, by the time Europeans arrived in North America, the bird’s range was limited to mountains along the Pacific Coast, possibly due to the extinction of large Ice Age mammals.
In more recent history, the bird’s decline can be attributed to shooting and lead poisoning. Current range includes California’s southern coastal ranges from Big Sur to Ventura County and east through the transverse range and the southern Sierra Nevada, with other populations in Baja California and Arizona.
Conservation Status
The California
condor has been fully protected under state and federal law for over 50
years:
1953 –
Listed as a Fully Protected Species under California state statute
1967 –
Federally listed as an endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service
1971 – Listed
as endangered under the California Endangered Species Act
1973 – Passage
of the Federal Endangered Species Act strengthened protections
1973 –
Critical habitat for the California condor established
In 1967, when the California condor was federally listed as endangered, it was estimated that the entire wild population was no more than 50 to 60 individuals. The species was on the brink of extinction in the mid-1980s, when only 22 California condors were known to exist in the entire world.
The passage of the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 made the taking of any endangered species a violation of federal law and strengthened authority and responsibility of all federal agencies in preserving critical habitat and protecting endangered species.
Decline of the Condor
Despite federal and state protection, the California condor continued to decline. The California Condor Recovery Team was established in 1975, and drafted a Recovery Plan outlining additional steps needed to bring about the recovery of the species.
By 1985, when the entire wild known population had been reduced to nine birds, a decision was made to bring all of the remaining wild birds into captivity in order to preserve the species through captive breeding and eventual reintroduction. The last free-flying California condor was captured in April of 1987.
Captive Breeding Program
From 1987 to 1991, the entire population of California condors existed in two captive breeding facilities – one at the San Diego Wild Animal Park and the other at the Los Angeles Zoo.
Fortunately, California condors breed well in captivity and by 1991, a sufficient number of California condors had been produced to initiate a release program for the reestablishment of a wild population. Prior to the reintroduction of California condors, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tested and refined rearing techniques by carrying out experimental releases using Andean condors, a species closely related to California condors.
The California Condor Captive Breeding Program continues to increase the condor population. Partners in the program include the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Ventana Wildlife Society, the Zoological Society of San Diego, the Los Angeles Zoo, the Oregon Zoo, and The Peregrine Fund. The Santa Barbara Zoo is scheduled to join the program in September 2007.
Return to the Wild
Reintroduction of California condors to the wild began on January 14, 1992, when two captive-reared juveniles were released along with two juvenile Andean condors into the Sespe Condor Sanctuary in Ventura County, California.
Since then, releases have occurred in remote regions of the Los Padres National Forest in Southern California; Ventana Wilderness near the Big Sur coast of Central California; Pinnacles National Monument south of Hollister, California; Vermillion Cliffs, Arizona; and Northern Baja California, Mexico.
There are approximately 280 California condors in the world, with just under half of those living in the wild.
Threats to Condors
Despite vigorous efforts to regularly test condors for lead blood levels and administer invasive, expensive treatments as necessary, condors continue to be poisoned and at least 13 have died from lead contamination.
Other threats to successful condor recovery include collision with and electrocution from power transmission lines and poles, ingestion of microtrash (bottle caps, screws, etc.), incompatible development within condor habitat, poaching and accidental shooting, and other sources of poisoning, such as automobile antifreeze and crude oil.
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