Earlier this month, wildlife lovers had been excited over a pair of younger bald eagles that flew out of their nest for the primary time, hovering excessive above Massive Bear Lake.
This week, the main focus is on 10 condor chicks that had been hatched on the Los Angeles Zoo, making them eligible to be launched into the wild to assist restore the state’s depleted condor inhabitants.
“This 12 months’s chicks will ultimately assist enhance the genetic variety of the wild inhabitants of condors,” Denise Verret, chief govt and director of the Los Angeles Zoo, stated in a information launch. “This iconic species represents a conservation win for Los Angeles and for California.”
4 of the chicks are being raised below a double-brooding methodology, which implies two chicks are being raised on the similar time by two surrogate California condors, in line with the discharge. The Los Angeles Zoo was the primary zoo to make use of this breeding approach.
“The L.A. Zoo’s management in breeding California condors clearly demonstrates the wedding between conservation and animal husbandry,” Misha Physique, deputy director of animal packages for the Los Angeles Zoo, stated within the launch. “The care and nicely being that our animal care group offers continues to be modern and advances the success of the condor program yearly.”
All the chicks bred on the zoo are eligible to be launched into the wild as a part of the zoo’s California Condor Restoration Program, though a few of them could also be held again for future breeding, the discharge states.
Condors are below risk from lead poisonings and different toxins. In response to a 2022 examine, there have been 40 DDT-related compounds — or chemical substances that had made their solution to the highest of the meals chain from contaminated marine life — discovered within the blood of untamed California condors.
There have been solely 22 California condors left on Earth when the California Condor Restoration Program began 4 a long time in the past. As of 2024, there have been 561 condors, with 344 dwelling within the wild. The species stays critically endangered.
