17 Condor Chicks Hatch At LA Zoo, Breaking Record For Endangered Bird's Breeding Efforts

LOS ANGELES, CA — It's been a record-breaking breeding season at the Los Angeles Zoo for the endangered California condor: 17 chicks hatched this year, breaking the record of 15 set in 1997, the zoo announced Wednesday.

The first condor egg of the season was laid at the beginning of January — an early start to the season. The final, 17th chick of the season hatched in June and is thriving, according to the zoo.

The chicks are bred and reared at the zoo as part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's California Condor Recovery Program. They're bred to be released in their native, wild habitat as part of a program that seeks to restore the population of the endangered birds.

"This is a historic moment for the California Condor Recovery Program and the Los Angeles Zoo's animal care team," Rose Legato, the zoo's curator of birds, said in a statement. "Our condor team has raised the bar once again in the collaborative effort to save America's largest flying bird from extinction."

In 1983 there were only 22 California condors left in the world. By December of last year, that number increased to 561 — with 344 of those living in the wild, the zoo said.

The birds are threatened by habitat loss, pesticide contamination, consumption of micro trash, bird flu and — above all — lead poisoning from eating bullet fragments or shot pellets found in animal carcasses, the zoo said.

Legato cited new breeding and rearing techniques that led to the record-breaking number of chicks. Zoo staff put two or three condor chicks together with a single adult surrogate condor to be raised, resulting in more chicks in the program and ultimately more birds to be released into the wild.

The new technique was pioneered in 2017: Until then, no other zoo or California Condor Recovery Program partner had attempted the process.

The California condor has a nine-and-a-half foot wingspan. Standing at three-feet tall, the birds weigh 17 to 25 lbs. They can fly at heights of 15,000 feet and travel up to 150 miles a day, the zoo said.

They're like vultures and other scavengers, acting as a "cleaning crew" when they feed on carcasses of large mammals including deer, cattle, whales and seals, according to the zoo.

LA Zoo visitors can view the birds daily, except Tuesday, in the Condor Spotting area and learn about them from staff members from 12:30-1 p.m. at the picnic area next to the Angela Collier World of Birds Show Theater. Guests can also see Hope, a non-releasable California condor, at the Angela Collier World of Birds Show at noon daily, except Tuesday, weather permitting.

City News Service contributed to this report.