Breeding Season at the Wild Animal Park
Posted at 11:08 am May 23, 2008 by Ron WebbDespite the wildfires of October 2007, the condors at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park had a productive breeding season. We weren’t exactly sure how the fire, and the loss of one of our breeding facilities would affect the 2008 season. Several birds had to be moved to new pens at a time when they are normally settling in to begin courtship. Although they started much later than they normally do, all of the birds performed admirably! Ultimately, 11 eggs were laid here at the Wild Animal Park. Eight were fertile and three were infertile. Of the fertile eggs, one died very early in development (perhaps after the first few days of growth) and five have hatched. We’re still waiting for the other two. One is due at the end of May, while the last egg is due in the middle of June.
Of the three infertile eggs, one was produced by a pair of younger birds – this sometimes happens when birds are gaining nesting experience- and two were laid by a bird that was not housed with a male. This was our big surprise of the season! Itaxmay, our mentor for the Baja-bound condors laid two eggs while she was housed with three young birds waiting to be shipped to Mexico for release. Normally, Itaxmay and the Baja cohort are housed in a facility deep in the backcountry of the Wild Animal Park. The wildfire burned through their large flight pen and it wasn’t safe to return them after the fire. So, they were housed in our breeding facility, which is equipped with a nesting chamber. With access to this chamber, and stimulated by the courtship displays of the pair housed in the pen next door, Itaxmay surprised us all by laying her first egg – and her second one was laid 30 days later!
The five chicks that have already hatched are all healthy and growing quickly. Three are being puppet-raised and should eventually be released in Baja California. Two others are being raised by their parents and may be released in either California or Arizona.
The oldest puppet-raised chick is named Sitow (say “SEE-toe”), which means, “to cleanse with smoke from burning sage” in Chumash. Sitow was the first chick to hatch after the fire. The second chick is Yinci (say “YIN-see”), a Chumash word for “to get hot.” Aqshwalaw (say “ahk-SHWAH-lah”) hatched from an egg that was laid on Valentine’s Day, so we thought it appropriate to name it the Chumash word for “love.”
The two chicks being parent-raised are named Oxkon (say “OH-cone”) and Ich-Ich (say “EECH-eech”). They are also both Chumash words; Oxkon means “thunder” and Ich-Ich means “younger sibling.” Sitow and Oxkon are siblings, as are Yinci and Ich-Ich.
We’ll keep you posted on the last two eggs, as well as progress on all of the chicks’ growth. Stay tuned!
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May 24th, 2008 at 11:57 am
How exciting to hear that things have gone well with these birds after all the trauma of the fires! How do you decide whether to let the parents rear the birds or to hand-rear them?
Editor’s note: The population of condors in the world is at 316 birds at this point in time. One of the goals is to reach a population of 450 condors. We use a technique called double clutching. We remove the 1st egg and puppet raise that chick. A condor usually lays a replacement egg approx a month later. We usually leave that egg/chick with them to raise. That way we can hatch up to 4 chick in two seasons. In the wild they would raise only one chick every other year.
May 28th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
I understand male and female Ca. Condors look alike and are sexed by looking at their chromosomes in their blood.
Who perfected that blood test and when?
Editor’s note: The technique was developed at CRES. The process is very beneficial to the program and now the entire CA condor recovery participants send their samples to San Diego for analysis. Even the birds hatched in the wild.
May 28th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Nice job S.D.W.A.P. !