Comments on: Two Chicks Hatch at San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park

By: njr

njr — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 +0000

Great to hear that the hatching season is in full swing! When do the newly hatched birds get added to the count of condors? Do they have to be a certain age before they are included in the count?

Editor’s note: The California Condor Recovery Program periodically pulls together numbers of all of the California condors and updates hatches and deaths as needed.

By: SDCritter

SDCritter — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 +0000

Is this the same condor puppet created by the high school student? If so, what a great story to see it in use so quickly!

Editor’s Note: Yes,this puppet is the one created by Kathleen Ferris. It was put to good use raising the first chick to hatch at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park.

By: Anthony Iannucci

Anthony Iannucci — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 +0000

I offer my congratulations on your monumental accomplishment in saving another wild species from the fate of extinction, and I hope that your objective of achieving a self-sustaining population of wild birds is soon realized. However, I have two questions in this regard, to which I would appreciate answers.

Since the current population of 300 birds has, over a period of about twenty years, grown from a collection of approximately twenty individuals, how is the resultant lack of genetic diversity going to affect this new population? And, are the birds that have been introduced to the wild reproducing at a population-sustainable rate.

Thank you,

Editor’s note: Please see the blog post Genetic Diversity Among California Condors for a reply to this question.