The Los Angeles Zoo announced Monday it welcomed the first five hatchlings of the California condor, a critically endangered species, marking the successful start of the 2024 breeding season.
The chicks were from the eggs laid at the zoo at the beginning of January. After the first hatchling arrived on March 1, four more hatched a couple of weeks later.
“Our condor pairs here are having a pretty epic egg laying season so far, and they are not done yet,” said Mike Clark, a condor keeper with the zoo. “We are seeing excellent fertility in the eggs produced so far, and we expect four to five more eggs before the 2024 laying season is over.
There are 16 additional eggs that are waiting to be hatched, according to the zoo.
The newly arrived California condor chicks were bred at the zoo as part of the federally supported California Condor Recovery Program. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been working with states and tribal groups since the California condor was classified as endangered in 1967.
Visitors cannot view the condors at the LA zoo, but there are regularly held programs that allow visitors a glimpse of the birds.
Guests can also see Hope, a non-releasable California condor, at the World of Birds Show at 12 p.m. daily except Tuesdays, according to the zoo.
The California condor is considered one of the largest flying birds in the world.
As of December 2023, there are about 561 California condors in the world. 344 of them are believed to be living in the wild, but the accurate count is becoming growingly difficult due to influences such as pesticide contamination and consumption of micro trash in their environment.
