The Los Angeles Zoo simply hatched 10 wholesome California condor chicks

Earlier this month, wildlife lovers have been excited over a pair of younger bald eagles that flew out of their nest for the primary time, hovering excessive above Huge Bear Lake.

This week, the main target is on 10 condor chicks that have 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 improve 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 technique, which suggests two chicks are being raised on the similar time by two surrogate California condors, based on the discharge. The Los Angeles Zoo was the primary zoo to make use of this breeding method.

“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 properly being that our animal care staff supplies continues to be progressive and advances the success of the condor program yearly.”

The entire 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. Based on a 2022 research, there have been 40 DDT-related compounds — or chemical compounds that had made their strategy 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 residing within the wild. The species stays critically endangered.