California Condor
The California condor is the largest North American land bird. It is a New World Vulture. It became extinct in the wild in 1987.
About California Condor
California condor is the only surviving member of Gymnogyps genus. It is black in color with white patches on the underside of the wings. The head of the bird is largely bald. Its wingspan is three metres. The wingspan of California condor is the longest of any North American bird. It weighs up to 12 kilograms. It is the heaviest of the North American birds. The California Condor is a scavenger. It eats large amount of carrion (decaying flesh of humans and animals). The lifespan of California condor is 60 years. It is one of the longest living birds. The bird does not have a syringeal vocalization. Syringeal is a vocal organ at the base of trachea of a bird. They make only hissing sounds. These sounds can be heard only when a person is close to the bird.
Threats
The condor numbers declined in 20th century. Their population declined mainly because of habitat destruction, poaching, prisoning and also due to agricultural chemicals (especially DDT). In 1987, only 27 birds were left on the earth. They were then bred at the San Diego Wild Animal Park through captive breeding. In 1991, they were then reintroduced into the wild. As of 2019, there are 518 California condors in the wild.
Habitat
The California Condor lives in coniferous forest, shrublands and oak savanna. They are also found in large trees and cliffs. The travel range is a mature California Condor is 250 kilometre. Their flying speed is 90 kilometre per hour. They can reach 4.6 kilometres of height during their flight.
Urohidrosis in California Condor
The Condors perform urohidorsis to reduce their body temperatures. The Urohidrosis is the habit of some birds to defecate (discharge feces) onto their legs. This is a cooling mechanism.
Breeding
The condors reach maturity at the age of six. To attract the mate, the male condor performs a display where he turns his head red and puffs out his feathers. If the female accepts, she lowers her head. They then become mates for life. The females lay one egg every other year.
Conservation
The IUCN lists the California Condor as Critically Endangered. The California Condor conservation project is the one of the most expensive conservation projects in the history of the United States. It costed more than 35 million USD.
