EdwardRivera-CaliforniaCondor

=**California Condor (//Gymnogyps californianus//)**=

California Condor is a North American species of bird in the New World vulture family Cathartidae and the largest North American land bird.

Location/Habitat[[image:rivera2.gif width="400" height="364" align="right" caption="Location of Condors download 10/06/09" link="@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CaliforniaCondorRangeMap.gif"]]
They live in the mountains along the Pacific coast from British Columbia to northern Baja California. During the 20th century until there were only 22 California condors known to exist in the world. There were no California condors in the wild between 1988 and 1991, but reintroduction into the wild began in early 1992 and continues today. The height of the condor is 50 inches, the length is 3 ½ - 4 ½ feet (wingspan of about 9 feet), the weight is 17-25 lbs, males larger than females, and the lifespan can live 45-80 years, but average about 60 years if conditions are right for their survival. The condor prefer to eat large dead animals like deer, cattle, and sheep. Also known to eat the carcasses of smaller animals like rodents and rabbits. Condors can soar up to heights of 15,000 feet and may travel up to 150 miles a day in search of their next meal. Like vultures and other scavengers, condors are part of nature’s cleaning crew. Things could get pretty mess without the services of these important animals in the ecosystem! California condors require suitable habitat for nesting, roosting, and foraging.

Niche
The California Condor is a Scavenger. It feeds off carrion, or dead animals. the Condor b reeds once every two years, producing only one egg and b oth adults incubate the egg, for about 59 days. The chick remains in the nest for about 5-7 months, at which time it makes small flights. Remains dependent on the adults until it is 12-14 months old. Condors are scavengers and eat carrion. They usually nest in a limited habitat of cliff ledges, and lay about 1 egg every other year.... not a great way of rebounding your population if you have low numbers. In modern times, a wide variety of causes have contributed to the condor's decline. Its exacting mating habits and resulting low birth rate, combined with a late age of sexual maturity, make the bird vulnerable to loss of population. cattle ranchers who observed condors feeding on the dead young of their cattle assumed that the birds killed the cattle. This fallacy led to the condor's extinction in some parts of the western United States. the beliefs were so deeply that ingrained that the reintroduction of the Grand Canyon was challenged by some cattle ranchers, who mistakenly believed that the bird hunted calves and lambs. As the condor's population continued to decline, the discussion began about starting a captive breeding program for the birds. Opponents to this plan argued that the condors had the right to freedom, that capturing all of the condors would change the species' habits forever.



**Population Expansion**
The fossil of the genus //Gymnogyps// dates back about 100,000 years to the Middle Pleistoncene epoch. The record reveals that the species once ranged over much of the southern United States. California condors nested in west Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico during the Late Pleistocene. Many fossils, eggshells, non-fossilized bones, and feathers have been found in caves within the Grand Canyon, indicating that it was an important historical nesting area. The Arizona specimens are between 9,580-22,110 years B.P., based on radiocarbon dating. During the early 1900s condors were threatened by predator-poisoning campaigns, egg collecting, and museum collecting. More recently lead poisoning, collision with wires, and shooting have been the main causes of the population decline. By 1982 only 22 condors existed in the world. It was decided that the only way to prevent extinction of the species was to capture the last wild birds for captive breeding, with the intention of later reintroducing the offspring into the wild. On 19 April 1987, the last wild California condor was taken into captivity. Today, their numbers have increased to more than 160 living in the wild.

**California Condor are Endangered Species**
This is why California Condor is an endangered species because they don't harm any other animals(only if they're dead then the condors can eat them). California condors were only 22 of the birds left in 1981 so there were no wild birds left, all were in captivity. Breeding was slow but the bird came to total 223 by August 2003. There were 138 birds held in captivity and the rest were released in the wild to try and reproduce. The birds need to be 6 years old before they can successfully breed. By January 2006 there was 127 birds in the wild. This species is still in critical condition, but their numbers are very slowly raising.

**Work Cited**
http://www.peregrinefund.org/Explore_Raptors/vultures/cacondor.html

http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/wildlife/california_condor.php