Wildlife on the Brink: California Condor

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Gymnogyps californianus

STATUS: Endangered

HABITAT: Nests on cliffs, rock outcroppings and in caves; scavenges across areas ranging from oak savannahs to coniferous forests

LIFE HISTORY: Largest of North American vultures; feeds primarily on carcasses of large animals. Often mistakes bullet fragments in game for bone, which it ingests for supplemental calcium. "Thunderbird," in Native American legend.

THREATS: Poisoning from spent lead shot ingested when eating abandoned game

FORMER RANGE: Entire Western U.S. and parts of Mexico

CURRENT POPULATION: Around 200

With a wingspan that can top nine feet, the magnificent California condor is the largest bird in North America. The condor is thought to have soared through American skies since the Pleistocene era, about 11,000 years ago; but by the 1980s, only 21 birds remained.

To save the condor from extinction, researchers took the remaining birds out of the wild and launched a captive breeding program. By 2002, 63 condors born in captivity had been successfully reintroduced into the wilderness. The total condor population, still endangered, now hovers around 200 birds.

Despite the success of the breeding program, the reintroduced birds suffer from high mortality rates, mostly due to lead poisoning. Condors are scavengers, and ingest lead bullets while feeding on the remains of animals killed by human hunters. Lead-free ammunition is widely available, however, and NRDC is working on an initiative to phase in the use of this ammunition in condor habitat.

Photo: California condor © Scott Frier/Nikon, USFWS