San Diego Zoo Safari Park welcomes 250th California condor chick

Trent Townsend/stock.adobe.com

The San Diego Wildlife Alliance announced it welcomed Emaay, the 250th California condor chick at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Emaay’s name comes from the Kumeya word for sky. The mother is MexWe and the father is Xol-Xol, the first California condor brought into human care under the California Condor Recovery Program in 1982.

According to an organizational release, the egg was placed in an incubator before hatching to be monitored by the wildlife care team.¹ The team began to suspect malposition and brought the egg to the Paul Hater Veterinary Medical Center for a CT, which determined the chick’s position was not a concern. The chick successfully pipped and was brought back to the parents for hatching. The nest for the family is equipped with an infrared camera so the team can monitor the hatching process 24/7. The San Diego Wildlife Alliance welcomed Emaay in the early hours of March 16, and their gender has not been determined yet. Emaay is doing well under the care of their very attentive parents, according to the release.

"Reaching this milestone feels incredible," said Nora Willis, senior wildlife care specialist, at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, in the release.¹ "Seeing the success that the San Diego Zoo Safari Park has had—and the success of the California Condor Recovery Program as a whole—is inspiring. There's still a long way to go but being part of this and helping the species recover is life-changing."

The California condor egg receiving a CT at the Paul Hater Veterinary Medical Center (Image courtesy of San Diego Zoo Safari Park)

Xol-Xol was rescued from the Sespe Condor Sanctuary at 3 months old after being neglected by his parents. He was then brought to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, making him the first California condor to be brought into human care under the California Condor Recovery Program in 1982. Now, Xol-Xol fathered 41 chicks in 1993 and many have been reintroduced into their native habitat. In 2025, Emaay is expected to join the native population.

The San Diego Zoo has a long history of helping the California condor. In 1929, the zoo received its first California condor after a couple found it with a damaged wing in Ventura, California.² Although the bird had to have its wing amputated, it has been active and healthy for over 10 years The US Fish and Wild Service and the California Department of Fish and Game gave the San Diego Wildlife Alliance permission to begin the first zoological propagation program for these birds when there was only 22 left in the world.

In 1983, the San Diego Zoo received its first condor egg after it was moved from the wilderness into human care for artificial incubation. Sisquoc was then the first California Condor to ever hatch in a zoo on March 30, 1983.² Now at least 50 California condors have rejoined their native habitat with 12-15 condors hatched in the habitat every year. The condors hatched in human care are reintroduced in the United States across 5 reintroduction sites: 1 in northern Arizona at the Vermillion Cliffs and 4 in California, including Ventana Wilderness in Big Sur, Pinnacles National Monument, Yurok Ancestral Territory, and Redwood National Park, and the Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge in the Los Padres National Forest.¹

References

1. San Diego Zoo Safari Park welcomes 250th California Condor Chick, a significant milestone for the critically endangered species. News release. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. April 11, 2024. Accessed April 16, 2024. https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/news-releases/san-diego-zoo-safari-park-welcomes-250th-california-condor-chick-a-significant-milestone-for-the-critically-endangered-species-302114577.html
2. San Diego Zoo. California Condor. San Diego Zoo Animals & Plants. Sandiegozoo.org. Published 2011. https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/california-condor