As the Condor World Turns: 1 Dies in Wild, 1 Born in S.D.

Birth and death this week visited the California condor community, a species threatened with extinction.

A 6.8-ounce baby condor was hatched at the Wild Animal Park on Thursday afternoon, a day after death claimed a 7-year-old California condor found in “extremely emaciated” condition on a ranch in Tulare County.

The baby condor has been named Kaweah, an Indian name that means “place near Sequoia.” Its sex is unknown because it has no external genitalia. To detect the sex, blood tests will be performed in six months--but not sooner because “there won’t be enough of a bird to take blood until it’s 6 months old,” Wild Animal Park spokeswoman Martha Baker said.

It’s the first California condor hatched at the Wild Animal Park, Baker said. Eight condors were hatched at the San Diego Zoo in 1984; six have survived. Four were hatched successfully in 1983, the first year of the hatching project.

The cause of the other condor’s death remains unknown, San Diego Zoo spokesman Jeff Jouett said. Tissue samples from the bird have been sent to Wisconsin and Maryland for analysis; results are expected in three to four weeks.

An autopsy was performed on the dead bird Wednesday night at the zoo. “There is no evidence of obvious trauma to the bird--no gunshot wounds, no broken bones, no metal or other objects in the stomach,” Jouett said.

“It was just extremely emaciated and weighing about 12 pounds; the normal weight for an adult male is 22 to 24 pounds. The breastbone was protruding and there was very little breast muscle fiber left, which indicates that the bird had not flown in quite a while,” Jouett added.

At age 7, the bird was “barely an adult” among condors, which typically live as long as 60 years, Jouett said.

There are now nine to 13 condors surviving in the wild. Sixteen are in captivity at the San Diego and Los Angeles zoos as part of the program to breed them in captivity.