Zoo Can Do the Baby Condor’s Pen in Pink

It’s a girl, the San Diego Zoo concluded Monday.

Chromosome tests show that Molloko, the fuzzy ball of California condor that hatched April 29, is a female, said Tom Hanscom, a spokesman for the zoo and the Wild Animal Park.

That brings the population of the nearly extinct species to 15 females and 13 males, an almost ideal mix for a breeding program that is seen as the only hope for the species’ survival.

But it also makes her the 11th female hatched since 1983, contrasted with only three males. The reason for the imbalance is unclear. However, in some other bird species, different incubation temperatures of the eggs cause female and male chicks.

Might that be a problem with the California condors?

“We simply don’t have that kind of information for the condors,” said Joseph J. Dowhan, field supervisor for the project to save the species. “I don’t think it’s been a real concern. I don’t think anybody’s really looked at it.”

There would have to be many more condors born, perhaps 100, before biologists could say conclusively that a skewed sex ratio among chicks is not simply a result of chance, he said.

In the meantime, having more females than males could be an advantage, Dowhan said.

“Obviously, a female bird is the most important,” he said. “She’s the one that produces the offspring. We haven’t developed any artificial insemination techniques, but it’s conceivable that we will. So, if we have a little of an edge on females, it’s more of an asset in the long run.”

Molloko was the first California condor not only hatched but also bred in captivity. Just beginning to lose the last of her chick’s down in favor of feathers, she has grown from 6 3/4 ounces to 16 pounds, Hanscom said.

The bird is being kept in a 10-by-10-foot pen at the Wild Animal Park, where she can see other condors and practice hopping with outspread wings, a prelude to her first flight, in a couple of months.