Captive Condors Produce Their 3rd Egg in a Year

A California condor at the San Diego Wild Animal Park laid an egg Tuesday, the third produced by captive birds since March. It came one day after an egg was laid by another of the endangered species at the Los Angeles Zoo.

The newest egg was produced by condors named UN1 and AC4, the same birds responsible for the female chick, Molloko, from the first egg laid in captivity last year.

The condors here and in Los Angeles are part of a breeding program begun in 1980 to try to replenish the species for release into the wild sometime in the early 1990s, said Lora LaMarca, public information director for the Los Angeles Zoo. There are 28 California condors in captivity, evenly divided between the Los Angeles and the San Diego zoos. None of the birds are believed to remain in the wild.

Officials at the San Diego Wild Animal Park will determine in the next 4 to 10 days whether the eggs are fertile. The egg laid in Los Angeles is 3 1/2 inches from tip to tip, white with a very faint blue-green tint, and weighs 8 1/2 ounces.