On May 9, a child California condor hatched at Liberty Wildlife, a wildlife rehabilitation, schooling, and conservation group in Phoenix, Arizona. The hatching is a ray of hope and welcome excellent news for the struggling species that was solely not too long ago introduced again from the brink of extinction.
Only 22 condors had been believed to be alive in the course of the Nineteen Eighties after a maelstrom of habitat loss, poaching, lead poisoning accidents with energy strains, and the insecticide DDT. Currently, about 275 wild birds are cruising the skies about California, Utah, Arizona, and Baja California, Mexico, greater than 160 are in captivity, and greater than 400 reside worldwide.
[Related: Inside the Yurok Tribe’s mission to make critically endangered condors thrive.]
The largest bird species in North America and an important a part of the ecosystem, California condors are thought-about sacred to many indigenous peoples. The Yurok Tribe of the Pacific Northwest name California condors “prey-go-neesh,” and say the birds have been tied to the Yurok Hlkelonah, or the cultural and ecological panorama, for the reason that starting of time. The tribe has formally been a driving drive on condor reintroduction since 2008.
Now, these sacred and essential birds face a grave menace within the type of a tiny pathogen. Highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1), additionally known as bird flu, is threatening condors at an alarming price. It was first detected within the California condor in late March, and greater than 20 are identified to have died since.
“It is scary particularly for endangered species like the California condors. It has the ability to wipe out an entire species,” Liberty Wildlife’s Animal Care Coordinator Jan Miller tells PopSci.
One of the birds that succumbed to the illness was the brand new hatchling’s mom, a part of a breeding pair of untamed California condors. The mom was discovered performing suspicious in a cave close to the Grand Canyon and was dropped at Liberty Wildlife as a consequence of suspected bird flu. She died eight days later.
“Using telemetry, it was assumed that she had laid an egg, probably between March 13 and March 17, and it was predicted to hatch between May 9 and May 17,” Liberty Wildlife’s Executive Director Megan Mosby tells PopSci. “The limited movement of the male led to the assumption that he was trying to incubate an egg. The biologists at the Arizona Vermilion Cliff site decided that it wasn’t safe for the male, a known breeder, to attempt to raise a chick solo and feed himself, especially in a dank, cool cave … a perfect place for flu contamination.”
[Related: Everything you know about bald eagles is wrong.]
Biologists introduced the egg again to Liberty Wildlife, the place it was monitored in a construction known as a brooder. When the egg started to “pip,” the Los Angeles Zoo’s propagation crew suggested Liberty Wildlife on finest practices for monitoring the hatchling’s progress. The crew observed that the chick was within the fallacious place within the egg as a consequence of the place it had pipped, or poked by its membrane, and that it will want help to ensure that the hatch to achieve success.
“Veterinarian Dr. Stephanie Lamb assisted in the freeing of the baby from the egg and the operation was successful. After a health check, a swab to test for Avian Flu was obtained, and the chick was placed in an incubator with a surrogate (stuffed animal) ‘mother’ condor,” Miller says.
The hatchling was unfavourable for bird flu and continued to eat stable meals and bond along with her surrogate plush father or mother. According to Mosby, the crew was excited to search out out she was feminine as a result of 11 of the 21 condors which have died as a consequence of bird flu had been breeding age females.
On May 17, she was flown to The Peregrine Fund in Boise, Idaho. There she will probably be raised by foster mother and father in order that she will be able to in the future be launched again into Arizona’s skies.
“At this age it is very easy for the chick to imprint on humans so getting her with her own species is critical to her releasability,” says Miller. “The Peregrine Fund has a very advanced propagation department with proven foster parents to help raise chicks for release into the wild. It is a very large operation with proven results.”
According to the crew, vultures just like the California condor will not be solely clever, however are extremely mandatory to assist clear up the atmosphere since they deal with lifeless and decaying animals that may unfold illness.
“Vultures are part of the natural cleanup crew in nature. They deserve every fair chance they can get to continue to survive and be a part of this world,” says Miller.
In addition to this welcome hatchling’s continued success this week, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service permitted the emergency use of bird flu vaccine on May 16. The Yurok Tribe known as this transfer, “a huge step in the effort to combat this virulent threat, but still a long road ahead.”