No sex please, we’re condors
An endangered bird may sometimes reproduce without males
FEW ANIMALS have come closer to extinction, and yet survived, than the Californian condor. Thousands died as a result of flying into electrical cables or being poisoned by lead shot from discarded game-animal carcasses. By 1982, there were only 22 left. These relicts were rounded up and brought into a captive-breeding programme that proved an astonishing success. Thanks to the efforts of a team of conservationists co-ordinated by the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance there are now 329 condors flying freely in western North America, and 175 more in the care of various zoos.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “No sex please, we’re condors”
From the October 30th 2021 edition
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