A California condor specimen. Marcio Jose Sanchez (AP)
The California condor flies again in the skies over Mexico. This species, thought to be extinct on Mexican territory since 1939, was saved thanks to a joint effort by Mexican and American authorities and experts. The National Commission for Conservation Areas (Conanp) announced in mid-May the release of six specimens of this condor in the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir National Park in Baja California. Environmentalists believe there are already 42 specimens there Fly for free in Mexico.
The condor was saved thanks to the work of experts from the United States-Mexico Program for the Recovery of the California Condor, an initiative that has enabled the release of these birds. Of the six animals released in May, four were under protection at the Chapultepec Zoo and two others at the San Diego Zoo in the United States, Conanp said in a statement. “In addition, two more specimens born in 2022 will be transferred to the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir National Park,” reports the facility. This region of the California Peninsula is the only habitat where the population of this species lives in Mexico.
The California condor was considered extinct in Mexico in 1939 for a variety of reasons, including habitat destruction. Conanp experts explained that in 1980, the United States environmental authorities registered a reduced bird population in the valleys of California, after which they decided to capture several specimens to try to reproduce and reintroduce them to their natural habitat. This is the entire area of California and Baja California. “In 1987, the species was able to reproduce and then be released into the wild in the state of California,” reports Conanp. US authorities worked with Mexican authorities two decades later to introduce the bird to Mexico. It was in 2002 when they carried out the first liberation in the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir. “In the years that followed, condor specimens born under human care continued to be released, and a few years after the release, the species began to breed in the wild. In 2020 there were already more than 20 California condors. There is currently a free-living population of around 42 individuals,” the experts explain.
Much of the effort to reproduce the California condor in Mexico under human care has been in the hands of researchers at Mexico City’s Chapultepec Zoo, who have developed educational programs on the species. This is the only place in the country where reproduction of this species has been achieved, with 11 condors having been born since 2007.
The bird is among the endangered species in Mexico that authorities are trying to protect, as is the vaquita, a Gulf of California resident that is on the verge of extinction. A group of scientists this week celebrated sightings of at least 13 specimens of these whales, the largest population in the Gulf of California since 2021, when just eight vaquitas were recorded.
With a wingspan of up to three meters and an estimated weight of up to 11 kilograms, the Californian condor is the largest bird in North America. A specimen can reach a length of up to 120 centimeters from beak to tail. These birds belong to the vulture family and feed on carrion of land and sea mammals. “The work done with the California condor is an example of the success that a multi-agency collaborative project can achieve to restore an endangered species,” said Conanp, which is celebrating this species once again crossing Mexican skies.
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