Bringing Up Baby
On March 31, 2005, I stopped by the condor exhibit as I do everyday. Part of my
routine was to check the nest to see if an egg had been laid and just like every other day, I climbed up the ladder and opened the door. However, this day turned out to be different - to my surprise, I found a large, white egg lying in the nest!
After getting over the initial shock, I contacted my supervisor to share
the great news. The entire Bird Department was excited by the discovery.
Initially, the egg was left with its parents, "Daisy" and "Lurch." It was later
decided that the male, "Lurch," should be relocated to allow "Daisy" to raise
the baby on her own. After 12 days, the egg was candled, a process that uses a
portable light to illuminate inside the egg. This process revealed strong veins
and a heartbeat. Excited about the possibility of a strong chick, it was
decided that the egg would be safer if transferred to the Bird Department's
incubation room. The plan was to switch out the real egg with a fake egg and
let "Daisy" incubate the fake egg until the real one was ready to hatch. At
that time, a switch would be made again and the real egg would be placed under
its mother for hatching.
On May 24, 2005 when the egg was candled again, we discovered that the hatching
process had begun. At that point we put the real egg back in with the mother
condor and watched closely to make sure "Daisy" would accept the new egg.
Thirty minutes later, we were happy to see that she entered the nest and didn't
come back out. Now it was time to patiently wait for our new arrival. On May
29, 2005, I climbed up the ladder once more. This time I opened the nest door
and instead of an egg, I found a fuzzy, white baby with a black head! I felt
like a proud grandmother as I ran across the Zoo announcing the great news. This was a big deal for us, because it would be the Zoo's first parent-raised Andean condor
chick. Typically, the eggs are pulled and sent to California to aid in
conservation.
The San Antonio Zoo has a long history of condor conservation. Since 1988, four
eggs have been contributed to the California Condor Project. California condors
are even more endangered than Andean condors. Because both types of condors take
a long time to lay even one egg, it is very important that egg survive. California condors in this project must prove themselves to be good parents by incubating, hatching and raising an Andean condor chick before being allowed to raise their own chicks. Once the Zoo's Andean condor chicks were old enough to survive on their own, they were released into their native habitat in South America. Due to the efforts of this project, the population of California condors has increased from 22 birds to over 180 in the last 15 years.
In 2006, we expect "Elvira," the condor chick currently being raised in the Zoo,
to be shipped to another zoo. Although she will not be sent to South America
for release, we hope she will one day produce offspring of her own and further
efforts for condor conservation.
Stop by the Zoo today to see her, she is growing incredibly quickly and is
almost as big as her mother.
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