200th California condor chick hatches at The Peregrine Fund's captive breeding facility
May 2013. A tiny California condor chick marked a major milestone for The Peregrine Fund. It was the 200th chick to hatch in the conservation group's captive breeding facility since joining the effort to breed endangered condors in 1993.
20 eggs this year
The captive breeding facility at The Peregrine Fund's World Center for Birds of Prey is home to 62 condors, the world's largest flock of captive condors. This year, 18 pairs each produced 20 eggs. When the chicks are about 9 months old, they are transferred to The Peregrine Fund's release site near the Grand Canyon in Arizona, where they join the wild flock, which currently numbers 72 birds.
"We are thrilled to reach the 200 mark," said Marti Jenkins, who oversees the condor propagation program. "Every chick takes us one step closer to saving this magnificent species from extinction."
Wild foster parents
The Peregrine Fund works closely with three other facilities - Los Angeles Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and Oregon Zoo -- that raise California Condors. This year, two of the eggs produced in Boise were placed in the nests of wild condors in California to replace eggs that were not viable. Both eggs hatched and are being reared by their wild foster parents. A third egg was transferred to the Oregon Zoo and also hatched successfully.
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