Introduction
We all know that the California condor is becoming one of the many endangered animals, but why? Its because Condor numbers dramatically decreased in the 19th century due to poaching, or illegally hunting for wild animals, and other things like lead poisoning from lead ammunition, and habitat destruction. After this devastation erupted people took a stand, a conservation plan was put in place by the United States government that led to the capture of all the remaining wild condors in 1987. The 22 birds remaining were bred at the Los Angeles Zoo and San Diego wild animal park. Numbers shot up through the roof due to captive breeding and when condors where reintroduced into the wild in 1991. This project is the most expensive species conservation project the U.S. has ever tackled. Our California condor, one of the worlds rarest bird species, as of April 2008, there are 299 condors known to be living, 147 of them live in the wild.
Cause Number One: Lead Poisoning
The California condor is a scavenger (an animal that eats only dead animals- which mostly are rotting). But it is being affected by lead poisoning when hunters hunt other animals with lead ammunition, or lead bullets. The Condor then eats the dead animal and gets the lead poisoning that comes with it. You have probably heard of the big recall of Chinese toys because of the lead paint. The lead poisoning affects us the same as it affects the California condor. In fact, the condor is more vulnerable to the lead than we are. A group of specialists are trying to ban lead bullets from every one. Unfortunately, this is happening over and over again and hasn't yet been stopped.
Cause Number Two: Low Reproduction Rate
Another large issue is the condor’s obscenely low birth rate. The beloved condors are dying off quicker than they are reproducing. There are many foundations and programs to help the condor to rebuild its’ numbers. In fact at one point, all the condors in the world were taken into special places like zoos so that they could monitor the breeding rate. After a couple of years the newly born condors were released in the wild.
Cause Number Three: Hunting
In fact, getting hunters to use copper bullets instead of the usual lead ammunition nowadays has gotten easier. Lead actually causes the digestive track in a condor to dysfunctionalize, the outcome starving the bird to death. Although hunters in majority have no problem using copper ammunition, it costs $2 to buy copper bullets rather than the usual $1 for lead bullets, especially around where condors thrive.
Cause Number Four: Loss of Prey
California condors have been alive for more than ten thousand years. The number of nearly-extinct condors began to decrease when large mammals, such as mammoths, disappeared during the Ice Ages many years ago. These large animals provided abundant food for the massive condors and many other scavengers. Other dead animals eaten by the California condor include cattle, sheep, deer, and horses. The loss of these reliable sources of food have had terrible impact on the California condor.
Cause Number Five: Habitat Destruction
Trees we cut down, as selfish as we are, not caring that we are interrupting Mother nature. The California Condor's population is shrinking, because of one of the most common harms to all animals: deforestation and habitat destruction. Not only does deforestation hurt the condors, but it harms our enviornment and rainfall as well. The loss of natural habitat can also harm other animals that are food for the California Condor. So what do they eat? As you can see, the condor is under a lot of pressure. What should they do? The 147 California Condors left in the wild are under the impression that all they can do is wait for us to do something, or die.
Click here to watch a California Condor video.
Comments (3)
LeahB. said
at 6:12 pm on May 29, 2008
I really like this page but I think that you guys should add a little more detail on how the things like lead poisning and other factors happen. I added a little intro just to some the facts up but it doesn't go into the depth of the dangers.
Wicked Awesome Monkey Dude said
at 2:49 pm on Jun 2, 2008
Hey people, hopefuly we will be able to shoot the rap tommorrow, tuesday the third. If you want to be one of the random dancers in the background comment back. We already have some random dancers, but we need it to be a crowd!!
Jordan S. said
at 8:44 pm on Jun 4, 2008
Hey i like your little intro leah! Also, I added one more cause to the bottom. It is really interesting. I learned that sense condors have been around during the Ice Ages, they use to eat mammoths. Thats one reason that they are becoming extict. They are losing their prey, which is mostly large, dead animals.
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