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Solo has been an explorer her entire life. She knows the Big Sur backcountry and coastline intimately and preferred to roam these remote places alone until she matured and paired with Condor #168. Her preference for isolated areas has meant that Solo can be difficult to track and that she spends a lot of time in hunting territory, which puts her in danger of feeding on carcasses killed with lead bullets. In November 2005, Solo suffered severe lead poisoning and was transferred to the Los Angeles Zoo for chelation treatment. Her life was saved thanks to intensive treatment by the highly qualified zoo staff.
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In 2006, Solo paired with #168 and they spend most of their time together, even when they don't have a chick relying on their care. This couple appears to us to have the happiest "marriage" of any of our paired birds. The one tiny tension in their partnership is that Solo prefers the backcountry east of the Santa Lucia Mountains, while #168 prefers the coast south of Big Sur. In 2007, they became the first pair to lay a fertile condor egg in the wild in Monterey County in over a century (this was #431, who was deemed genetically irreplaceable and transferred to the Los Angeles Zoo). After several nesting attempts, Solo and #168 fostered Condor #665 in 2012 and, as expected, were spectacular parents!