My Condor Bios
In Memoriam
The death of a condor is always very unwelcome news. However, attempting to determine the cause of death can greatly assist the recovery program in identifying and addressing potential mortality threats. Through our tracking and monitoring efforts, we are able to recover deceased condors from the field and submit them for necropsy and analysis in an attempt to determine why they died.
Rideout et al.(2012) published a peer-reviewed scientific manuscript examining condor deaths in the wild from 1992-2009. Fifty percent of all known fatalities were due to lead poisoning! Lead poisoning, from ingesting ammunition fragments in carcasses, continues to be the number one threat to condor survival in central California and the recovery program as a whole.
Rideout et al.(2012) published a peer-reviewed scientific manuscript examining condor deaths in the wild from 1992-2009. Fifty percent of all known fatalities were due to lead poisoning! Lead poisoning, from ingesting ammunition fragments in carcasses, continues to be the number one threat to condor survival in central California and the recovery program as a whole.