California Condor

The California Condor is a species in the New World vulture family Cathartidae. Currently (as of 2012), these majestic birds can only be found in the Grand Canyon area and western coastal mountains of California and northern Baja California.

Condor numbers dramatically declined in the 19th century due to poaching, lead poisoning, and habitat destruction. Eventually, 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. These 22 birds were bred at the San Diego Wild Animal Park and the Los Angeles Zoo. Numbers rose through captive breeding and, beginning in 1991, condors have been reintroduced into the wild.

The project to save the California Condor from extinction is the most expensive species conservation project ever undertaken in the United States. The California Condor is one of the world's rarest bird species. As of May 2012, there were 405 condors known to be living, including 226 in the wild.