Pair Formation in California Condors

Genetic management of chondrodystrophy in California condors

Five out of 169 fertile California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) eggs laid in captivity have exhibited chondrodystrophy, a lethal form of dwarfism. Pedigree records indicate that this chondrodystrophy, like similar conditions in chickens, turkeys and quail, is probably inherited as an autosomal, recessive allele. We estimate that the frequency of this putative allele is about 9%. This high f...

Pleistocene to recent dietary shifts in California condors.

We used carbon and nitrogen isotopes to investigate changes in the diet of California condors from the Pleistocene to the recent. During the Pleistocene, condors from California fed on both terrestrial megafauna and marine mammals. Early accounts reported condors feeding on the carcasses of marine mammals, but by the late 1700s, condor diets had shifted predominantly to terrestrial animals, fol...

Patterns of mortality in free-ranging California Condors (Gymnogyps californianus).

We document causes of death in free-ranging California Condors (Gymnogyps californianus) from the inception of the reintroduction program in 1992 through December 2009 to identify current and historic mortality factors that might interfere with establishment of self-sustaining populations in the wild. A total of 135 deaths occurred from October 1992 (the first post-release death) through Decemb...

Two decades of cumulative impacts to survivorship of endangered California condors in California

Consequences of a Genetic Bottleneck in California Condors: A Mitochondrial DNA Perspective

—The California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus) has recently survived a severe population bottleneck. The entire population was reduced to 27 individuals in 1982. The number of genetic founders was even smaller. We obtained 482 base pairs of DNA sequence from the mitochondrial control region (CR) of all founder individuals that poten­ tially represented unique maternal haplotypes. Four unique ...