Zoo InternQuest is a seven-week career exploration program for San Diego County high school juniors and seniors. Students have the unique opportunity to meet professionals working for the San Diego Zoo, Safari Park, and Institute for Conservation Research, learn about their jobs, and then blog about their experience online. Follow their adventures here on the Zoo’s website!
Today is really special because we got to meet Amanda Wert, who is a Bird Keeper at the San Diego Zoo. What is so special about her job is that she has the privilege of working with the California Condor. This is an endangered species native to this state that almost went extinct in the 1980s. She gets to work personally with two birds out of a total population of 460 individuals. Seeing one in the wild is incredibly rare and seeing one in managed care is almost just as difficult. We got to learn about the husbandry of these amazing animals as well as the story of their ongoing conservation.
Ms. Wert has been doing this job for the past five years. She takes care of the condors for two days a week. Each day, she will come in and do some cleaning in the enclosure. This means picking up any leftover food so that it does not start to rot. She may also do some minor gardening. The plants in all the Zoo’s enclosures are native to the same region as the animal living there. Since California condors are native to this region, the keepers get to enjoy much more low maintenance enclosure than those that work with other species. For example, animals that originate in rainforest environments have tropical plants. Since tropical plants require much more water than the San Diego environment can provide, keepers for those animals spend much more time watering the plants. Each morning, Ms. Wert will also do some behavioral observations to make sure the birds are getting along and that they are in good health. The keepers play the most vital part in caring for the animals because they see them the most and can relay important information to other departments that need it. Ms. Wert tells us that the different departments have become more interconnected because it is more beneficial to the animals’ husbandry. For example, the vet may need the keepers because they may notice or keep watch over any medical issues, and the nutritionist might use them to gather information about whether a diet is good. Keepers are essentially the primary source of information about an animal, which can then be recorded and shared to improve their care.
She also plays a part in designing the enclosures. Condors, like most other animals, need enrichment. Ms. Wert tells us that this usually would include things like bones and vegetation that they often enjoy destroying. However, she admits that there is a shortage in our understanding of bird enrichment, especially compared to creatures like mammals. We don’t quite understand what condors do to entertain themselves. What we do know, however, is that condors are very social and quite smart. They form monogamous pairs, hatching one chick every two years. They are also surprisingly clean animals, despite being carrion eaters. They have very strong stomachs to digest, and they sport baldheads, which helps prevent parasites and diseases. They also enjoy bathing and will often wash their feather in the water to knock off any parasites that might have gotten onto their wings. Ms. Wert says that though they are currently eating rodents, rabbits, fish, and some beef, she would like to give them whole carcasses because it would emulate their diet in the wild. California condors are also one of the largest birds. They have a wingspan of nine and a half feet and can weigh up to 20 pounds. Their huge wings allow them to stay aloft on thermal winds for up to four hours without flapping, which helps them preserve energy since they are always looking for food. They also have a long lifespan. The oldest California condor on record is currently almost 60 years old. Despite being such amazing animals, the world almost lost them.
California condors are very slow reproducing animals. They lay one egg every two years. Even still, it takes them six years to reach full maturity. Given their long reproductive cycle and slow maturation rate, any threat to their species can have a devastating effect. More specifically, that threat in the 1980s was lead ammunition. Hunters would use lead ammunition when hunting, and since California condors eat carrion, they would then get lead poisoning from the bullets. In addition to lead ammunition, another threat was micro trash. These tiny particles of trash are being mistaken for food and fed to the young. The problem became so severe that by the 80’s, there were 22 California Condors left in the entire world. In order to combat the California condor’s dwindling population, each condor was captured and placed into managed care where they became part of a breeding program. The wild condors would breed and raise chicks who would then be released into the wild to help repopulate. The first attempt was in 1992, and it was a failure. The young condors continuously harassed local resorts. After recapturing them, they were placed with “mentors,” older and more experienced condors, in 1995. Today, the breeding effort continues. San Diego Zoo Global has its California Condor Recovery Program and houses condors at its breeding facility at the Safari Park. They are bred according to their Species Survival Plan (SSP), and pairings are determined by their coordinator using each bird’s genetics as a timeline. Today, there are 460 California condors- 290 in the wild and 170 under managed care. The end goal of this project is to have three self-sustaining populations with at least 150 breeding age condors in each. This goal has not yet been reached because the wild condors are currently not breeding at the replacement rate. Last year, 17 condors died and only 10 were hatched.
The California condor is one of the west coast’s most impressive species. They are some of the largest flighted birds and have made a remarkable comeback. Ms. Wert works here at the San Diego Zoo to help care for these amazing creatures, and give them the best husbandry possible. She makes sure that they are kept happy and healthy so that even these birds can potentially become part of the breeding program that is saving their species. Even today, these birds still face man-made challenges that pose a threat. Despite this, Ms. Wert tells us that it is entirely possible that the California Condor may make a strong comeback in our lifetime.
Brenda, Real World Team
Week 5, Winter Session 2019
