The California Condor
Like other vultures, condors are scavengers that feast on the carcasses of large mammals, such as cattle and deer. When a big meal is available, the birds may gorge themselves so much that they must rest for several hours before flying again!
condors neared the point of extinction in the late 1970s, when only two or three dozen birds survived. No one is sure exactly what cause or causes contributed most to this decline. Many birds died from poison ingestion and illegal egg collection, and all felt the steady loss of the open lands over which they once soared.
California condors mature and reproduce slowly.
They don't breed until they are between six and eight years old, and the female lays only one egg every two years. If that egg is removed, however, she will lay a second or a third. With this in mind, scientists began to collect eggs for captive incubation.
Fossil records also show that the birds occupied only a fraction of their former range when Europeans first reached America.
These carnivores live for up to 60 years and they also are endangered as you may have read already.
These birds are very large,
like this photo below compared to the average man:
Thanks for reading .
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