In the end, it was only just about
40 years ago when these only 22
California condors lived on this planet.
And now, since the late 1970s, in fact,
the San Diego Zoo Safari Park,
they played this integral role in
bringing the condors back to life.
So in this Earth 8 report,
we're showing you how the species
is really making a comeback.
Now you can also get a peek at the
first baby born of this season.
People may not praise them for their looks.
We often get comments like,
oh, they're ugly, they're bald.
And so some of us are like, hey,
but we can certainly thank them for
their ability to rid the planet of germs
and the very acidic gizzard so they
could digest anthrax and Botulism and
salmonella and all sorts of nasty diseases.
California condors, also considered new
world vultures, eat only dead animals.
In Africa. Some communities call
the the vultures around there
the soap of the Savannah. Really,
to help clean, clean up everything.
But they can't handle the metal lead.
Ron Webb, the San Diego Zoo safari
parks lead wildlife care specialist,
says hunters were shooting animals
with lead bullets and when
condors would eat that carry on,
they die of lead poisoning,
which is why there were only
22 California condors in 1982.
By the late 80s, the California
Condor Recovery program proved to
the world this bird can be saved.
One of the birds behind us,
moleko, 35 years ago.
She was the only egg laid in
the whole world was fertile,
and she hatched here.
And so that kind of showed people
that they could be bred in zoos.
That bird, along with many others,
have had plenty of babies since.
In fact, we had a chance to see
one of the newest babies at
the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
Here's video of this one
being born on March 13th,
the first one of this season.
Now to check on the baby's progress,
we had to stay quiet because they
don't want the birds to know that
humans are helping them, in fact.
This now fuzzy looking bird was getting
fed by a glove made to look like a Condor.
The bird was clearly hungry.
You want to make sure that they're
wild animals and and not dependent
on people once they leave.
No hugging that it's hard not to. But
yeah, we we refrain.
But there are cameras to
watch them from afar.
It takes about 18 months to hatch an egg.
They can also live for up to six decades.
This is whole, whole he's our oldest
bird that we have here, 41 years old,
and the goal is for each of their
babies to be released into the wild.
With the population now of
about 560 California condors,
they are still critically endangered.
But for the many people like
Ron who've tried to save them,
he dreams of the day California condors,
with their 9 1/2 foot wingspan,
will fly over San Diego. Began.
Many North American tribes see
the Condor as a symbol of power,
calling them Thunderbirds,
bringing Thunder to the sky with
the beating of those huge wings.
So this right here that you're
looking at on your screen,
this is the live Condor Cam.
So this is one of the parents sitting next
to one of the babies that was just hatched.
So there have been at three this month
already that have been born and half of
the about 506 years so that they've helped.
Breed and repopulate have been sent
out into the wild, so they're across
the desert southwest through Mexico.
You can watch this Condor Cam.
If you click on the link to this
story at cbs8.com/earth eight,
you'll see it there during daylight hours.
You can see the little baby,
little fuzzy baby starting off.
So cute.
Now as you see they turn into these,
you know, bald redhead, red eyed,
giant condors.
But they're all there for a purpose.
We clean our planet.
I was just gonna say we
usually think of them as well.
Roadkill circulating and getting in
there and getting all that stuff,
that's kind of what we usually think.
But to know the fascinating story behind
them and how we're raising them in,
the shortage of them,
how they're building the population
and using that Little Condor glove,
isn't that amazing?
It's like literally a Condor puppet.
Yeah. And he puts it on his hand
every time to feed the babies
because they really don't want
them used to human contact.
Absolutely. Cause these birds are
gonna be flying over our skies.
The baby was sold on it. Yeah, that's all.
The baby was hungry. That was good.