Human Impacted Mortality of the California Condor

Acacia Bryson, Carter McQuinn, Ce Compton, Memo Verduzco

Ecosystem Description: The California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus) used to live all
throughout the Pacific coasts of North America and Canada and even some of Mexico. Condors
are attracted to arid climates, mainly in Southern California, arid climates receive less than 10
inches of precipitation a year. Condors nest in rocky cliffs, ledges, and caves, although they
spend most of their time airborne; using their vision to detect food on the ground. The Condors
diet consists mostly of the carcasses of large animals like cattle, deer, horses, sheep, and coyote.
A natural diet for the Condor consists of llamas, guanacos, armadillos and even fellow birds, like
rheas, but with increasing human contact Condors have access to things like domesticated
animals, cows, and sheep for example. Condors also feed on smaller animals like rabbits and
squirrels. Since California Condors are scavengers, they only eat already dead animals. Their
population has declined drastically over the past century. Which leads to the question, how does
human impacted mortality rates compared to natural mortality rates of the California Condor?
Research and Data:
The California Condor species started dropping drastically in the 1960s and they were placed on
the endangered species list in 1967. Scientists and recovery programs were stumped by this
sudden drop in population, at one point there were only 22 California Condors left in the wild. It
was later discovered the Condors were dying due to lead poisoning from bullets left in the
carcasses they ate. These bullets ended up in the carcasses from hunting. However, due to the
Condors relocation to the Grand canyon and Utah/Arizona their population has been growing
and there are currently 400 California Condors alive today, 80 of them are in the Grand Canyon.
(Figure 1)

(Figure 2)

Figure one can be seen showing the decreases and increase in the California Condor
population from 1962 to 2011. The graph continues to decline from 1962 to 1976 and around this
time the U.S. Fish and Wildlife services started to breed these birds in captivity. The graph starts
to climb around 1987 which is when all the remaining wild California Condors were caught and
brought into captivity for breeding. After this, their population started to climb at a steady pace.
With the captive breeding, there is hope to fully restore the number of California Condors
population.
Figure two is a graph the amount of diagnosed deaths of the California Condor from 1996 to
2016. The different colors are showing the different ways the condors have died in the past
twenty years. The condors are dying from unnatural items in their food and in their habits which
have caused them to go on the endangered species list. Lead poisoning is 51.6% of the condors
is because people hunt with led bullets and the condors eat the dead animals which give the
condor lead poisoning. The amount of deaths from lead poisoning has been increasing
throughout the years. Twenty-five percent of the condors deaths come from their predator's
black bears, coyotes, and ravens. 66.1% of all California Condors deaths have been caused by
human interference.

Possible solutions:
There has been a lot of progress made in saving the California Condor population. In 1987,
there were only 22 California Condors left in the world but in 2013 there were around 435 wild
birds in California, Arizona, and Mexico. The cause of the large population decline was lead
poisoning from bullets used for hunting. As seen in figure 2, lead poisoning is still the lead cause
of deaths in California Condors. These birds are scavengers which means that they eat dead
organisms and break them into smaller pieces for decomposers to use. They are a vital part of
their ecosystems by helping break down large dead organisms for them to be decomposed. Their
protection is important to keeping a healthy ecosystem. If stronger bans were put on lead bullets
or hunting was forbidden in California Condor habits there may be a significant decrease in the
death by lead poisoning. As seen in the chart above there is an upward trend of the amount of
deaths from lead poisoning in California Condors. If these lead bullets were not a part of these
birds diets, their population would be growing faster and at a steadier pace. While this is not the
most pressing ecological issue the world is facing, these birds are still a big part of our
ecosystems and need protection.
Conclusion:
Scientists have greatly increased the amount of California Condors in the United states in the
past 20 years but they are still endangered. The best way that we can save these animals and
have their community grow is to create a law keeping them from getting food containing lead.
This means places where condors live no longer allow hunting or lead bullets in areas where a
condor could likely consume them. About 75% of condor deaths are caused by humans and the
other 25% is from problems all animals have. Another way the condors could be helped would
be to hunt animals with non-lead bullets leaving non-poisoned food if nothing is done about
stopping hunting with lead bullets. These birds have been a special part of American history and
it is vital that we try to protect them.

Works Cited
Sources:
https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/education/learning/upload/Canyon-Connections-StudentArticle_Jan16.pdf
http://animals.mom.me/condors-ecosystem-5491.html
https://sites.google.com/site/californiacondor2013ko/endangered-species
http://www.thesca.org/connect/blog/california-condor-back-brink