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November 11, 2005

California Condor Craving Coastal Carrion

Long, long ago.. although not so very far away... The latest ice age had chased away many of the massive-winged condor's natural prey, and so they looked to the coastal waters of California for new sources of food. Here, the opportunistic scavengers swooped through the skies and snacked on seal and whale carcasses and all was good.

But then, when man came and began clubbing all those baby seals and whaling off the coast waters, the condors yet again suffered from their food sources disappearing. The California Condor almost went extinct.

Now scientists are hoping that conditioning the condors to feast on the returning populations of seals and sea lions may be the key to reintroducing them successfully to the west coast. Elephant seal rookeries, for example, which have been localized in the south for some time, are gradually sprouting up to the north. And just perhaps, where the food may go, the condors may follow.

If the birds—among North America's biggest and rarest—return to eating sea-mammal meat, the flying scavenger's range could expand northward along the Pacific Coast as far as Canada, the study authors say. This would bring the condor's range closer to what it was hundreds of years ago.

...

If condors can tap into this [seals & sea lions] food source, Chamberlain says, the prospects of the birds spreading across their former West Coast range are "excellent."

More at: National Geographic: Seal Meat May Help Save California Condor

Posted by sorsha at November 11, 2005 12:40 PM