π¦ Giant scavengerπ Western North Americaπ΄ Endangered
COOL RATING
OFF THE CHARTS
β‘ EXTINCTION ESCAPE PLAN
An entire species came back from just 22 surviving birds.
Only 22 California Condors survived in 1982. All remaining wild birds entered a captive-breeding program by 1987; releases began again in 1992. The 2025 count recorded 607 condors, including 392 flying free.
CONDOR_RECOVERY.EXE
22
WILD, FREE-FLYING CONDORS
Drag through the recovery record
22 survivors in 1982 β 392 free-flying birds in the 2025 count
WHY THIS BIRD MATTERS
The comeback still needs a life-support system.
Lead fragments in carrion remain the biggest barrier to a self-sustaining wild population. Recovery teams monitor birds, treat lead exposure, breed and release condors, and work with hunting and ranching communities on non-lead ammunition.
Of wild deaths with a known cause from 1992 through 2025, half were attributed to lead poisoning.
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TURN WONDER INTO ACTION
See the fieldwork, meet the researchers, or support bird science.
Captive breeding solved one bottleneck. It did not remove the threat.
The rescue population protected the species from immediate extinction and supplied birds for five active release regions in the United States and Mexico.
But a bird can survive the breeding program, learn to live wild, and still be poisoned by tiny ammunition fragments in a carcass. Recovery is both a population story and a food-safety story.
