Social Development and Reintroduction of California Condors

California condors have a complex social system. Although they mate in monogamous pairs, they feed communally at carasses. They engage in many affiliative social interctions, such as preening each other and mutual object play. Condors maintain a dominance hierarchy, primarily through nonaggressive interactions involving avoidance and displacement behavior. One element relevant to condor survival is development of appropriate social behavior, including the ability to adjust behavior in response to the behavior of conspecifics. In order to guide their social development, fledglings are raised with an adult "mentor" in a large, off-exhibit outdoor enclosure. Immature birds should learn from the mentor the social tools necessary for coping with the social environment in the wild.

Systematic data collection of four juvenile condors and a mentor condor at the Wild Animal Park has revealed three features of the dominance system within the condor group at the Park. First, the mentor was the highest-ranking bird and exerted the greatest degree of control over conspecific behavior. Second, the white-tagged condor was the lowest-ranking bird but was not subject to the most aggression because he was the most peripheral animal. Third, the order in which the birds fed did not closely mirror their social status.

The four juvenile birds raised at the Wild Animal Park will join the growing wild flock in Baja California in 2005. The birds' social development will be monitored during their first month in a pre-release enclosure at the field site, and then their behavioral and social interactions will be followed after release into the wild. The social dynamics recorded in captivity will be related to their social behavior, ranging patterns, and reproductive success in the wild. This study could have direct application for the other California condor release sites in California and Arizona.

More

California Condor Recovery Program
Milestones in California Condor Conservation
California Condor Mortality Challenges
Social Development and Reintroduction of California Condors
Breeding Effort and Parental Care in Reintroduced California Condors
California Condors Soon To Soar In San Diego Skies; Public Can Aid Researchers