The California condor is a New World vulture, a member of the family Cathartidae. Weighing up to 25 pounds, both male and female condors are of a similar size. The birds have black plumage with areas of white feather under the wings. Typical of vultures, they have featherless heads. The condor has a low reproductive rate, but is a long-lived bird. Individuals can live up to 60 years of age in wild.
Like all vultures, condors feed on carrion, preferring the carcasses of large animals. They can travel up to 150 miles in a day, searching for food. The condor reproduces once every two years, with the female laying a single egg. During the mid-20th century, high levels of the pesticide DDT in the environment created problems with condor reproduction, causing eggs to be abnormally thin and weak. Since DDT was banned in 1972, populations of most raptor species, including the condor, have increased.
In prehistoric times, the condor ranged across the entire southern part of the United States, and up the eastern seaboard. On the west coast, it was prevalent from Canada to Mexico. After humans arrived after the last ice age, the condor range shrank, with largest populations living along the West Coast from British Colombia to Mexico. After European arrival and settlement of the west, the condor population plummeted, leaving only a few remaining birds in California.
In 1987, with the condor on the brink of extinction, remaining wild birds were taken into captivity, and a breeding program was initiated to try to save the species. A reintroduction program was started in 1992 in California, with Arizona following in 1996. While the conservation program has so far been successful, the condor remains highly endangered. Residual DDT, particularly off the coast of southern California, remains a threat as it bioaccumulates in the tissues of sea lions, one of the condor's primary food sources.