ARGENTINA: MORE THAN A CENTURY AFTER DISAPPEARING FROM A REGION IN SOUTHERN ARGENTINA, CONDORS ARE RELEASED IN A CONSERVATION EFFORT

Record ID: 644145

  • Title: ARGENTINA: MORE THAN A CENTURY AFTER DISAPPEARING FROM A REGION IN SOUTHERN ARGENTINA, CONDORS ARE RELEASED IN A CONSERVATION EFFORT
  • Date: 29th December 2003
  • Summary: (L!1)BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (FILE) (REUTERS) SV/CU VARIOUS OF INCUBATORS WITH CONDOR EGGS IN THE BUENOS AIRES ZOO IN A CONDOR CONSERVATION PROGRAM (NOT THE SAME CONDORS AS THE ONES THAT WERE RELEASED) (4 SHOTS) CU OF CONDORS BEING BORN, ASSISTED BY PROFESSIONALS IN CHARGE OF THE PROJECT (3 SHOTS) CU VARIOUS OF BABY CONDORS BEING FED BY PEOPLE ON PROJECT (5 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 13th January 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: RIO NEGRO AND BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: Environment,Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA5R7LYNJI41R2AQ7SCL4D91X69
  • Story Text: More than a century after disappearing from a region in southern Argentina, five condors are released in a conservation effort.
    Around 150 years after Andean condors disappeared from the Patagonian region of Argentina, five took flight over the mountains recently when biologists released them as part of a conservation effort.
    Hundreds of volunteers who are part of the Andean Condor Conservation Project trekked up the Sierras de Paileman, some 1150 kilometres south of Buenos Aires, to watch the young condors make their first flight out of captivity.
    The program, sponsored by the Buenos Aires Zoo and the Argentine Bio-Andean Foundation, began in 1991 and has made 35 releases throughout South America.
    Luis Jacome, director of the Andean Condor Conservation Project, organised the most recent release. He and 40 combed through more than 2,000 kilometres of the Atlantic coast looking for the best area to release the young condors. The location they finally settled on is located some 50 from the ocean.
    The condors carry satellite transmitters on their wings so scientists can monitor their progress and adaptation to their new environment.
    "Finally the door has been opened and these condors have flown and now begins the process of following them through satellite technology so we can understand how the condor uses this atmosphere and so we can declare them a protected species that will return to the sea and live here," Jacome.
    The condors who were released included a one-year-old female named Guaytamari, and two-year-olds Wichi, Malen, Malky and Peuma - two males and two females.
    All five condors were raised in the Buenos Aires Zoo as part of the conservation program. Because condors generally lay only one egg every two or three years, the Zoo said it tries to produce multiple eggs. Biologists extract the first egg from the condor early in the process and, as a result, the condor is often likely to lay a second egg within the following month.
    Zoo officials incubate the first egg and monitor it closely. After two months, they help the chick to hatch.
    So far, all of their births have been successful, according to the zoo.
    The baby condors are put into a "nursery" where they have daily contact with humans, who care for them and feed them. After leaving the nursery, they are brought into contact with other young condors for the next six months and put into the "release" program.
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