Flying giants--rare California condors return to Utah skies

[TriadBoss88]

So the narrator sure was in a hurry -_-

[Nancy99999]

Soooo dinosaurs are not really extinct...

[TheSonorama21]

WHY, JOHNNY CASH. WHY.

[FutureUnChanged]

Imagine if one of these landed right next to you.

[johnson02ful]

My real dad is abel planknov. LOL

[DemonTrigger46]

They eat death for breakfast

[XxW33K3NDWARRI0RxX]

i dont care how big they are 35 steel balls will make it fall like a sack of shit

[dashphire]

I saw this bird in Vancouver Canada, it was so random. I've never seen this bird or this kind before and in Vancouver?...random. I thought it was a vulture.

[shamirah16powell]

Lol me too

[DysfunctionaLProd]

My Soul to Take brought me here

[keddiebros]

@DysfunctionaLProd I was just watching that movie.

[Ocrisia83]

@DysfunctionaLProd me too!!!!

[Ocrisia83]

@DysfunctionaLProd i actually just wanted to know if the thing about them puking and crapping on things is true..

[CrakBackTV]

I've seen California Condors at the Grand Canyon and so has my new born cousin thanks to these guys that would never have happened. :)

[mrdizz916]

Thumbs up if the movie "My Soul To Take" brought you here...

[ContractAssasin]

@mrdizz916 pretty much

[Ocrisia83]

@mrdizz916 hahaha thanks instant play on netflix!!

[marvelgirlmarvel]

I don't care what anyone thinks, these birds are beautiful

[SgtThom]

@marvelgirlmarvel

Too bad no one cares.

[ylferif27]

I actually got to experience one of these amazing creatures in OJAI , CA . back in 1979 or 1980 . I lived in a cabin on the Ventura River and I loved to cross the Swinging Bridge and go leaping from rock to rock . One day a shadow passed me and I looked up at what I thought was going to be a Hang Glider and to my surprise it was a huge bird . I described it to my boss , he told me it was a Condor and I was lucky to see one but more lucky that it didn't take all 90 lbs of me for it's lunch !

[lilcole115]

these bird's are really beautiful and there really amazon!. i swaer i love the califonia condor!. OMG!!! the best..<<<<<33333333333 it ! :)

[paroksysmos]

a bird like this works in grande kalamaki,brahami,greece!



[toddjgreenwald]

I saw one soaring yesterday during a hike in the mountains between Simi Valley and Oak Park, California. It was huge and the head was red like a turkey! Thought it was gonna pick me up and take me to Oz. Lucky sighting I guess...

[jiggidajiggidaBAM]

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

pooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­p

i luv pooooooooooooooooooooooooooop

dont u :)

[PrinceNoirAmericain]

wow

[jugganaut35]

Mmm, one of those'd make a nice Thanksgiving roast stuffed with caramelized onion and andouille sausage stuffing and finished with a nice chipotle gravy, southwestern style...I wonder if they taste like chicken...

Calm down, I'm joking.

[wonka479]

are they scavengers?

[makinuptherules]

@wonka479

Yes. All New World vultures are scavengers.

[thoosilverwolf]

@makinuptherules TELL US SOMETHING WE DONT KNOW ASS

[makinuptherules]

@thoosilverwolf

You're cool..

[JCDesignsUK]

@wonka479 Extremley

[Meethyee]

Boy, I hope those amazing birds dont go extinct.

[sierracuban]

@Meethyee I BELIEVE THEY WILL MAKE IT WITHOUT FACING EXTINCTION........In 1987 there were ONLY 22 LEFT, and now there are over 300......( As of early 2011 ).........I remember when their survival seemed totally hopeless.......Those 22 were in Ventura County, just northwest of Los Angeles.......And NOWHERE else were there any.......Amazing.....

[lilcole115]

@sierracuban  your totaly right!

[sierracuban]

@lilcole115 THANK YOU......I remember visiting the town of Fillmore in Ventura County, California, back in 1977 on a car trip, ( I was 24 ) and an old Mexican-American man there told me that he did not think that the condors would make it......I was saddened by his statement, but made the decision NOT to believe him.....At that moment I decided to be optimistic, and I was right...

At that time ( March of 1977 ) there were probably around 25 to 30 condors......Sierra Cuban, Miami, Florida

[magickitty0128]

Amazing creatures. I'm going to Utah next week, and I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be lucky enough to see a condor.

[DoctorSess]

i saw a condor at the bottom of the grand canyon after riding the mules down into it...was awesome!

[WaTuLo0kInGaT]

@2346 They have, the 300 are a result of an extensive breeding programme. The main concerns now are the birds being poisoned from the bullets of people shooting other animals. So making the use of lead bullet illegal would do some good...

[NorthForkFisherman]

Very nice video. One thing that I am concerned about is inbreeding. What steps are being taken to ensure that hereditary bottlenecks are being worked around? Is it possible to cross with the Andean species and then back again to a true strain? These echos of the Pleistocene are truely wonderful and must be preserved.

[WaTuLo0kInGaT]

Because the initial population taken into the breeding population was so small (about 9 birds) loss of genetic diversity was inevitable. You would not want to cross the species though because that would be a loss of biodiversity in itself. Not entirely sure what can be done about it, think also of the bottleneck in cheetahs, same problem...

[NorthForkFisherman]

@WaTuLo0kInGaT Then this is definitley one we should both sequence, and perhaps clone? It's such a shame that we get to a point where the technology that could help the species is too late to really make a difference. One thing to consider is that if we can recover enough DNA to reconstruct a H. neanderthal genome, perhaps we can do the same here from their remains in museum collections?

[WaTuLo0kInGaT]

@NorthForkFisherman I agree entirely, and with sequencing techniques on the rise, I feel we could be able to get a sequence. They even managed to get a sequence of one of the first HIV cases and that was preserved in something that really stuffs up the DNA! The study of genetics is relatively new, and we are but dabbling in the realm of its possibilities. Who knows, in a few years this sort of thing may be entirely possible.

[grumpypant]

Did I hear the narrator say that these birds only nest ONLY EVERY OTHER YEAR? Geez, no wonders their numbers are so small!

[grumpypant]

Sure, my friend; their extinction can be on the verge if we don't enhance their food sources to help enhance their looks/beauty; with such ugliness, these birds don't seem to attract to each other as much...

Resulting in less mating!

[LittleItalianGal33]

Is there still a slight chance that the California Condor could possibly go extinct?

[WaTuLo0kInGaT]

@LittleItalianGal33 Ofcourse, they are "skating on very thin ice"

[DonChilenito]

is the carlifonian condor smaller than the andean condor? :O

[purzheen]

They say it's slightly smaller, but I'm not sure what that means. The modern condors all descend from just three mitochondrial lines, one of which will die out soon because it is represented by a single male. It's likely that there was greater size variation in CA Condors two hundred years ago.

[purzheen]

The modern CA Condors are reported to max out at 9.5 - 10 feet for wingspan, whereas Andean Condors purportedly have a maximum wingspan of greater than 10.5 feet. Weight-wise the Andean condor purportedly reaches weights in excess of 25 lbs., whereas the CA Condor averages just under 20, though it can attain greater weights as well.

Both are massive birds.

[kcalhoun2]

@DonChilenito yeah

adeans have a 10 ft wing span

[pasapdub]

The next time you hear someone criticize zoos, remind them that, without the Los Angeles and San Diego zoos, these birds would be gone.

I helped with this project and am very proud of the effort.

[octopustime342]

yeah, i was born in san diego

[Ivins]

Thanks for uploading this informative video. These birds are huge! When are these condors sighted around the Kolob area of southern Utah?

[enchilada01]

i cant wait to see them in the wild!

[octopustime342]

condors are cool but they might kill my chicken

[enchilada01]

yeah, they could choke it...

[SadinaSaphrite]

Actually, California Condors are what are know as "obligate scavengers," which means that they only eat dead matter, and never hunt live prey.

Your chicken is safe from Cali Condors!

[queueupladeez]

wonderful to see them fly!