After a decade, Azuay awaits the birth of the Andean condor in captivity

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The birth in captivity of an Andean condor opens up hope for a potential repopulation of this bird, symbol of Ecuador, proudly represented in the national coat of arms.

The little “condorito” remains with his parents in the Amaru Biopark and is one of the 130 individuals who are registered by the authorities. The last time the birth of this species was known was in Azuay, in 2012, with the remembered condor Arturo.

The hope after this event is double, first for the birth and then for having a reproductive partner, the third in Ecuador, says Ernesto Arbeláez, president and conservation director of the Amaru Foundation, the place where the chick was born and is kept.

The condor is a species that is “critically threatened with extinction”. Around 130 individuals live in the country in a free state and 20 under human care in specialized centers.

The birth of the condor was a task of patience that began in 2020, when it joined Inty (male) and Pacha (female), both rescued, who were kept under specialized care in Azuay and Imbabura.

At first, their caregivers noticed that there was “not much harmony” between them; and, when the professionals of the Amaru Biopark thought of separating them, hope was reborn: there was courtship, falling in love, creation of a nest and signs of the gravid female, that is, with an egg inside her body.

Birth of another condor chick brings hope for the species in Ecuador

At the end of 2021 his first egg was born, but Inty and Pacha, being inexperienced parents, broke it. However, the faith remained and after a month they put another one that evolved successfully on February 25 last.

Currently, the expectation is maintained so that another accident does not occur and that, in about four months, the little one weighs about nine kilograms so that the risks decrease. Then follows a stage of a year and a half for him to become independent from his parents, which also slows down his reproductive process.

The formation of the couples is slow, the incubation of the eggs and the development of the young takes two years, and for them to have a young again they have to spend another 24 months; thus, the reproductive rate compared to other birds is spaced and slow.

Ernesto Arbeláez, president and conservation director of Fundación Amaru

In 2012, while sharing a family outing in the Azuay canton of Oña, Fausto Cardoso observed something he will never forget: a newborn condor. Faced with such an event, and for a year in a row, he followed her up. Cautiously and without being observed by the birds, he documented in photographs how he began to take his first steps and flap their wings. Until, finally, he took flight on his own.

This story did not have a happy ending, because in 2013 whom they baptized as Condor Arturo was hunted by a man near the Quimsacocha moors, in the Azuayo canton of Girón. There was no certainty that it was him, but the physical characteristics were for that: a young, male bird, and who was not later observed in the Azuay skies. To round off this story, the hunter was imprisoned for this environmental crime.

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Based on the experiences gained in that year of monitoring, Cardoso believes that the birth of the condor in captivity is extremely important. First, from an ecological point of view, because the possibility of increasing the limited population is reopened. And second, from an emotional perspective, because this majestic bird symbolizes the strength that Ecuadorians have.

Being something that is repeated after a decade, Cardoso asks the different entities, public and private, to promote education processes so that people know that the condor is not a predator, but rather a species that cleans nature by feed on the remains of dead animals, thus avoiding contamination.

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Ernesto Arbeláez points out that when it feeds on domestic animals it is because it has no other option, since due to human causes, such as forest fires, the advance of the agricultural frontier or the insertion of predators, the condor is left without its natural food.

Despite the adversities, this news brings happiness not only to Bioparque Amaru, but also to the people of Cuenca, who have begun to baptize it on social networks. But, for now, Pacha, Inty and the little “condorito” are monitored in a specific place in Amaru, with surveillance cameras and the minimum presence of human beings. (I)