California Condor Egg Hatches

 For the first time in more than a century, a California condor chick has hatched inside the federal park that once was the species' domain.
     
Biologists at Pinnacles National Monument, south of Hollister, are celebrating the milestone.

The hatching of the chick, whose sex has not yet been determined, is the latest development in the slow recovery of the endangered birds.

The hatchling will be raised by a female released in 2004 in the Central California park and a male released the same year along the Big Sur coast. The couple produced an egg that ended up not being viable, but biologists replaced it with another fertile condor egg.

In 1982, the last 22 California condors were placed in a captive breeding program. Today, there are nearly 350 in the world.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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