Two special California condors - numbers 183 and 184 - hatched this week at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
The chicks, the first two of the season, are the result of the San Diego Zoo Global’s California condor breeding program.
The program started when there were only 22 condors left in the world. This year’s first chick arrived on March 14 and became the 183rd chick to be hatched at the park.
The baby that arrived four days later became the 184th for the program.
Both newborn condors will be considered for future release in the wild.
Now that there are more than 200 condors flying free in California, Arizona and Baja California, Mexico, experts are hopeful that a condor hatched in the wild will produce the first second-generation wild bird.
The majestic birds nearly became extinct in the 1980s before wildlife officials captured the last remaining few and began an aggressive breeding program.
Their biggest threat has been lead poisoning from feeding on animals killed by hunters using lead bullets.
