In 2015, Castro led efforts to create a captive-breeding program. That year, the park imported a pair of condors from Chile, where the local population is larger than in Colombia. The program saw its first breakthrough in July 2024, when the pair produced their first chick, which staff named Rafiki. Wayra followed in September 2025, and on Oct. 31 this year, a third chick, \u00c1mbar, hatched.<\/p>\n
The program builds on the success of similar efforts in the United States, Argentina and Chile. In the U.S., the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) population bounced back from 22 individuals in the wild in 1982 to more than 300 today. (The California and Andean condors belong to the same family of New World vultures, Cathartidae.)<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aConservation is always easier if you can do it in the field,\u201d Ron Webb, lead wildlife care specialist at the California condor breeding facility at San Diego Safari Park, tells Mongabay by video call. \u201cYou preserve a habitat and it gives the birds the resources and support they already need. But the numbers dropped too far so they needed some support.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Argentina, where the Andean condor population was plummeting, a similar program was launched in 1991 and has since produced 78 chicks. In Chile, an Andean condor breeding initiative has resulted in 25 chicks since 1999.<\/p>\n
Colombia\u2019s strategy draws on lessons learned from these experiences. At the Jaime Duque Park, wildlife caretakers place each egg in an oven-like incubator that provides warmth and safety. First-time condor parents can struggle with anxiety and accidentally crack their eggs, Castro says. Artificial incubation not only protects the chick, but also accelerates the reproduction rate. Because condors are slow breeders, typically producing one chick every two to three years, removing the egg from their nest often stimulates them to lay again. Using this technique, the pairs can produce up to three eggs in a single year, Castro says.<\/p>\n
Once the chick hatches, it never sees its caretakers, so that it doesn\u2019t associate humans with food or safety. Instead, the chick is fed in its early months using a hand puppet resembling an adult condor, then is later kept in an enclosure with other condors. This helps the chick remain wary of humans, improving its chances of survival once released into the wild.<\/p>\n
Reducing threats to the species<\/h2>\n
As important as breeding is, it\u2019s equally crucial that the massive birds are welcomed wherever they are released. In the case of Rafiki and Wayra, the park has chosen Cerrito, a high-altitude town in northeastern Colombia that\u2019s home to an estimated 60 condors, or nearly half of the country\u2019s condor population. For the past seven years, the Jaime Duque Park Foundation has worked with local sheep-herding communities to make the town a safer place for condors.<\/p>\n
Only two decades ago, condors there were treated as pests. As ranchers moved upslope, they came into conflict with the birds, according to Castro. They believed the birds preyed on their sheep, and so left poisoned carrion out in the open to kill the condors, says Doris Torres, a 47-year-old sheep herder. Many condors died, but Torres, who was aware of the species\u2019 threatened status, looked for solutions, she tells Mongabay.<\/p>\n
In 2018, the Jaime Duque Park Foundation stepped in. It backed awareness-raising campaigns to educate people about the condor\u2019s ecological importance. Camera traps installed by the community also showed that their sheep were being killed by foxes and ocelots \u2014 and often even by their own sheepdogs.<\/p>\n
But there was some truth to the community\u2019s concerns, Castro says. As carrion grew scarce, condors were observed nipping at lambs, driving them off cliffs, and feeding on their carcasses. This unusual behavior, Castro says, was an adaptation to desperate conditions. Since then, the community has limited grazing areas and now leaves carcasses on elevated rocks for condors to eat.<\/p>\n As a result of the community\u2019s efforts, Cerrito has become a haven for condors and, in recent years, a prime destination for condor watching, receiving nearly 1,000 visitors per year. Tourism has boosted the community\u2019s income and helped sustain their conservation work.<\/p>\n \u201cThe condor has now gone from being an enemy to being a great ally in development,\u201d Torres says. Today, 19 sheep-herding families are part of the Peasant Association Coexisting with Condors (ACAMCO), the collective Torres founded to protect the species.<\/p>\n Santiago Zuluaga, an Andean condor expert and researcher at Spain\u2019s Superior Council for Scientific Research, says a countrywide assessment is needed to map out potential threats and determine the best release sites for captive-raised birds. While Cerrito may be a safe area for the birds, adult condors can travel hundreds of kilometers in a single day, which could expose them to dangers elsewhere. \u201cEven if the condors are released in [Cerrito], it\u2019s obvious that [they] won\u2019t stay there,\u201d Zuluaga says.<\/p>\n Ideally, such studies should be supported by the government, he adds, but Colombia hasn\u2019t had a national condor conservation plan since 2016, when the last plan expired. Zuluaga says a new strategy is needed to support the condor population in the long term.<\/p>\n Castro says he hopes the government will begin supporting the program to ensure its future. For now, the initiative is financed entirely by the Jaime Duque Park Foundation.<\/p>\n Next year, Rafiki and Wayra will be released into the wind-swept mountains of Cerrito, equipped with GPS and radio tracking devices to track their movements. For the program to succeed, Castro says, the birds must mate and reproduce in the wild, a process that could take up to 10 years.<\/p>\n In the meantime, he says, he\u2019s satisfied by the excitement the birth of Rafiki and Wayra has sparked on social media. In a country where the bird was once widely revered but has since been forgotten, Castro says he hopes the Andean condor will once again win people\u2019s hearts and inspire interest in its conservation.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Colombia, we\u2019re talking about condors again,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s real value in that.\u201d<\/p>\n Wallace, R. B., Reinaga, A., Piland, N., Piana, R., Hern\u00e1n Vargas, F., Zegarra, R. E., \u2026 Zurita, L. (2022). Defining spatial conservation priorities for the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus). Journal of Raptor Research, 56(1), 1-16. doi:10.3356\/JRR-20-59<\/p>\nCitation:<\/h2>\n