A scientific team led by the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance announced Thursday that California condors can reproduce without having sex. “I thought it was pretty remarkable,” said Kevin Burns, an ornithologist at San Diego State University, who was not involved in the study. The non-profit organization has played a key role in helping California condors claw their way back from the brink of extinction. By the end of 2019, that count rose to 525, with 306 condors flying freely across California, Arizona, Utah and Baja California. “I said, ‘You’ve just shown that there’s parthenogenetic development in California condors,’” Ryder recalls.

Source: Los Angeles Times October 29, 2021 15:55 UTC