Condors also bathe frequently and spend hours preening and drying their feathers. Biologists do not believe California condors were ever very numerous but suspect they began to decline in the 1890s. In the 1940s, biologists estimated there were 100 birds left in the wild. By 1982, this number had dropped to 22, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made the difficult decision to take eggs and chicks from the wild to improve their chances for survival. By 1987, the agency had decided it had to remove all condors from the wild.
Condors still face threats that caused their decline.
The birds' slow rate of reproduction and years spent reaching breeding maturity make the condor population more vulnerable.