Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Biologists say the Utah's first California condor chick hatched in the wild appears to have died.
Wildlife authorities said Wednesday that researchers noticed something was wrong with the six-month-old chick in late November when it stopped coming to the opening of a remote cave where it was nesting at Zion National Park.
Its parents stopped visiting the cave shortly after, leading researchers to conclude the chick had died. Its body wasn't found and the cause of death is unclear.
Two other chicks hatched in northern Arizona this year have survived. There are now 73 of the endangered birds in the wild near the Utah-Arizona border.
Flock managers at The Peregrine Fund say lead poisoning is the leading cause of death for birds in the two states.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
