WHY THE CONDOR DIDN’T GO EXTINCT AT END OF THE LAST ICE AGE

The end of the last ice age – 10,000-11,000 years ago – witnessed the extinction of many large herbivores, such as Imperial and Columbian mammoths, the western horse, a cameloid, mastodons, and three species of ground sloths, mammalian predators, such as the saber-toothed lion, the dire wolf, the short-faced bear, the American lion, and birds of prey, including several species of eagles and vultures. However, for some reason the California condor managed to survive and prosper until the mid-Twentieth Century. As reported in the November 26, 2004 issue of Science, pages 1466 and 1467, Kena Fox-Dobbs of U.C.S.B. has postulated that unlike the other large birds of prey, the condor also feed on beached sea mammals, such as seals. The abundance of sea mammals was little affected by the end of the last ice age. This broader diet enabled the California condor to flourish while much of its dietary menu slipped into extinction in the American west.

Mike Kuhn

12-4-04