CONDOR DELLA CALIFORNIA | 𝘎𝘺𝘮𝘯𝘰𝘨𝘺𝘱𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘴

REMNANT

The California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus) is the last representative of the genus Gymnogyps, a taxon that was once widely distributed throughout the Americas during the Pleistocene.

The range of Gymnogyps extended from the Pacific coast to Florida and even to Cuba in North America, with remains found in Talara, Peru, in South America.

During the Pleistocene, the California Condor was not the only large vulture in its range, nor was it the largest. It coexisted with the giant Teratornids, colossal raptors that could exceed four meters in wingspan in North America.

The environmental condition that allowed so many large vultures to thrive was the presence of a substantial megafauna. Mammoths, mastodons, ground sloths, various species of bison, camels provided an abundant food supply for these scavengers.

However, the Pleistocene megafauna has disappeared, and yet the California Condor has survived to the present day (with the help of Homo sapiens). How did it manage to do so?

In biology, the California Condor falls into the category known as “remnants.” Some of these living forms, despite the favorable conditions in which they evolved or thrived, have either changed or disappeared but have managed to survive by isolating themselves in enclaves where there are still useful resources for them.

It has been hypothesized that the California Condor continued to thrive along the Pacific coast of the United States, both due to the abundance of large animals in the Rocky Mountains and the proximity to the ocean, which would have provided condors with a good food supply through the carcasses of pinnipeds, cetaceans, and salmon.