Age of Arthropods

In 2019, the 1000th California condor chick was born. It marked an important milestone for the California Condor Recovery Program and those who participated in the project were overwhelmed by joy (Rosane, O., 2019). After all, the population consisted of only 22 condors in 1982. The California Condor Recovery Program began in 1979, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service realized the condors wouldn't make it without the help of humans. It was decided to capture all wild California condors and integrate them into an already existing breeding program. Because the population was so crucially low, conservationists did everything to keep them as healthy as possible. In order to get rid of any parasites, all condors were deloused and treated with pesticide. But there was one thing that no-one took into consideration: the birds were home to a species-specific louse called Coplocephalum californici . As the population of their hosts were declining, their numbers were also going do...