海角大神

A pair of聽California聽condors have produced a baby, surprising wildlife experts who said on Friday the endangered raptors had managed to secretly mate outside their careful monitoring.

Late last month, biologists noticed a "mystery" juvenile聽condor聽at a wildlife sanctuary in聽Big Sur,聽California, according to the聽Ventana Wildlife Society, a group that helps protect and observe the birds in their natural habitat.

The young bird was seen with two adult condors presumed to be its parents - and the bundle of joy, about 9-months-old, had been hatched and raised without the knowledge of biologists monitoring the region, the group said.

"This pair of condors is suspected of nesting in a remote portion of the Ventana Wilderness in the Arroyo Seco drainage," the group said in a statement. "Biologists have never entered the nest because of the area's inaccessibility."

This was only the third unobserved pairing of condors in the wild since 1997,聽the San Francisco Chronicle听谤别辫辞谤迟别诲.

The parents were identified as "Shadow" and "Wild 1," the group said.聽Shadow, the suspected father, has been active in the population, having produced two other chicks, the group said.

"This is truly exciting to witness as it offers another example of condors surviving on their own," said聽Kelly Sorenson, executive director of the聽Ventana Wildlife Society.

Condors, the largest flying birds in聽North America, once populated an area from聽Canada聽to聽Mexico聽but nearly became extinct in the 1980s due to factors such as poaching, lead poisoning and habitat destruction.

The total聽condor聽population now stands at 425 birds, both captive and wild, of which 116 are living in the wilderness of聽California, the聽Ventana Wildlife Society聽said.

One of the longest-living raptors in the world,聽condor聽populations are also found in聽Mexico, Arizona聽and聽Utah.

(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere in Seattle; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Andrew Hay).