Call In The Eggs-perts! Oregon Zoo Staff Using 'Smart Eggs' To Save Endangered California Condor

A 3D printed ‘Smart Egg’ is helping bird experts at Oregon Zoo save the critically endangered California condor. Created by a 3D printer in a laboratory at Texas A&M University, the electronic replica egg records sound, temperature, movement and other data critical to rearing new generations of endangered chicks. Condor chicks hatched at the zoo’s centre are eventually sent to release sites in the wild, boosting the critically endangered species’ population. To increase the number of chicks, staff occasionally move the first-laid egg of one pair to an incubator - which is where the data-collecting ‘Smart Egg’ comes in. When it’s in a nest box, equipment hidden inside measures turn rate, temperature and how often the egg is moved. It can also record audio of condor parents’ breathing and heartbeats while they take turns sitting on the nest. When placed in an incubator next to a real egg, it can even play back those recorded sounds for the developing chicks. “We’ve never been able to get this type of information from inside of a California condor nest before. Knowing the precise conditions for rearing healthy chicks could be very useful to condor recovery efforts.” said Kelli Walker, the zoo’s Senior Condor Keeper. In 1982, only 22 individual condors remained in the wild and by 1987, the last were brought into human care in an attempt to save the species from extinction. Thanks to recovery programs like the Oregon Zoo’s, the world’s California condor population now totals around 500 birds, most of which are flying free. It is hoped gaining data from the ‘Smart Eggs’ will help with their rearing efforts in future - protecting the future of the species.