In the 2021 study “Facultative Parthenogenesis in California Condors” published in the Journal of Heredity, researchers report the first genetic evidence that female California condor can reproduce without male genetic contribution, even while housed with fertile males. After analyzing the DNA from 911 birds in the conservation breeding program, they identified two male chicks that carried only their mother’s genetic material and were completely identical across all tested markers. No male matched as a father.

Both birds were confirmed as males and showed signs consistent with parthenogenesis, a rare form of asexual reproduction in birds. Even though neither of them lived long enough to have babies, this discovery is important. It shows that this critically endangered species can sometimes reproduce on its own, without mating, even under normal breeding conditions.

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