The City News Service announced Monday that two California condo chicks were born last week at San Diego Zoo Safari Park. They were the first two chicks born in the zoo for this year.

Traditionally, the California Condor Recovery Program let humans take care of the eggs until they are hatched. However, zoo officials said the eggs were raised and hatched by their parents.

The condor chicks were hatched on March 14 and 16.

There are still two other eggs in the incubators at the Safari Park’s condor breeding program.

Other condor breeding programs are held at various zoos such as the Los Angeles Zoo, Oregon Zoo and the World Center for Birds of Prey. Birds that were released in the wild have bred and laid eggs as well.

The condor breeding program in the San Diego Zoo Safari Park started in the 1980s. That time, there were only about 22 condors left in the entire world. Since then, the park has hatched about 165 chicks from the last 22 California condors they placed under captive breeding program.

They have released 80 condors into the wilds of Arizona, Baja California and California. Zoos are also exchanging eggs to widen the pool of condor genes.

In the 20th century, the number of condors have remarkably declined because of habitat destruction, lead poisoning and poaching. A conservation plan structured by the government of United States helped preserve the number of condors.

Currently, there are 370 California condors both in the wild and in captivity.