California Condors, National Zoo -1934 Scientific Print

Description

British Parliament 1925 Vintage Lithograph
California Condors
The California condor is a New World vulture and the largest North American land bird. It became extinct in the wild in 1987, but has since been reintroduced to northern Arizona and southern Utah, the coastal mountains of central and southern California, and northern Baja California.
Beginning in 1900, a demand for live condors increased, and in the next ten years eleven California condors were procured for zoos. The National Zoo (Washington, D. C.) received six, the Bronx Zoo (New York) four, and the Golden Gate Park Aviary (San Francisco) one. Only one of the zoo condors lived less than a year; four lived one to five years; and three lived seven to 10 years. The other three, all at the National Zoo, survived 36, 39 and 45 years in captivity.
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This print is of an animal that was a
resident
in the 1930s of the
The National Zoological Park, commonly known as the National Zoo, one of the oldest zoos in the United States. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution.
The Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute began as the dream of William Temple Hornaday, chief taxidermist at the Smithsonian from 1882 to 1887. During a trip to the western United States in 1886, he was shocked and troubled by what he didn’t find—large herds of American bison. The species, which once roamed the American West by the millions, was reduced to a few hundred animals. The bison’s near extinction sparked Hornaday’s crusade to save it and other endangered species from disappearing completely. He became the first head of the Department of Living Animals at the Smithsonian later that year, and brought 15 North American species to live on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The deer, foxes, prairie dogs, badgers, lynx and bison were the animals that started what would eventually become the National Zoological Park.
In 1889 President Grover Cleveland officially signed an act of congress into law creating the National Zoological Park for “the advancement of science and the instruction and recreation of the people.” Two years later, the animals who had been living on the National Mall had a new home. Frederick Law Olmsted, the premiere architect of the day, designed the Zoo within Rock Creek Park in northwest Washington, D.C., which officially opened in 1891.
These are almost one-of-a-kind images produced mostly just for the Smithsonian Institute to document scientific and historical studies.
Published in 19
3
4
by
The Smithsonian Institute
Medium Size
: Approximately
5.5
" X
8
"
Blank on Reverse
Condition
:
Excellent
-
Very Good
-
Good
-
Fair - Poor (but of historical interest)
Th
is
Old Print
isn
't Perfect but close
- Minor handling wear & aging
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Natural
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: It was not until the 20th century that prints were commonly produced for the
print
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H
istory-On-Paper
Item #1220-W249-SI