Condor, nearly 80, dies in Conn. zoo

Associated Press

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – Beardsley Zoo says an Andean condor believed to be the oldest one living in captivity has died at nearly 80 years of age.

Thaao (Tay-Oh) arrived at the Bridgeport zoo in 1993, after living most of his life at the Pittsburgh Zoo. He was the only endangered animal at the Connecticut zoo who was born in the wild.

An autopsy proved inconclusive.

The zoo says an Andean condor lives to about 50. The zoo believes Thaao was one of the original animals to have been tracked using a breed registry, a list of the known individual animals in a breed.

Biologists estimate that there are only a few thousand Andean condors in the wild.

Gregg Dancho, director of the Beardsley Zoo, says Thaao was an ambassador for conservation and the zoo.

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