California condors (*Gymnogyps californianus*) are one of the greatest conservation success stories on Earth, with over 600 individuals now from a low of 22 in 1982. While the historic near-extinction of this species was mostly due to persecution by collectors and ranchers and lead poisoning, the latter still very much in play, the fossil evidence would suggest that declines have been going on for a very long time.  
  
During the Pleistocene, condors in this genus were much more widespread, but when most terrestrial megafauna went extinct near the end of the Pleistocene, the condor's major food source was eliminated, leading to their widespread extinction. Condors survived only on the Pacific coast, where carcasses from marine mammals like whales and sea lions could support their need for carrion. During the 18-19th centuries they seem to have experienced an expansion out of this range, probably due to the introduction of livestock such as sheep and cattle, before their further reduction from hunting and poisoning.  
  
While all mainland North American condor fossils in this genus have been assigned to either the living species or its larger conspecific/predecessor (*G. (c.?) amplus*), two additional species are known from the Late Quaternary - one from Peru (*G. howardae*) and one from Cuba. (*Gymnogyps varonai*). Exactly when the Cuban species went extinct is unclear, but it is possible that it survived well into the Holocene, disappearing when its likely source of carrion, Caribbean ground sloths, were hunted to extinction.  
  
Even just looking at the living, mainland species, the fossils suggest a very high climatic tolerance. The New York fossil was deposited at a time when the site would have had a boreal climate and supported spruce and jack pine, for example. Fossils are sufficiently widespread, especially given how badly birds generally fossilize, that it is reasonable to assume *Gymnogyps* condors were fairly ubiquitous across North America, as well as the Antilles, northern South America, and quite possibly Central America, the only limiters being a source of carrion and possibly the availability of nest sites.

Gymnogyps Condors, Past and Present