‘Adorable’ fuzzy creature born at Fresno zoo. ‘See her in all her fluffy glory’
An “adorable” creature is making her fuzzy debut at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo — and she’s the first of her kind to be born there in the zoo’s history, officials said.
Dolly the Andean condor chick has started venturing out to explore outside of her nest box for the first time since hatching in May, the zoo said in a recent post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Have you been lucky enough to see her in all her fluffy glory?” the zoo asked in the post.
Photos show the fuzzy chick standing in an outdoor enclosure and spreading her long wings.
“That’s a big ol ball of lint with beefy legs, what an absolute angel,” someone commented under the post.
What is significant about Dolly the Andean condor chick’s birth?
Andean condors are “the world’s largest bird of prey and one of the heaviest birds capable of flight,” zoo officials said in a blog post about Dolly’s birth.
“The Andean condor captivates zoo guests with its impressive wingspan, which can reach up to 10.8 feet,” officials said.
Videos in the blog post show Dolly walking and jumping around her enclosure with her wings outstretched.
The species has been part of the zoo’s animal population for decades — but Dolly is the first chick to hatch in the zoo’s history after decades of breeding efforts.
The program got going at the zoo in 1989 with the first breeding pair, Diane and Dino, the zoo said.
“While they were very close in age, they were still considered too young to breed,” officials said. “Andean condors typically breed when they reach their teenage years. The two maintained a tenuous relationship for 5 years where Diane routinely injured Dino.”
Program coordinators sent Dino to Cleveland, where he was paired with another mate in 1995. Diane then lived alone for 12 years, officials said.
The next candidate was a male chick named Brando that had been raised by humans, officials said. He was introduced to Diane in 2007, and they “formed a delicate bond after Diane’s pursuits and within a year, they produced their first egg.”
The pair went on to nest together over the next eight years — and were unsuccessful each time because Diane wouldn’t switch off incubation duties, officials said.
“Andean condors are not gentle parents when they are incubating eggs, the male and female fight to incubate at times and Brando was more of a gentle soul when it came to confrontation,” the zoo said. “It became apparent that Brando hadn’t learned the skills needed during his rearing to be the best Andean condor he could be.”
Zoo officials transferred Brando to the Oklahoma City Zoo in 2015.
Next up was a 3-year-old male named Dan from Florida, who had been “parent-reared” — which taught him the necessary parenting skills “to hold his own against Diane,” according to the zoo.
As they were getting to know each other, “the two would routinely be found perching close on opposite sides of a shared mesh wall,” and “at times, Diane would display for him with her wings stretched wide and head down, but he was too young to understand and reciprocate,” the zoo said.
He matured over the next seven years, developed adult colors and head adornments, “and began to court Diane on a regular basis,” officials said. They produced their first egg in 2020, and Dan made sure he had plenty of opportunities to incubate the egg.
Eggs were laid each year and were incubated but never hatched, and we began to question whether Diane was past reproductive age,” officials said. “Dan continued to court her, but nothing came of it.”
A breakthrough finally comes
In May 2025 a care specialist at the zoo tracking the eggs noticed it looked as though it was “cracked and rotten.” As officials tried to collect it to find out whether it was fertile, the team “noticed what appeared to be broken shell and surprisingly a freshly hatched chick.”
“This would make Diane one of the oldest females to successfully hatch an egg and Dan one of the youngest males,” the zoo said. “Diane and Dan quickly showed their skill as first time parents feeding the chick, grooming and switching off at different times of the day. Diane has settled in as the overnight caretaker, and Dan runs the day shift.”
Little Dolly is “on track for an Andean condor” at her age, and will remain with her parents for about two years before she goes off to another zoo to participate in the breeding program, officials said.
“This appears to be a dinosaur,” someone commented under the zoo’s post on X. “I guess life does find a way!”
This story was originally published September 9, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
