San Diego

After a four-day wait, scientists at the San Diego Wild Animal Park have determined that a recently captured California condor is a female, which means park officials may be one step closer to saving the rare bird from extinction.

Scientists hope that the female condor, captured last week in northern Los Angeles County, will mate with a male condor, which was captured in June. Since the birds are monomorphic, meaning their sexual organs are internal, scientists had to perform blood tests to determine sex.

Park officials now have to wait until January--the birds’ breeding season--to see if the two are compatible. The condors were seen flying together before they were captured, but park officials said the two birds could be siblings.

Only seven of the birds are known to exist in the wild and, of those, scientists have confirmed only one breeding pair. There are 10 captive California condors in the Wild Animal Park and another 10 in the Los Angeles Zoo, but none will reach mating age for five years.