Mobile App Developed to Simulate Conservation
A mobile game based around the conservation of the California Condor hit the app store this Tuesday.
The game is called Condor Country. The Santa Barbara Zoo and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service created the app so players can experience what it’s like to save an endangered species. The California Condor is the largest soaring bird in North America. It was near extinction just 20-years ago.
To save the bird from becoming extinct biologist gathered up the few birds left and started a conservation program, it worked, the birds are now doing much better, and developers hope this new game will help teach students and adults alike about conservation in a fun new way.
“They get to put themselves in the position of a condor biologist and manage a condor flock from the beginning just like the condor program did in the 80s and just like they are doing now. And so in the game they get to feel that tension for treating birds for lead poisoning, breeding birds for release, and managing a flock in the wild,” said Estelle Sandhaus with the Santa Barbara Zoo.
“The students, they really wanted to have a game to play. So we developed Condor Country as a way to still teach the students but do so via a game. Hopefully they will have a lot of fun using it,” said Joseph Brandy with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife.
The app is free to download. You can find it on both Android and OIS devices.