Originally Posted By: craigd
Finding trace levels of lead in humans is very common, and there are allowable limits. Maybe, the condors get their lead the same way humans do, air, ground and water being among the possibilities. If it's okay to make assumptions, maybe kids are scavenging unrecovered game?


Well . . . condors probably aren't eating lead-based paint chips or drinking water that comes out of lead pipes. At least not very often. smile And bullet fragments have been found in meat such as venison. In fact, it was those fragments which caused North Dakota to do a study of lead levels in humans some years ago. The results were that those who reported eating wild game had higher lead levels than those who did not. However . . . the average lead level for everyone from whom blood was drawn (I seem to recall around 700 or so) was lower than the average lead level nationwide. And I'd expect to find a MUCH higher percentage of people who eat wild game in North Dakota than I would nationwide.