(Portland, OR) -- A new high-tech "smart egg" is showing promise to improve the survival rate of endangered California condor chicks at the Oregon Zoo's condor conservation center. Often, staff move the first-laid egg of one condor pair to an incubator. It's replaced with the electronic replica egg. It records sound, temperature, movement and other data inside the nest. When placed in an incubator next to a real egg, it can play back those recorded sounds for the developing chicks. With only about 500 California condors in the world, zoo officials say this could be groundbreaking for recovery efforts.