A pair of flamingos have turn out to be first-time mother and father on the San Diego Zoo Safari Park after hatching an egg collectively. They usually’re each dads.
The male foster mother and father — each of their 40s — are elevating one in all six chicks born this yr on the North County park, which cares for practically 100 lesser flamingos with their distinctive lengthy legs, versatile necks and pink feathers.
The identical-sex duo’s uncommon path to parenthood got here after wildlife care staffers seen the 2 working collectively to construct a nest. Flamingos on the park don’t have names however are recognized by their coloured leg band numbers — on this case, White 77 and White 26.
“They started paying a lot of attention to an empty nest mound, taking turns sitting on it, manicuring it. They built it up, just the two of them, but obviously weren’t laying an egg since it was two males,” recalled Erin Massey, a lead wildlife care specialist who has been on the park for 27 years.
A chick that’s being raised by a same-sex lesser flamingo pair on the Safari Park. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Similar-sex pairings of males or females happen in some animals in captivity and in nature. The park beforehand had a bonded pair of Chilean flamingos, each females, elevate a chick collectively after they each laid eggs. Earlier than that, a pair of male topped cranes fostered a chick collectively after they got a fertile egg, Massey mentioned.
As a result of the 2 flamingos had been exhibiting robust nesting behaviors, staffers determined to offer them a faux egg to see what would occur.
A part of the motivation was to maintain them busy so that they’d depart alone different pairs that had been caring for eggs. Flamingos are very social and nest shut to one another, and typically dominant birds will kick less-assertive birds out of their nests.
Wildlife care employees additionally wished to see how they’d do with the faux egg to see in the event that they had been good foster guardian candidates.
“Once we gave them the fake egg, they were both showing a lot of interest,” Massey mentioned. “They were very excited. They were talking to each other. They were standing over the egg. One of the males got onto the nest immediately and sat down right away.”
For the following a number of weeks, she mentioned, White 77 and White 26 had been doing “exactly what we would expect any regular pair of nesting flamingos to do,” together with taking turns sitting within the conical-shaped nest.
An actual egg
It seems, the Safari Park did have a necessity for foster mother and father. In a single case, a male flamingo grew to become injured, leaving all of the egg-care duties to his feminine associate, who was skipping meals to remain on the nest. That egg was given to foster mother and father to boost.
In one other case, staffers pulled a fertile egg from one pair in hopes they might lay once more — often called “double clutching.” That egg went to the foster dads on Aug. 3.
Three weeks later, their chick hatched, a tiny grey fluff of feathers in regards to the dimension of a tennis ball. It’s not but recognized whether it is male or feminine.
Because the chick grows, it’s going to hold its grey feathers for a couple of yr till pink feathers are available. Child flamingo legs keep black for about three years earlier than they, too, flip pink.
To maintain the flamingos from flying off, wildlife care employees will trim the feathers on one in all their wings.
Within the chick’s early days, the foster mother and father stored an in depth watch. They took turns sitting on the tiny fowl within the nest for its first 5 or 6 days to maintain it heat and shield it from predators. They every fed it “crop milk,” which comes from the flamingos’ higher digestive tract. Each women and men produce crop milk.
After the fowl was sufficiently old to go away the nest, Massey mentioned, it wandered round with its two dads chasing behind it.
“You always know who the parents are because you see this little baby bopping around and there’s two birds chasing it everywhere it goes, all over the habitat,” Massey mentioned.
Now that the chick is about 6 weeks outdated, it hangs out with the opposite children. However the younger birds nonetheless depend on their mother and father and can set free a particular name after they need to be fed.
Due to their success, she mentioned it’s attainable the 2 birds will stay a bonded pair and might be tapped to be foster mother and father once more.
Massey mentioned utilizing foster mother and father helps the Safari Park’s aim of manufacturing as many wholesome chicks as attainable.
One of many same-sex lesser flamingo pair, heart. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune) Largest flock within the U.S.
Lesser flamingos are a species present in sub-Saharan Africa and western India and are thought of close to threatened, based on the Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature. Their numbers within the wild are in decline, and breeding areas are threatened.
There are roughly 550 lesser flamingos in U.S. zoos, a park spokesperson mentioned.
“Historically, lesser flamingos have a really low fertility rate with their eggs. They’re very difficult to breed. So any fertile eggs and pairs who lay fertile eggs are incredibly valuable,” Massey mentioned.
She mentioned a couple of decade in the past, the choice was made to maneuver all of the lesser flamingos from the San Diego Zoo and SeaWorld San Diego to the Safari Park. Lesser flamingos, that are the smallest flamingo species, are thought to want and really feel extra comfy in greater teams.
The park now has the biggest flock within the nation.
“Everyone kind of decided that we have such a good setup, and the birds here were doing so well, we’d best combine all of those birds to create a large flock to make them more comfortable. And it’s been really successful in our breeding of birds,” Massey mentioned.
Nevertheless, breeding did decline prior to now couple of years after park managers moved all of the park’s birds to protected areas to attempt to hold them secure from extremely pathogenic avian influenza, a extremely contagious illness.
The lesser flamingos had been moved from a lagoon close to the doorway to the Safari Park to an out of doors area that was netted so that they might be shielded from wild migratory birds that might be carrying the virus.
The flamingos had been moved again a couple of yr in the past and are monitored carefully for indicators of sickness.
Due to all of the disruption, nevertheless, no breeding occurred. However after a yr of settling in, park staffers this yr witnessed much more courtship conduct, together with birds marching collectively in synchronized steps and flagging, the place they stretch their necks after which flip their heads backwards and forwards rhythmically.
In all, 27 eggs had been laid, seven of which had been fertile and 6 that hatched.
All the lesser flamingos in San Diego had been moved to the Safari Park so they might really feel extra comfy in a bigger flock and thrive. (Ana Ramirez / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
“We had so many birds out there sitting on eggs — whether they were good or not, that makes the other birds feel comfortable to lay,” Massey mentioned.
This season’s success has Safari Park employees hopeful there will likely be extra child flamingoes of their future.
“We do have some younger birds out here that are starting to show interest, and they’ve witnessed a very successful year,” Massey mentioned. “So we’re optimistic that we’ll get even more next year.”
