Whipsnade Zoo hand-rears new Flamingo Chicks

Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire is hand-rearing four newly hatched American flamingo chicks. The chicks were imported as eggs from Chester Zoo and were incubated and hatched at Whipsnade’s specialist bird nursery as part of the European conservation breeding programme.

Tim Savage, Whipsnade Zoo’s head bird keeper, said: “The chicks’ arrival ensures that Whipsnade Zoo has a healthy and genetically diverse flock of flamingos, so that they can continue to play an important role in the species’ conservation and breeding by introducing different bloodlines to the flock.”

The zookeepers are feeding, monitoring, and weighing the chicks around the clock to ensure they are in good health. The chicks are fed four times a day with a mixture designed to mimic the ‘crop milk’ produced by their flamingo parents. The milkshake consists of a whole boiled egg blended with extra yolks, boiled water, corn oil, vitamins, and minerals, providing the chicks with a protein- and nutrient-rich diet.

From about ten days old, the chicks will be gradually introduced to solid foods, in the form of pellets, as they wean off their milkshake. Alongside vitamins and fish proteins, the pellets contain carotenoids, which give the birds their distinctive pink plumage.

The fledglings are expected to join the rest of their family, including four chicks which have already hatched in the flamingo’s habitat, when they are two months old. Savage explained: “Once the chicks are strong enough to feed on their own and look after themselves, they will be introduced in stages to their peers, and then eventually to the whole flock in their wetland home.”

While the wild population of American flamingos is currently stable, habitat destruction, water pollution, and rising sea levels caused by climate change threaten the wetland environments they inhabit.

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