Rare flamingo chick born at Manx wildlife park

'Rare' Chilean flamingos have not been bred at the wildlife park since 2006

A rare Chilean flamingo chick has been successfully bred at a wildlife park on the Isle of Man for the first time in 18 years.

Manager Kathleen Graham said the staff at Curraghs Wildlife Park in the north of the island were "delighted" to welcome the new arrival.

At just over one month old, the sex cannot yet be determined but the bird can be seen with its parents at the park.

The species is described as "near threatened" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

'Special flamingo diet'

A spokesman for the park in Ballaugh said the chick was "easy to spot" and would keep its "grey plumage for two to three years before turning pink".

It was now keeping up with the adults "having fledged the nest they constructed on the spider monkey island".

He said: "Both parents share incubation and chick rearing.

"Both the male and female can make a 'milky' solution in their crop - an expandable pouch in the throat, part of a bird's digestive system - to feed the chick."

Ms Graham added: "In the wild, flamingos eat small crustaceans and other microscopic animals and plants by filter feeding whereas in zoos they eat a special flamingo diet that contains pigments essential for maintaining their distinct colour."

Under human care flamingos can live until the age of about 40.