Four fluffy flamingo chicks hatch at Whipsnade Zoo
- Published
- comments
Four new flamingo chicks have hatched at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo.
The eggs were kept in special incubators to make sure they stayed warm until a few days before they were due to hatch.
Then they were put back in their parents' nest so they could bond with them when they hatched.
Zookeepers say the young chicks are doing well and being looked after by both their parents.
A group of flamingos is called a flamboyance!
The word 'flamingo' comes from the Latin and Spanish for 'fire' referring of course to their bright pink feathers.
The backward bending knee of a flamingo isn't a knee at all, it's actually its ankle.
The chicks are grey not pink because they get their bright colour from the food they eat
Gary Ward, Curator of Birds at ZSL said: "Both male and female flamingo parents feed their fluffy, grey chicks with bright red "crop milk," which is made in the linings of their digestive tract, and contains fat, protein and blood cells.
"Incredibly, you can usually spot the new parents in a group, because they give so much of their own pigment to their chicks that they almost turn white!"
- Published13 July 2021
- Published3 June 2020
- Published6 July 2021
