Paignton Zoo welcomes new arrival
A same-sex couple of flamingos at Paignton Zoo called Curtis and Arthur have been showing off a new chick.
For the first time since 2018, Paignton Zoo has welcomed a number of Chilean flamingo chicks, but is not known exactly how Curtis and Arthur acquired their new arrival.
Pete Smallbones, the zoo’s curator of birds, said: “It is a known phenomenon in Chilean flamingos as well as other bird flocks. The most likely scenario is that the egg was abandoned by another couple, so this pair have ‘adopted’ it.”
Flamingo eggs hatch after a period of approximately 28 days, where they are incubated on mud pile nests by both parents. The chicks are covered in grey, downy feathers and look quite different from their adult counterparts
Chilean flamingos are native to South America, and are declining in the wild due to factors including egg-harvesting, disturbance by tourism, and habitat degradation due to mining.
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