Same-sex flamingo pair raises chick at California zoo. See ‘fathers that stepped up’
A pair of male flamingos in their 40s became first-time dads by fostering a chick at their California zoo, adorable video shows.
Their story began when wildlife care specialists at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park noticed the couple sitting on a nest as their opposite–sex counterparts produced eggs earlier this year. So the specialists gave them a dummy egg “to keep them busy and prevent them from interfering with other nests,” the zoo told McClatchy News in an email.
“They immediately began caring for the fake egg, alternating brooding responsibilities” — meaning sitting on top of their mud mound nests to incubate their egg — and proving their parenting skills, the safari park said. “Wildlife care specialists then gave the pair a fertile egg to foster.”
The move freed up another pair of flamingos to raise a second hatchling so the entire flock ended up with an additional family member, zookeepers said.
Lesser flamingos usually only lay one egg per year, 10News reported.
“Having that ability to foster that egg while producing another egg, we were able to produce six chicks this year,” spokesperson Marco Wendt told the station.
That’s a huge win for the near-threatened species. Although lesser flamingos are the most common type of flamingo, wild populations are on the decline in their native Africa due to habitat loss from climate change and human activity, the station reported.
The species is found in sub-Saharan Africa and western India, the zoo said.
“Coming from the community myself and being a wildlife care specialist for so many years, I want the world to understand the diversity of gender expression and same-sex pairs happens all throughout Mother Nature,” Wendt told the outlet.
Several people shared positive comments about the “gay flamingos” on the zoo’s Instagram post.
“Flamingos or flaminGAYS!” someone said. “The Queer Community is thrilled to have them and their lil one.”
“They’re not the step fathers, they’re the fathers that stepped up,” another person said.
Now the chick, which hatched Aug. 25, is “thriving” under the new dads’ care and is almost ready for weaning, the zoo said.
“The pair has perfected their fatherly duties by alternating brooding responsibilities and keeping the chick satisfied thanks to a hearty helping of crop milk every day,” the zoo said on Instagram.
Crop milk is a type of milk that comes from the parents’ upper digestive tract that both female and male flamingos produce, wildlife specialist said. The chicks hang out together in groups called crèches and a few of the adults look after them, then parents visit to feed their chicks the milky secretion.
And while the tennis ball-sized hatchlings all look alike with their gray down feathers, chicks and parents recognize each other “through their distinctive calls,” officials said.
Wildlife care specialists don’t know the sex of the chick yet, officials said. But the fathers will start to wean the chick soon, when it reaches around two months of age.
“They may be lesser flamingos, but they’re greater dads than most,” someone said on Instagram.
“Such great parenting!” another person said. “Such a cute little baby too!”
This story was originally published October 17, 2024 at 3:40 PM with the headline "Same-sex flamingo pair raises chick at California zoo. See ‘fathers that stepped up’."
