A zoo in Switzerland has boasted with two adorable Chilean flamingo chicks as zookeepers await for more to hatch soon.
The two fluffy flamingo chicks overjoyed authorities at the Zurich Zoo, in Switzerland, when they hatched last week after spending a month in an incubator.
Video footage shared by the zoo shows the newly hatched chicks bonding with their parents and the rest of the flamboyance – the collective noun for flamingoes – Đ°s all of them head for a dip in their enclosure’s pond.
Zoo authorities claimed that they were incubated to prevent local crows from pecking and breaking the eggs in order to feed on them later.
Instead, keepers swapped the real eggs at the nesting site for ‘plaster dummies’, before placing them in an incubator so that they could survive and reconnect with their parents.
Each egg was later returned to its parents’ nests, allowing them to welcome their young into the world.
Zurich Zoo said in a statement obtained by Newsflash: “Based on the South American swamp landscape of the same name, a large aviary will be built at Zurich Zoo over the next few years, which will transform what is now the Pantanal into a habitat for endangered parrots, marmoset species, tapirs and anteaters.
“In an area of ​​around 11,000 square metres [118,000 square feet] and 35-metres-high [115 feet], the various bird species can roam freely.
“With the new facility, crows will no longer have access to the flamingos, which will also inhabit the new habitat, and will therefore no longer pose a threat to their offspring.”
Chilean flamingos – native to South America and listed ‘Near Threatened’ on IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species – have resided at the Zurich Zoo since 1951.
They are mainly restricted to salt lagoons and soda lakes but these areas are vulnerable to habitat loss and water pollution.
Like all flamingos, females – distinguishingly smaller in comparison to males – lay a single chalky-white egg on a mud mound.
Both parents are reportedly involved in the process of incubation and take turns.
Revealing more about the current colony, Zurich Zoo said: “The animals live in a colony of 63 birds, which also plays a role in rearing them.
“Together with the parents, it forms a kind of shelter for the young animals.
“The flamingos at Zurich Zoo are part of the EAZA Ex-situ programme (EEP).”
The zoo said they are expecting more hatchings within the next few days or weeks.
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Story By: Georgina Jadikovska, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
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