Adopt a Flamingo and Help Conservation

Adopt a Flamingo!

Love Is in the Air
Few animals rival the flamingo for beauty and grace. The spectacle of thousands of flamingos flying over water is one of the most breathtaking in nature. Just check out the flying sequence in the film Out of Africa. Few birds, and animals for that matter, rival the flamingo for unique behavior before, during, and after breeding. Several hundred to several thousand flamingos participate simultaneously in ritualized postures and movements to synchronize breeding. Typically a predictable sequence of displays is carried out—neck stretches, wing spreads, and neck twists. One would almost call them vain. Flamingos spend about 15 to 30 percent of their time preening to keep their feathers in good condition.

There are six species of flamingos, each with a different shade of pink, color pattern, and leg color. They range from 2.5 to four feet tall. Flamingos have webbed feet and tend to stand on only one leg when resting. Some believe that their closest living relatives are swans, ducks, and geese; others suggest that, based on recent genetic analyses, the long-legged flamingo’s closest cousin is the grebe, which has short legs built for diving. The flamingo lives in many types of water bodies, including shallow lakes, marshes, freshwater, and salt water. They tend to live in tropical areas, but can tolerate colder environments as long as the water doesn’t freeze. They can be found in South America, Africa, parts of Asia, and the Caribbean.

A Vibrant Flock With an Interesting History
The National Zoo has a flock of dozens of American (or Caribbean) flamingos, which are found in the wild in the Bahamas, Cuba, Bonaire, the Yucatan, Venezuela, and the Galapagos. This species has black flight feathers to complement the deep rosy pink ones. Several have lived at the Zoo since the 1960s. They eat special food pellets containing shrimp meal that helps to give them their distinctive color. You can see the Zoo’s flamingos along the walkway of the Bird House in outdoor enclosures.

A couple of decades ago, the Zoo was having trouble breeding flamingos and raising any young that hatched. Keepers and scientists tried some innovative ideas, including making artificial nests to encourage the birds to lay eggs and setting up mirrors to make them think there were double the actual number of birds.

flamingos In 1990, the Zoo obtained ten new flamingos from a Bermuda zoo to increase the flock’s population. After a number of disappointments, by 1993 several of the Zoo’s flamingos mated, laid eggs, hatched young, and reared them successfully. Even better, they have been doing it ever since, and many of the hand-reared chicks have mated, laid eggs, and successfully raised chicks of their own. Zoo visitors today can see a vibrant, noisy flamingo exhibit, full of vocal, active birds—both young and old.

Keeping Flamingos in the Pink
Vultures, storks, eagles, hyenas, and cats prey upon flamingos and their eggs. However, their biggest threat comes from people who collect their eggs to eat and sell, and pollute their habitat with agricultural runoff and raw sewage. Gold-mining operations and diversions of water for alternative uses also destroy flamingo habitat. Too many tourists out to see these amazing birds in the wild can disturb them and damage their habitats. While no flamingo species is currently listed as endangered, much needs to be done to ensure a healthy future for these beautiful birds.

flamingo plushSupport Conservation
Adopt an American flamingo and help support conservation for these pink beauties and 2,000 other animals that live at the National Zoo and its Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, Virginia.

""Adopt a Flamingo!

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Because your Adopt contribution is dedicated directly to animal care, you truly make a difference!

Photos by Jessie Cohen/NZP

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