Woodland Park Zoo gained a new fluffy resident yesterday with the hatching of the third Chilean flamingo of the year. The two other chicks hatched recently on August 31 and September 5.
To ensure their survival, the chicks are being hand-raised and hand-fed by staff in an off public exhibit. In about 30 days, when they are old enough to eat on their own, they will join the adult colony in the flamingo exhibit. Taking these three recent hatches into account, in total the exhibit has welcomed 14 chicks to the zoo since it opened in 2008.
When flamingo chicks hatch they have a whitish, gray down and gain pink feathering that can be mixed with gray-brown contour feathers at about 1 year of age. Juvenile flamingos have usually have full pink feathering by 2 to 3 years of age. When grown the birds stand an impressive 40 to 42 inches tall, and can live as long as 70 years.
Click here to learn more about the flamingos at Woodland Park Zoo.
Photo courtesy of Woodland Park Zoo. Photo credit – Ryan Hawk.
