Gay flamingoes' parenting skills recognized | Golden Skate

Gay flamingoes' parenting skills recognized

IndieBoi

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 2, 2004
http://www.gay.com/news/article.html?sernum=2007/05/21/2&coll=news_articles&navpath=channels/news

Carlos and Fernando, a same-sex flamingo couple famed for appropriating other birds' nests in a desire to become parents, have been rewarded for their tenacity with a chick of their own.
Keepers at the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust in Slimbridge, England, thought of Carlos and Fernando when another flamingo abandoned its nest with an egg still in it. When the egg hatched in an incubator before the pair could take over, the keepers carefully taped the new chick into a discarded eggshell before delivering it chez Carlos and Fernando.

"Parents usually first bond with their chicks as they're hatching and calling from inside the egg," trust officials wrote on their Web site.

"So to help Carlos and Fernando bond with their new chick, WWT staff took an old eggshell, carefully popped the newborn chick inside, taped it up and returned it to Carlos and Fernando's empty nest. The pair were soon seen "talking" to the chick inside the egg and a little while later the chick hatched for a second time -- but this time to be greeted by its loving foster parents."

The new family lives at the trust's headquarters in Slimbridge, near Bristol, in an estuary of the River Severn that happens to be the world's only home to all six flamingo species. The site provides birds to zoos in lieu of captives from wild populations, which are severely stressed by urbanization and climate change.

Experts there say gay flamingos are not uncommon. "If there aren't enough females or they don't hit it off with them, they will pair off with other males," WWT spokeswoman Jane Waghorn told Agence France-Presse. (Barbara Wilcox, The Advocate)
 

Antilles

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
That's so cute. I wonder though, are the pairings identical to male-female ones, or are they more platonic? (Not so sure I need that much detail about birds, though..... ;) )

Slightly off-topic..can flamingos fly?
 

Vodka Shot

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 2, 2006
Yes, they can fly. I've known about Carlos and Fernando for a while now. They've already raised 3 generations of stolen eggs successfully; this is just the first egg that was rightfully given to them. Flamencos aren't habitually monogamous so their long lasting relationship is extra interesting. I'm not sure if they copulate (would be kinda hard) but they do partake in mating dances twice a year with each other like the other couples.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
so much of that is in all the animal kingdom including human but for humans, it is forbidden to act on it. god made a mistake, I gather.

Joe
 
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