MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Two Chilean flamingo chicks have hatched at the Memphis Zoo, the zoo announced Monday.
The chicks, who hatched Aug. 7 and Aug. 20, are the first to be reared at the zoo since 2008. These two new additions raise the zoo’s flamingo population to 32.
“These are significant hatchings for the Memphis Zoo,” assistant curator Carol Hesch said. “We are excited over the flamingo babies after an absence of seven years. It is a boost to the genetic viability and sustainability of the captive Chilean flamingo population.”
The older chicks’ parents are a 36-year-old male bird who has been at the Memphis Zoo since 1981 when he arrived from the Oklahoma City Zoo and a 34-year-old female who came from the Jacksonville (Florida) Zoo in 1996. The new flamingo family also includes some siblings — the parents already have three of their own chicks and one chick they foster reared all at the Memphis Zoo.
The younger chick’s father was reared at the Memphis Zoo in 2008, and this hatching makes him a new dad. The mother is 16 years old and came to the zoo in 2000.
The two new eggs were both incubated in a hatchery and returned to their parents when the chicks started vocalizing and pipping the outer shell, a Memphis Zoo representative said.
Neither of the chicks’ sex has been determined yet.
Visitors can see the new chicks and the rest of the flamingos in the Round Barn.