April 25, 2025 • 20 mins
April 26 is International Flamingo Day! To celebrate, hosts Rick and Marco speak with Wildlife Care Specialist Erin Massey to learn more about these long-legged birds. Do their knees really bend backwards? Why do they stand on one leg, and why are most of them pink? Tune in to find out, and learn about their mud nests, how flamingo parents share incubation duties, and how even males can make a form of milk!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Ruby.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hi, I'm Rich Schwartz, but don't see this world.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I'm Marco Wentt and this.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Is Amazing Wildlife, a podcast that explores unique stories of
wildlife from around the world and uncovers fascinating animal facts.
This podcast is in production with iHeartRadio's Ruby Studio and
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance in international nonprofit conservation organization
which oversees the San Diego Zoo and this beautiful place,
the San Diego Zoom Safari Park.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
M M.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
That was my hornbill here. Yeah, yeah, but you brought
it right to us. I really did you know? Because
we are at the beautiful Safari park right. Not only that, my.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Friend, we have birds behind us, a beautiful species of flamingo.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Right. Yeah's great.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
And if our listeners want to see where we are,
coming up pretty soon on YouTube, we'll be doing this
visual podcast. It's being filmed right now, so if you're
watching it, Soda, you can see us. But if you
listen only you might want to check it out. And
of course we'll let people yeacial media whe it's available.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Yeah, tons of things going on to so Amanda, we're
in the habitat, so don't step on any flamingo poop.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Point about it does wash off.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
It does right, Yeah, but I'm excited. I'm excited about
the visual component. But also, friend, we have something that's
happening at the Safari Park now called Wildlife Awareness DAGE,
so certain species throughout the year that our wildlife care
staff are going to help promote support in different kind
of ways.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
What one would we want to talk about? What wildlife?
Speaker 4 (01:25):
I wonder, Well, we're looking at these beautiful flamingos behind us,
right and it happens to be signor International Flamingo Day
on the twenty sixth of April, that's a Saturday, and
this episode is going to air right before, so we thought,
why not top flamingos.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Right, diming, Now, do we have a flamingo line up
we can talk with?
Speaker 4 (01:43):
Not a flaming We got a few behind us right now,
but we have someone very special I think flamingos specialists
that we're going to talk to you today.
Speaker 5 (01:48):
Very good morning, good morning, almost as good and.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Yeah, oh so excited to be here, and especially in
this wonderful habitat.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I love this area of the Safari Park.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Oh and our guests they can see these greater flamingos, Right,
this is a species are highlighting if they ride the
African tram, which is included in everyone's sect, which I
absolutely love about that.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
But there's a lot to talk about about flamingos.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Right, Sometimes I think like not everyone knows what a
flamingo is, which I know sounds really funny, Aaron, But
see the person who maybe there's someone in the world
they've never even heard of a flamingo, which I know
is very shocking.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Well, wait, the other part of it too, might be
the only interaction you've ever heard of.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
The flamingo is a plastic one on someone's long.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yeah, which is not accurate.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
So, yeah, tell us what's a flamingo.
Speaker 5 (02:32):
Well, the plastic ones are, They're pretty close. Depends on
the type of flamingo you're thinking of. So the ones
that you would normally see as a lawn ornament.
Speaker 6 (02:43):
Are very very bright pink.
Speaker 5 (02:44):
But the flamingos that we're looking at just behind us
are greater flamingos, and they're.
Speaker 6 (02:49):
A lot lighter in color and much bigger than a
lawn ornament.
Speaker 5 (02:53):
So flamingos are long legged, very tall, often pink birds
some shade of pink and the greater flamingos that we're
looking at behind us are actually the largest species.
Speaker 6 (03:04):
Of flamingo in the world. The greater they are the greatest.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
There's a lot of different species.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
You mentioned the species here, but you also mentioned that
the lawn armed ones.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Are very pink.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
That's right, and there are some species that are very pink,
But ours behind us right now aren't.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Why is that.
Speaker 6 (03:20):
Not quite as pink?
Speaker 5 (03:21):
So this is a question that actually does come up
quite a bit for our guests that do see the
species of flamingo as they're riding our tram. All flamingos,
depending on the species, they metabolize the food that they're
eating a little bit differently, and that is what determines
the pigment and the pink in their feathers. So an
interesting fact is there are six different species of flamingos. Oh.
Speaker 6 (03:43):
You can see a couple.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
Of them here at the Safari Park and also at
the San Diego Zoo, all different, but all fed the
exact same diet, so they get fed the exact same thing.
So if you see the Caribbean flamingos of the San
Diego Zoo, they're much pink er. The very very pink,
and those are the ones that I think the laments
are at ornament, but they get fed the exact same thing.
(04:07):
So it just depends on the species of flamingo, where
they're found, where they live naturally, and how they metabolize
the food.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
That they eat.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
And some people will say that it is shrimp that
makes them pink, but that might condrupt the idea of
shrimp we would get at a restaurant shrimp cocktail.
Speaker 5 (04:26):
They're not eating shrimp cocktail, shrimp Mark Brian shrimp, so
really small microscopic organisms and also algae, which is also
something that the shrimp are feeding on. So really, if
you're going to get super technical, the flamingos are turning
pink because of the algae that they're eating.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
That's interesting. And I also like you mentioned a few
species already.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
I mean, one of my favorite from lingo facts is
they look like a delicate animal, but they live in
some of these hard, sometimes even caustic kind of environments
depending on the species. Maybe a lot of salt in
the water make it very difficult for other animals to survive.
And we mentioned a few, but maybe we should highlight
all all those six right, six species of flamingo.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Right, we said, let's say I'm gonna try this.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Okay, we said the Andean flamingo, right, we said the
James or the Puna flamingo more locally known, right, the
Chilean flamingo. Well, you mentioned the Carribean flamingo, which in
the States you could see maybe in the Gulf of Mexico.
We have the lesser flamingo in Africa, and the one
behind us is the greater flamingo. All right, but all
unique in their own ecosystem, right, but the same kind
(05:28):
of adaptations, right for the way they eat. You mentioned
the color of the feathers, but that beak is really
unique too.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Can you talk a little about the flamingo beak?
Speaker 3 (05:35):
And speaking of the beak and how they eat, some
people mention to notice that it looks like their beak is bent,
not hooked like an eagle or an owls beak, but
it's got sort of this weird bend to it. And
also the upper part of the beak is thinner than the.
Speaker 6 (05:50):
Lower part, where we usually think upside down.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah, yeah, helpe explain why that adaptation.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
Exists because of the food that they eat, so they're
actually filter feeders. So when the mingos are feeding, and
we may get no, they're all sleeping, so bring.
Speaker 6 (06:05):
Our voices down there.
Speaker 5 (06:07):
But if they are awake and they're feeding, their heads
are upside down really, so they're going to filter through
the water to eat those really small organisms. And as
they're taking in all of that water, they're actually squeezing
the water out the sides, so the sides of their
beaks are they look serrated like they're filtered on the side,
so they're squeezing the water out and then just taking
in the food that they're consuming.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
For kids that are listening, kind of reminds of like
balen whales, right, yeah, back pushing all this fluid ocean
water for them, you know, and capturing all those little
microbes as a little yummy little items for them to
survive out there.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
You know.
Speaker 6 (06:41):
Yes, you'll actually see them out there.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
It looks like they're dancing because they'll move their feet
back and forth really really fast too to kind of
stir up all that good stuff. And then you'll see
them filtering through the water.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
And that actually kind of steps us into my next question.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Nice their feet stepping up and down. Often I will
hear people when they look at from and gooes they wonder,
why is their knee bending backwards? Because from the visual
the foot is down flat, and then you have a
part of the leg coming up and the joint moves
equivalently backwards to a knee that we're used to seeing, correct,
(07:14):
and then the leg goes up into the body. And
that's it as far as we can visually see on
the outside. But anatomically, that's not actually their knee, right,
It's not.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
Their knee, it's their ankle, their ankle, it's their ankles.
So their knees actually located a little bit higher up,
which does bend the quote unquote correct way. Yeah, so
that joint is actually their ankle joint. So when they
are standing and often on one leg, Yeah, a lot
of them are sleeping out there.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Right now, explain that, you know, because that's that's here, right,
the locking like that what is?
Speaker 5 (07:43):
Yeah, that joint actually kind of really kind of locks
into place when they're sleeping, so they're not tipping over.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
They look pretty sturdy right now. I gotta say, yeah,
that's great.
Speaker 5 (07:52):
Yeah, And often people do ask quite a bit why
they stand on one leg, and there's a few ideas
or theories, but really it's primary comfort and we do
it too. You don't really notice it unless you point
it out, but if you're ever standing somewhere for long
periods of time, you tend to kind of like lean
on one leg and take a pressure off one leg. Ye,
And that's really what they're doing. So for comfort, they'll
(08:13):
pull a leg up, and then they also use it
sometimes regulate their body temperature, so you'll see them kind
of alternating those legs. So these guys are found in
very warm weather, but the andy and Flamingos are found
in very very cold weather, so they will pull one
leg up and they can keep it nice warm, and
they can alternate back and forth.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Well, you brought that up because it's an interesting fact
that the andy and Flamingos sometimes they'll live in a
high altitude lakes as an example, and the water can
freeze over, so they're actually a little water lock for
a hot and in the morning, so they need to
get the sun come out and melt away that frozen water.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
There.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
I love the idea of just again this hard environment
and you see life just flourishing like that.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
You know, it's really great.
Speaker 5 (08:49):
Sure, really cold environments are really really tough bird, so
really cold environments they can be found in. And then
the African species, the lesser flamingo, which is not less
than but the smallest flamingo in the world. And then
the eight or flamingos are found in really hot, really dry,
very sunny environments. Yeah, so really tough on the other
end of the spectrum.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
You know.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
I was thinking the other day, because everyone knows about it,
if you haven't heard, there are these bald eagles out
in Big Bear, right, And I love this shot because
it really highlights a big, beautiful raptor nest, like you know,
eagles and hawks and falcons.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Like really unique stick kind of nests.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
But can you talk a little bit, because I'm sure
a lot of guests aren't familiar what makes a flamingo
nest so unique, why it looks the way it does,
and why they do what they do.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
Sure. Yeah, Flamingos build really really interesting nests, and they
kind of look like little mini volcanoes. So there are
mud nests that they build, and they build them up
really really high, and it's interesting because they start low obviously,
and they're sitting on the ground of what they've started
with these nests, and then they're slowly pulling mud underneath
them and building it beneath their bodies and raising it
(09:49):
up off the ground until they get it to their
desired height and then it kind of bowls out. So
that's where it kind of looks like a volcano for
that one single egg to sit. And the reason they
do that is because they do nest and live in
areas that flood and the water can Yeah, the water
can rise very quickly, and they're doing that to protect
(10:10):
their eggs and eventually their newly hatched chicks up out
of the water.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
I remember when I was working at Sandygo Zoo, the
swimingos right out front. A lot of people be always
you know, why do the keepers build all those mounds
and keepers?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
They look so uniform and so nicely done.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
I think, to Marco's point about the bald eagle nest,
it's a lot of sticks. It looks very nest like
is climate cluttered together, But there is some thought process
there on their part, whereas these flamingo volcanoes look so
uniform and perfect.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
So it's kind of fascinating to think that they build those,
they make those.
Speaker 6 (10:41):
Yeah, it's not us if I was responsible for doing that.
They would not look.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Like the movie that goes I have my moment.
Speaker 6 (10:51):
We will sometimes encourage them.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
We'll see that they're getting ready to start, so we
will sometimes make very small little areas, but they yeah,
they'll take it upon themselves to finish it.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
When you said that, it instantly made me think of
a flamingo parade, the flamboyants of flamingos. Right, can you
talk a little bit about flagging or what kind of
the precursors of what you see prior to Oh, they're
about to lay, but something happens right before all that?
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Right that people get a big kick out of it.
Speaker 6 (11:18):
They love it. I love it.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
It never gets boring to watch those breeding behaviors. So
as they're kind of gearing up for a breeding season,
they will start marching. So it looks kind of like
a very choreographed dance. So they all get together in
a very large group. The flagging is their heads, so
they're swinging their heads back and forth very quickly, and
they're marching together, just in one large group, back and forth,
(11:43):
and that is usually our indicator that they're starting. So
the African species of flamingos are greater flamingos the lesser flamingos.
They're keten with the weather, so they nest during the summer,
so late spring, early summer, very very hot weather. So
we get a really nice hot sunny day, which we
definitely get at the Safari Park. We'll start to see
(12:04):
the flamingos get very excited and I'll start to do
that marching and flagging.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
So when they do that marching and flagging, is there
also like vocalizations ago with that?
Speaker 5 (12:11):
Are they chattery very noisy, very very noisy.
Speaker 6 (12:16):
Yeah. Yeah, it's a whole production.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
And you can definitely not be in the area and
you will hear it and.
Speaker 6 (12:21):
You know that it's happening. You will run over.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
To see it totally. I mean you'll even see like
the little youngsters doing it together. Even that's you need
to one. Like they're super colonial species. I mean there's
tons of them in a flock, thousands even at some point.
And it's really unique for me too that they can
identify their young and amongst this whole flamboy.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Is going in front of them.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
But also I forget the word there's a word for
I believe it's crashing, right, Can you.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Say what is that? What does that signify? That word?
Speaker 5 (12:48):
So the whole process, the whole spectacle, from start to finish,
is so impressive and really one of my favorite things
about flamingos is what incredible parents they are. So from
start to finish, it's the males and females that are
involved in all of this. They're both building that nest,
they're both incubating and taking care of the egg. They're
both participating and feeding the chicks. And then yeah, once
(13:10):
the chicks have moved off the mounds, they tend to
all get together into a group, which is called a crush.
Speaker 6 (13:17):
So all of the.
Speaker 5 (13:18):
Little baby flamingos tend to all stick together. But what
is so incredible to see, and I have no idea
how they do it, but those little chicks will vocalize,
they sound exactly the same to me, and you will
see the parents' heads pop up immediately and the parents
will come straight to that one individual little baby to
feed the babies.
Speaker 6 (13:36):
So it's a really cool, cool thing.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Oh yeah, flamingos are always like for me, like knocking
down those gender norms one, you know, like the males
and the females are all doing together. We even have
evidence in the pastor at the Safari Park and in
the wild the same sex pairs as well. It could
be two males two females, but also again speaks to
that societal aspect of this kind of bird. Right, so
sometimes ones without babies are fostering or taking care of others, right.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
How that happen here at the partners.
Speaker 6 (13:59):
That happened here, we've had it happen with.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
I think we've seen it in all of the species
of things that we've had here at the park. More recently,
it was our lesser flamingos, So we did have a
pair of males that were showing a lot of interest
in a nest. They built a mound, a nestsound together.
They obviously did not lay an egg, but they were
showing a lot of interest. And we do occasionally see
(14:22):
a problem with our male pairings out there because they
aren't going to lay an egg, but the drive is
so strong for them to take care of an egg.
They will sometimes try to steal an egg from another
pair because they're communal nesters and they all nest really
close together for safety and that's how they feel comfortable.
But it also does cause some disagreement sometimes so in
(14:42):
order for us to try to keep the peace among everybody,
And they did give them a fake egg to sit
on just to see how they would do. They went
straight to it. They both were incubating it. They were
doing a fantastic job. And so we had the idea
because obviously we want to increase the numbers of chicks
that we can produce here whenever possible. So we were
actually able to take a fertile egg from another pair,
(15:05):
prolific pair, an established pair that can lay multiple furtle
eggs in a year.
Speaker 6 (15:09):
So we took that egg from them.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
Gave it to our pair of boys, and they took
that egg, They hatched the chick, they did everything. And
then that other pair that we took the egg from,
if an egg disappears or doesn't hatch naturally in the wild,
they will often lay a second egg. So that pair
did lay a second egg. They were able to produce
another fertile egg. So from that pair.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
We actually got two checks, very similar to what we
have done in the past with California condors, treating a
double clutch situation where we take that first egg put
an incubator.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
They then instinctively lay another egg.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Which normally it's one egg per year for them, very
very similar concept and bolstering up the population.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
That's so awesome.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Yeah, I love that story too.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
You had mentioned in the crash right the babies, Okay,
one will stick its head up and call and the
parents know running over to feed it. Talk about the
feeding because it's something that can be startling for some
people when the crop milk, which isn't true milk, when
the parents are feeding a baby, sometimes it can be
concerning it first if you don't know what you're looking
at it.
Speaker 6 (16:04):
We do get questions about that as well. Because the color,
the colors, the color is a little alarming. It is bright,
bright red.
Speaker 5 (16:13):
And this is what also is so interesting and what
allows two males to raise a chick together is that
males and females because the parenting duties are fifty to fifty.
The males also produce that crop milk. So these two
boys that fostered this egg fed that chick without a problem.
But yes, the color of the crop milk and it
(16:33):
is just a secretion from their crop.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
But it's very very in the upper part the es.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
The flamingos will actually digest their food, so they secrete
this milk and they will kind of dribble it onto
the chicks, and it does look alarming.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Horror film maybe sometimes, and it maybe doesn't give the
exact look alarming if you don't know well.
Speaker 5 (17:02):
And then for anyone who's raised a human baby, they're
basically crying. So the babies are screaming for attention from
their parents, So the vocalizations very very loud.
Speaker 6 (17:13):
They're vocalizing the whole time they're.
Speaker 5 (17:14):
Being fed, so you have to just like dramatically yelling baby.
And we do get concerns sometimes that their beaks are
actually stuck together, but the parent has the beak directly
at the tip of the baby, so the whole thing
is quite a spectacle that needs to sometimes be explained.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
Doves and some penguin species do it also. I think
that's sai, not just the mammals. I want to point
out so that.
Speaker 6 (17:39):
Yeah, the birds do it too.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Well, before we.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Wrap up, you did mention that the parenting process and
how it shared responsibili is one of your favorite facts
about them. Is there anything else we haven't asked about
when it comes to these flamboyant.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Birds that you'd like to share with our audience.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Make sure that people know when they come to see
them at s Fary Parker Zoo, you want to know
that one fact.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
I mean we covered a lot.
Speaker 6 (17:58):
We did cover a lot this flock.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
Actually though, if you do come to visit them at
the fire park, can you ride the tram and they
are one of the very first things that you see.
So it's a great way to start your tour. But
you're actually looking at the largest flock of Greater flamingos
in the entire country.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Oh, I didn't know that all of the.
Speaker 6 (18:14):
US and all of the US this is the largest flock.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Cool.
Speaker 4 (18:17):
Well, all the departments here and taking job you guys
helping out bird numbers.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
I love it. This was a lot of fun. Thank
you Eron. That really great.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Appreciate having you on the show.
Speaker 6 (18:26):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
See me smiling, sir. We just swim birds around us
all day. We lend them, I know, am I glowing pink?
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Is that what's going on?
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Right?
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (18:39):
But this is a lot of fun, right, and I'm
excited that guests and come they can celebrate flamingos on
International to Day exactly right front. Yeah, So we covered
like so far frozen zoo, meerkats, flamingos.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
What's going on for our next adventure?
Speaker 3 (18:54):
I think it goes right into what this podcast is about.
We're going to be talking to one of our head
lead top educators at all San Diego Zoo about the
importance of inspiring the next generation for conservation and wildlife care.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Oh, we're gonna go to the zoo. Yeah, they will
get their little early and check out those giant pandas.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I think that's a good idea.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
That sounds good.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
We'll be sure to subscribe and tune in next time
when we learn more about the importance of inspiring the
next generation.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Al Mark go Wentz and I'm Rick Schwartz.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
For more information about the San Diego Zoo and San
Diego Zoo Safari Park, go to sdzw a dot org.
Amazing Wildlife is a production of iHeartRadio. Our supervising producers
are Nikkia Swinton and Dylan Fagan, and our sound designers
are Sierra Spreen and Matt Russell. For more shows from iHeartRadio,
check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
(19:49):
listen to your favorite shows.
Ruby.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hi, I'm Rich Schwartz, but don't see this world.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I'm Marco Wentt and this.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Is Amazing Wildlife, a podcast that explores unique stories of
wildlife from around the world and uncovers fascinating animal facts.
This podcast is in production with iHeartRadio's Ruby Studio and
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance in international nonprofit conservation organization
which oversees the San Diego Zoo and this beautiful place,
the San Diego Zoom Safari Park.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
M M.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
That was my hornbill here. Yeah, yeah, but you brought
it right to us. I really did you know? Because
we are at the beautiful Safari park right. Not only that, my.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Friend, we have birds behind us, a beautiful species of flamingo.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Right. Yeah's great.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
And if our listeners want to see where we are,
coming up pretty soon on YouTube, we'll be doing this
visual podcast. It's being filmed right now, so if you're
watching it, Soda, you can see us. But if you
listen only you might want to check it out. And
of course we'll let people yeacial media whe it's available.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Yeah, tons of things going on to so Amanda, we're
in the habitat, so don't step on any flamingo poop.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Point about it does wash off.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
It does right, Yeah, but I'm excited. I'm excited about
the visual component. But also, friend, we have something that's
happening at the Safari Park now called Wildlife Awareness DAGE,
so certain species throughout the year that our wildlife care
staff are going to help promote support in different kind
of ways.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
What one would we want to talk about? What wildlife?
Speaker 4 (01:25):
I wonder, Well, we're looking at these beautiful flamingos behind us,
right and it happens to be signor International Flamingo Day
on the twenty sixth of April, that's a Saturday, and
this episode is going to air right before, so we thought,
why not top flamingos.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Right, diming, Now, do we have a flamingo line up
we can talk with?
Speaker 4 (01:43):
Not a flaming We got a few behind us right now,
but we have someone very special I think flamingos specialists
that we're going to talk to you today.
Speaker 5 (01:48):
Very good morning, good morning, almost as good and.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Yeah, oh so excited to be here, and especially in
this wonderful habitat.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I love this area of the Safari Park.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Oh and our guests they can see these greater flamingos, Right,
this is a species are highlighting if they ride the
African tram, which is included in everyone's sect, which I
absolutely love about that.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
But there's a lot to talk about about flamingos.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Right, Sometimes I think like not everyone knows what a
flamingo is, which I know sounds really funny, Aaron, But
see the person who maybe there's someone in the world
they've never even heard of a flamingo, which I know
is very shocking.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Well, wait, the other part of it too, might be
the only interaction you've ever heard of.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
The flamingo is a plastic one on someone's long.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yeah, which is not accurate.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
So, yeah, tell us what's a flamingo.
Speaker 5 (02:32):
Well, the plastic ones are, They're pretty close. Depends on
the type of flamingo you're thinking of. So the ones
that you would normally see as a lawn ornament.
Speaker 6 (02:43):
Are very very bright pink.
Speaker 5 (02:44):
But the flamingos that we're looking at just behind us
are greater flamingos, and they're.
Speaker 6 (02:49):
A lot lighter in color and much bigger than a
lawn ornament.
Speaker 5 (02:53):
So flamingos are long legged, very tall, often pink birds
some shade of pink and the greater flamingos that we're
looking at behind us are actually the largest species.
Speaker 6 (03:04):
Of flamingo in the world. The greater they are the greatest.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
There's a lot of different species.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
You mentioned the species here, but you also mentioned that
the lawn armed ones.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Are very pink.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
That's right, and there are some species that are very pink,
But ours behind us right now aren't.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Why is that.
Speaker 6 (03:20):
Not quite as pink?
Speaker 5 (03:21):
So this is a question that actually does come up
quite a bit for our guests that do see the
species of flamingo as they're riding our tram. All flamingos,
depending on the species, they metabolize the food that they're
eating a little bit differently, and that is what determines
the pigment and the pink in their feathers. So an
interesting fact is there are six different species of flamingos. Oh.
Speaker 6 (03:43):
You can see a couple.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
Of them here at the Safari Park and also at
the San Diego Zoo, all different, but all fed the
exact same diet, so they get fed the exact same thing.
So if you see the Caribbean flamingos of the San
Diego Zoo, they're much pink er. The very very pink,
and those are the ones that I think the laments
are at ornament, but they get fed the exact same thing.
(04:07):
So it just depends on the species of flamingo, where
they're found, where they live naturally, and how they metabolize
the food.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
That they eat.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
And some people will say that it is shrimp that
makes them pink, but that might condrupt the idea of
shrimp we would get at a restaurant shrimp cocktail.
Speaker 5 (04:26):
They're not eating shrimp cocktail, shrimp Mark Brian shrimp, so
really small microscopic organisms and also algae, which is also
something that the shrimp are feeding on. So really, if
you're going to get super technical, the flamingos are turning
pink because of the algae that they're eating.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
That's interesting. And I also like you mentioned a few
species already.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
I mean, one of my favorite from lingo facts is
they look like a delicate animal, but they live in
some of these hard, sometimes even caustic kind of environments
depending on the species. Maybe a lot of salt in
the water make it very difficult for other animals to survive.
And we mentioned a few, but maybe we should highlight
all all those six right, six species of flamingo.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Right, we said, let's say I'm gonna try this.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Okay, we said the Andean flamingo, right, we said the
James or the Puna flamingo more locally known, right, the
Chilean flamingo. Well, you mentioned the Carribean flamingo, which in
the States you could see maybe in the Gulf of Mexico.
We have the lesser flamingo in Africa, and the one
behind us is the greater flamingo. All right, but all
unique in their own ecosystem, right, but the same kind
(05:28):
of adaptations, right for the way they eat. You mentioned
the color of the feathers, but that beak is really
unique too.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Can you talk a little about the flamingo beak?
Speaker 3 (05:35):
And speaking of the beak and how they eat, some
people mention to notice that it looks like their beak is bent,
not hooked like an eagle or an owls beak, but
it's got sort of this weird bend to it. And
also the upper part of the beak is thinner than the.
Speaker 6 (05:50):
Lower part, where we usually think upside down.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah, yeah, helpe explain why that adaptation.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
Exists because of the food that they eat, so they're
actually filter feeders. So when the mingos are feeding, and
we may get no, they're all sleeping, so bring.
Speaker 6 (06:05):
Our voices down there.
Speaker 5 (06:07):
But if they are awake and they're feeding, their heads
are upside down really, so they're going to filter through
the water to eat those really small organisms. And as
they're taking in all of that water, they're actually squeezing
the water out the sides, so the sides of their
beaks are they look serrated like they're filtered on the side,
so they're squeezing the water out and then just taking
in the food that they're consuming.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
For kids that are listening, kind of reminds of like
balen whales, right, yeah, back pushing all this fluid ocean
water for them, you know, and capturing all those little
microbes as a little yummy little items for them to
survive out there.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
You know.
Speaker 6 (06:41):
Yes, you'll actually see them out there.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
It looks like they're dancing because they'll move their feet
back and forth really really fast too to kind of
stir up all that good stuff. And then you'll see
them filtering through the water.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
And that actually kind of steps us into my next question.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Nice their feet stepping up and down. Often I will
hear people when they look at from and gooes they wonder,
why is their knee bending backwards? Because from the visual
the foot is down flat, and then you have a
part of the leg coming up and the joint moves
equivalently backwards to a knee that we're used to seeing, correct,
(07:14):
and then the leg goes up into the body. And
that's it as far as we can visually see on
the outside. But anatomically, that's not actually their knee, right,
It's not.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
Their knee, it's their ankle, their ankle, it's their ankles.
So their knees actually located a little bit higher up,
which does bend the quote unquote correct way. Yeah, so
that joint is actually their ankle joint. So when they
are standing and often on one leg, Yeah, a lot
of them are sleeping out there.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Right now, explain that, you know, because that's that's here, right,
the locking like that what is?
Speaker 5 (07:43):
Yeah, that joint actually kind of really kind of locks
into place when they're sleeping, so they're not tipping over.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
They look pretty sturdy right now. I gotta say, yeah,
that's great.
Speaker 5 (07:52):
Yeah, And often people do ask quite a bit why
they stand on one leg, and there's a few ideas
or theories, but really it's primary comfort and we do
it too. You don't really notice it unless you point
it out, but if you're ever standing somewhere for long
periods of time, you tend to kind of like lean
on one leg and take a pressure off one leg. Ye,
And that's really what they're doing. So for comfort, they'll
(08:13):
pull a leg up, and then they also use it
sometimes regulate their body temperature, so you'll see them kind
of alternating those legs. So these guys are found in
very warm weather, but the andy and Flamingos are found
in very very cold weather, so they will pull one
leg up and they can keep it nice warm, and
they can alternate back and forth.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Well, you brought that up because it's an interesting fact
that the andy and Flamingos sometimes they'll live in a
high altitude lakes as an example, and the water can
freeze over, so they're actually a little water lock for
a hot and in the morning, so they need to
get the sun come out and melt away that frozen water.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
There.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
I love the idea of just again this hard environment
and you see life just flourishing like that.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
You know, it's really great.
Speaker 5 (08:49):
Sure, really cold environments are really really tough bird, so
really cold environments they can be found in. And then
the African species, the lesser flamingo, which is not less
than but the smallest flamingo in the world. And then
the eight or flamingos are found in really hot, really dry,
very sunny environments. Yeah, so really tough on the other
end of the spectrum.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
You know.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
I was thinking the other day, because everyone knows about it,
if you haven't heard, there are these bald eagles out
in Big Bear, right, And I love this shot because
it really highlights a big, beautiful raptor nest, like you know,
eagles and hawks and falcons.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Like really unique stick kind of nests.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
But can you talk a little bit, because I'm sure
a lot of guests aren't familiar what makes a flamingo
nest so unique, why it looks the way it does,
and why they do what they do.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
Sure. Yeah, Flamingos build really really interesting nests, and they
kind of look like little mini volcanoes. So there are
mud nests that they build, and they build them up
really really high, and it's interesting because they start low obviously,
and they're sitting on the ground of what they've started
with these nests, and then they're slowly pulling mud underneath
them and building it beneath their bodies and raising it
(09:49):
up off the ground until they get it to their
desired height and then it kind of bowls out. So
that's where it kind of looks like a volcano for
that one single egg to sit. And the reason they
do that is because they do nest and live in
areas that flood and the water can Yeah, the water
can rise very quickly, and they're doing that to protect
(10:10):
their eggs and eventually their newly hatched chicks up out
of the water.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
I remember when I was working at Sandygo Zoo, the
swimingos right out front. A lot of people be always
you know, why do the keepers build all those mounds
and keepers?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
They look so uniform and so nicely done.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
I think, to Marco's point about the bald eagle nest,
it's a lot of sticks. It looks very nest like
is climate cluttered together, But there is some thought process
there on their part, whereas these flamingo volcanoes look so
uniform and perfect.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
So it's kind of fascinating to think that they build those,
they make those.
Speaker 6 (10:41):
Yeah, it's not us if I was responsible for doing that.
They would not look.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Like the movie that goes I have my moment.
Speaker 6 (10:51):
We will sometimes encourage them.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
We'll see that they're getting ready to start, so we
will sometimes make very small little areas, but they yeah,
they'll take it upon themselves to finish it.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
When you said that, it instantly made me think of
a flamingo parade, the flamboyants of flamingos. Right, can you
talk a little bit about flagging or what kind of
the precursors of what you see prior to Oh, they're
about to lay, but something happens right before all that?
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Right that people get a big kick out of it.
Speaker 6 (11:18):
They love it. I love it.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
It never gets boring to watch those breeding behaviors. So
as they're kind of gearing up for a breeding season,
they will start marching. So it looks kind of like
a very choreographed dance. So they all get together in
a very large group. The flagging is their heads, so
they're swinging their heads back and forth very quickly, and
they're marching together, just in one large group, back and forth,
(11:43):
and that is usually our indicator that they're starting. So
the African species of flamingos are greater flamingos the lesser flamingos.
They're keten with the weather, so they nest during the summer,
so late spring, early summer, very very hot weather. So
we get a really nice hot sunny day, which we
definitely get at the Safari Park. We'll start to see
(12:04):
the flamingos get very excited and I'll start to do
that marching and flagging.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
So when they do that marching and flagging, is there
also like vocalizations ago with that?
Speaker 5 (12:11):
Are they chattery very noisy, very very noisy.
Speaker 6 (12:16):
Yeah. Yeah, it's a whole production.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
And you can definitely not be in the area and
you will hear it and.
Speaker 6 (12:21):
You know that it's happening. You will run over.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
To see it totally. I mean you'll even see like
the little youngsters doing it together. Even that's you need
to one. Like they're super colonial species. I mean there's
tons of them in a flock, thousands even at some point.
And it's really unique for me too that they can
identify their young and amongst this whole flamboy.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Is going in front of them.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
But also I forget the word there's a word for
I believe it's crashing, right, Can you.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Say what is that? What does that signify? That word?
Speaker 5 (12:48):
So the whole process, the whole spectacle, from start to finish,
is so impressive and really one of my favorite things
about flamingos is what incredible parents they are. So from
start to finish, it's the males and females that are
involved in all of this. They're both building that nest,
they're both incubating and taking care of the egg. They're
both participating and feeding the chicks. And then yeah, once
(13:10):
the chicks have moved off the mounds, they tend to
all get together into a group, which is called a crush.
Speaker 6 (13:17):
So all of the.
Speaker 5 (13:18):
Little baby flamingos tend to all stick together. But what
is so incredible to see, and I have no idea
how they do it, but those little chicks will vocalize,
they sound exactly the same to me, and you will
see the parents' heads pop up immediately and the parents
will come straight to that one individual little baby to
feed the babies.
Speaker 6 (13:36):
So it's a really cool, cool thing.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Oh yeah, flamingos are always like for me, like knocking
down those gender norms one, you know, like the males
and the females are all doing together. We even have
evidence in the pastor at the Safari Park and in
the wild the same sex pairs as well. It could
be two males two females, but also again speaks to
that societal aspect of this kind of bird. Right, so
sometimes ones without babies are fostering or taking care of others, right.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
How that happen here at the partners.
Speaker 6 (13:59):
That happened here, we've had it happen with.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
I think we've seen it in all of the species
of things that we've had here at the park. More recently,
it was our lesser flamingos, So we did have a
pair of males that were showing a lot of interest
in a nest. They built a mound, a nestsound together.
They obviously did not lay an egg, but they were
showing a lot of interest. And we do occasionally see
(14:22):
a problem with our male pairings out there because they
aren't going to lay an egg, but the drive is
so strong for them to take care of an egg.
They will sometimes try to steal an egg from another
pair because they're communal nesters and they all nest really
close together for safety and that's how they feel comfortable.
But it also does cause some disagreement sometimes so in
(14:42):
order for us to try to keep the peace among everybody,
And they did give them a fake egg to sit
on just to see how they would do. They went
straight to it. They both were incubating it. They were
doing a fantastic job. And so we had the idea
because obviously we want to increase the numbers of chicks
that we can produce here whenever possible. So we were
actually able to take a fertile egg from another pair,
(15:05):
prolific pair, an established pair that can lay multiple furtle
eggs in a year.
Speaker 6 (15:09):
So we took that egg from them.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
Gave it to our pair of boys, and they took
that egg, They hatched the chick, they did everything. And
then that other pair that we took the egg from,
if an egg disappears or doesn't hatch naturally in the wild,
they will often lay a second egg. So that pair
did lay a second egg. They were able to produce
another fertile egg. So from that pair.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
We actually got two checks, very similar to what we
have done in the past with California condors, treating a
double clutch situation where we take that first egg put
an incubator.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
They then instinctively lay another egg.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Which normally it's one egg per year for them, very
very similar concept and bolstering up the population.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
That's so awesome.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Yeah, I love that story too.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
You had mentioned in the crash right the babies, Okay,
one will stick its head up and call and the
parents know running over to feed it. Talk about the
feeding because it's something that can be startling for some
people when the crop milk, which isn't true milk, when
the parents are feeding a baby, sometimes it can be
concerning it first if you don't know what you're looking
at it.
Speaker 6 (16:04):
We do get questions about that as well. Because the color,
the colors, the color is a little alarming. It is bright,
bright red.
Speaker 5 (16:13):
And this is what also is so interesting and what
allows two males to raise a chick together is that
males and females because the parenting duties are fifty to fifty.
The males also produce that crop milk. So these two
boys that fostered this egg fed that chick without a problem.
But yes, the color of the crop milk and it
(16:33):
is just a secretion from their crop.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
But it's very very in the upper part the es.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
The flamingos will actually digest their food, so they secrete
this milk and they will kind of dribble it onto
the chicks, and it does look alarming.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Horror film maybe sometimes, and it maybe doesn't give the
exact look alarming if you don't know well.
Speaker 5 (17:02):
And then for anyone who's raised a human baby, they're
basically crying. So the babies are screaming for attention from
their parents, So the vocalizations very very loud.
Speaker 6 (17:13):
They're vocalizing the whole time they're.
Speaker 5 (17:14):
Being fed, so you have to just like dramatically yelling baby.
And we do get concerns sometimes that their beaks are
actually stuck together, but the parent has the beak directly
at the tip of the baby, so the whole thing
is quite a spectacle that needs to sometimes be explained.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
Doves and some penguin species do it also. I think
that's sai, not just the mammals. I want to point
out so that.
Speaker 6 (17:39):
Yeah, the birds do it too.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Well, before we.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Wrap up, you did mention that the parenting process and
how it shared responsibili is one of your favorite facts
about them. Is there anything else we haven't asked about
when it comes to these flamboyant.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Birds that you'd like to share with our audience.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Make sure that people know when they come to see
them at s Fary Parker Zoo, you want to know
that one fact.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
I mean we covered a lot.
Speaker 6 (17:58):
We did cover a lot this flock.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
Actually though, if you do come to visit them at
the fire park, can you ride the tram and they
are one of the very first things that you see.
So it's a great way to start your tour. But
you're actually looking at the largest flock of Greater flamingos
in the entire country.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Oh, I didn't know that all of the.
Speaker 6 (18:14):
US and all of the US this is the largest flock.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Cool.
Speaker 4 (18:17):
Well, all the departments here and taking job you guys
helping out bird numbers.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
I love it. This was a lot of fun. Thank
you Eron. That really great.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Appreciate having you on the show.
Speaker 6 (18:26):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
See me smiling, sir. We just swim birds around us
all day. We lend them, I know, am I glowing pink?
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Is that what's going on?
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Right?
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (18:39):
But this is a lot of fun, right, and I'm
excited that guests and come they can celebrate flamingos on
International to Day exactly right front. Yeah, So we covered
like so far frozen zoo, meerkats, flamingos.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
What's going on for our next adventure?
Speaker 3 (18:54):
I think it goes right into what this podcast is about.
We're going to be talking to one of our head
lead top educators at all San Diego Zoo about the
importance of inspiring the next generation for conservation and wildlife care.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Oh, we're gonna go to the zoo. Yeah, they will
get their little early and check out those giant pandas.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I think that's a good idea.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
That sounds good.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
We'll be sure to subscribe and tune in next time
when we learn more about the importance of inspiring the
next generation.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Al Mark go Wentz and I'm Rick Schwartz.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
For more information about the San Diego Zoo and San
Diego Zoo Safari Park, go to sdzw a dot org.
Amazing Wildlife is a production of iHeartRadio. Our supervising producers
are Nikkia Swinton and Dylan Fagan, and our sound designers
are Sierra Spreen and Matt Russell. For more shows from iHeartRadio,
check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
(19:49):
listen to your favorite shows.
Hosts And Creators
Rick Schwartz
Marco Wendt
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