Flamingo Chicks Hatching at San Francisco Zoo & Gardens

Recent visitors to San Francisco Zoo & Gardens may have seen nests in the Chilean flamingo habitat. At long last, the wait is over and two white, fuzzy chicks have hatched! The first chick of the season hatched September 17 and has already doubled in size. A second chick hatched September 24 and the hope is that even more eggs will yield chicks. The breeding season can extend into October, with incubation taking about one month.

Chilean flamingo parents take turns feeding their offspring red “crop milk”. The young are born with a white/gray down covering and are fed by their parents for about three months. They won’t breed until they lose their gray juvenile color at about two to three years old. Chilean flamingos in the wild are listed as near threatened due to egg-harvesting, hunting, disturbance and the degradation of its habitat.

In other new animal news, SF Zoo’s “chulengo”, or young guanaco, born August 20 is now exploring the main exhibit of Puente al Sur. The chulengo is in excellent health. She took her first steps about one hour after birth and is now running across her habitat. Her mother “Milagro” is eight years old and father “Cusco” is three years old. Both guanacos are first-time parents.

Guanacos are a member of the Camelid family, along with camels, llamas, alpacas and vicunas. They are native to South America, where they are the largest wild mammal. Gestation periods are 11.5 months and most chulengos stay with their mother for about one year.