Flamingo Breeding

Posted in: New Arrivals
Posted on 14th Nov 2011

Breeding in our small flock of Chilean flamingos is very sporadic and unpredictable, so getting experience of flamingo breeding has proved very difficult for our staff in recent years. Within the last few weeks some of you may have met a keeper in the Zoo being followed by a baby flamingo. We have two youngsters being reared by the keepers at the moment. Although the eggs were hatched here in our Incubation Room in early September 2011, they were laid at the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust collection at Slimbridge. By special arrangement with WWT the eggs were delivered to Colwyn Bay and after successfully completing incubation we have been rearing the two youngsters.

In the South American monkey house the pair of cotton-top tamarins is rearing twins. They were born in early September 2011 and are now getting to the stage of sometimes venturing from the parents. For the first week or so it was mum you might have seen carrying the babies, but by now it is just as likely to be dad with the babies on his back – he has to do his share of parental care! In another four or five weeks they’ll be too heavy to carry and will be much more independent.

The cotton-top tamarin is critically endangered due to deforestation in its last remaining habitat in a small area of north west Colombia in South America. Fortunately there is a healthy population in zoos and ours are part of the co-ordinated European breeding programme.

There are also new babies in the Reptile House. The royal or ball python from Central and West Africa is a species we have never bred before, but in the middle of September 2011 four babies successfully hatched after eight weeks incubation. (Please note at present they are currently not on display.)

The royal python is not endangered in the wild, but it is always good to breed a new species and is useful experience for our keepers. Our planned new tropical house will have facilities for a number of species and some may be part of co-ordinated breeding programmes. Breeding non-endangered species is an important part of preparation and training for working with conservation sensitive species.