Amid the elegant pink flamingos at Vienna’s Schönbrunn Zoo, a new generation of fluffy, gray chicks has arrived. After an incubation period of about 28 days, nine chicks have hatched, and more eggs are still being brooded. For now, the newborns are covered in soft gray down. It will take around three years for them to develop their iconic pink plumage. In the wild, this coloration comes from pigments found in crustaceans; at the zoo, a specially formulated diet provides the necessary nutrients.
Zoo director Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck expressed his delight at the breeding success: “Achieving successful flamingo breeding requires a lot of factors to align perfectly—from selecting compatible breeding pairs and setting up proper nesting islands to adjusting the diet at the right time. But the weather also has to cooperate. Rain combined with the right temperatures are key parameters we simply can’t control.”
Schönbrunn Zoo also welcomed a dozen flamingo chicks in 2024. To maintain a balanced group size and support other zoological institutions in building stable breeding groups, some of the young birds will be transferred to other zoos after the breeding season as part of the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP).
