Earlier this year, the same-sex birds sat on a dummy egg and impressed the zoo keepers with their parenting skills. Eventually, the specialists gave the animal couple a real egg, allowing another pair of flamingos to double-clutch and raise a second hatchling.
Both males and females can feed the chick this way, and even flamingos that are not the parents can act as foster-feeders. The begging calls the hungry chick makes are believed to stimulate the secretion of the milk.
The pair have perfected their fatherly duties by alternating brooding responsibilities and keeping the chick satisfied thanks to a hearty helping of crop milk every day.
According to the zoo, the two flamingo fathers are in their 40s. The lesser flamingos are a species found in sub-Saharan Africa and western India, with the chick also being the same species.
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