Same-Sex Flamingo Couple Become Dads After Hatching Egg at San Diego Zoo

Same-Sex Flamingo Couple Hatches Their First Foster Chick

A newly formed family of three is the latest attraction at the San Diego Zoo after a same-sex flamingo couple has successfully fostered a baby flamingo chick.

The bonded pair of males prepared for fatherhood with a practice egg after they were observed sitting on a nest indicating a readiness to care for a chick, according to the Wildlife Alliance. The flamingo couple, reported by KUSI to each be around 40 years old, took turns caring for their faux-egg, proving their parenting prowess to staff who then replaced the stand-in with a fertile egg.

Egg adoption is not uncommon among flamingos, who can lay multiple eggs in a season, but only dedicate themselves to hatching one. Flamingo chicks feed on "crop milk," a liquid that any flamingo can secrete from their upper digestive tract in response to the cries of a hungry chick.

"The pair has perfected their fatherly duties by alternating brooding responsibilities and keeping the chick satisfied thanks to a hearty helping of crop milk every day," the caretakers of the feathered family shared in a social media post.

Flamingo fans have welcomed the baby chick and expressed their support for the new fathers. One comment reads,

Earlier this year, another same-sex flamingo couple at a UK zoo, Curtis and Arthur, successfully adopted an egg together, hatching a small puffball of their own.