New Zealand Greater Flamingo Population

[Zoofan15]

New Zealand - Greater Flamingo Population

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Introduction

Due to Auckland Zoo’s continuing success with breeding Greater flamingo, I thought it would be interesting to begin a population thread for this species. Auckland Zoo are the only holder of Greater flamingo in New Zealand (and Australasia).

I acknowledge there are some gaps in this population list (especially around the founders), as my information has been limited to what’s been reported on socials and in the media.

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Auckland Zoo’s Greater Flamingo Flock

The flock contains 8.7 founders:

Birds named on the zoo’s socials or in the media are as follows:

1.0 Zeni (2001)
1.0 Nelson (2001)
1.0 Fuchsia (2001)
1.0 Cheviot (2001)
1.0 Gabriel (2001)
0.1 Errol (2001)
0.1 Neil (2001)
0.1 Sharon (2001)
0.1 Jay (2001)

I don’t know the names of the other 3.3 founders.

The flock contains 8.5.2 Auckland bred birds:

1.0 Richard (Jan 2014)
1.0 Cole (Jan 2017) Richard x Lizzie
0.1 Otis (Jan 2017) Cheviot and Neil
1.0 Willoughby (Feb 2017)
0.1 Sullivan (Jan 2018) Cheviot x Neil
0.1 Eleanor (Jan 2018) Richard x Lizzie
1.0 Anderson (Nov 2021)
1.0 Baishe (Feb 2023) Richard x Sullivan
1.0 Doug (Jan/Feb 2024)
1.0 Salmon (Jan/Feb 2024)
1.0 Giuseppe (Jan/Feb 2024)
0.1 Summer (Jan/Feb 2024)
0.1 Mimi (Jan/Feb 2024)
0.0.1 Unnamed (Jan 2025) Baishe x Sullivan
0.0.1 Unnamed (Feb 2025)

The flock totals 16.12.2 flamingos

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Additional Notes/Details

Auckland Zoo’s founders were imported as chicks in July 2001. The chicks had to be a minimum of 45 days old to satisfy import requirements (dating their hatching to circa May 2001). The flock consisted of 8.10 birds in September 2001, with 0.3 dying over the two decades that followed.

Auckland Zoo’s previous flamingo flock died out in 1977.

The five 2024 chicks hatched between 28/01/2024 to 27/02/2024; with the first chick being the only January chick. Since I don’t know which of the 3.2 chicks hatched January 28, I have listed all five as Jan/Feb 2024. The January chick was noted to be the offspring of Richard and Sullivan.

I have only included parentage when the zoo’s socials or media articles specifically stage the biological parents of chicks. Cross-fostering is routinely used to assist reproduction of the flock, so I didn’t want to make assumptions of parentage merely based on which adult birds were rearing the chicks.

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[Matt_C]

Thanks @Zoofan15, really interesting. Is there any indication of who the parents of Richard were, and whether Lizzie was a founder? If Cheviot and Neil were the parents of both Richard and Lizzie then potentially a large number/all of the chicks are descended from this pairing?

 

[Zoofan15]

Thanks @Zoofan15, really interesting. Is there any indication of who the parents of Richard were, and whether Lizzie was a founder? If Cheviot and Neil were the parents of both Richard and Lizzie then potentially a large number/all of the chicks are descended from this pairing?

I can confirm Lizzie was a founder. I was told by a volunteer on a recent visit that she died 2-3 years ago (circa 2021), which is really unfortunate as she was of the zoo’s main breeding founders.

I don’t know who the parents of Richard are at this stage, but hope to fill in some blanks along the way. Two chicks hatched initially. In addition to Richard (hatched January 2014); another hatched December 2013. Both were hand-reared, but unfortunately the older chick died. There have been several other chicks that have died over the past decade, as you’d expect given the high mortality rate in the first year of life for this species.

Richard has been a very successful breeder. He’s sired at least four chicks now. The Auckland bred males have generally been more successful than the founders - with Baishe’s success as a first time breeder at the age of two being particularly impressive!

 

[Zoofan15]

Auckland Zoo - 2025 Breeding Season

A third chick has hatched at Auckland Zoo, which was noted to be the final chick of the season.

The 2025 breeding season has therefore produced the following chicks:

0.0.1 Unnamed (Jan 2025) Baishe x Sullivan
0.0.1 Unnamed (Feb 2025)
0.0.1 Unnamed (Feb 2025) Willoughby x Cole

A correction to the above species list that Cole is actually a female (and the mother to the latest chick).

Auckland Zoo’s flamingo flock stands at 15.13.3 birds.

 

[ElephasMaximus]

Auckland Zoo - 2025 Breeding Season

A third chick has hatched at Auckland Zoo, which was noted to be the final chick of the season.

The 2025 breeding season has therefore produced the following chicks:

0.0.1 Unnamed (Jan 2025) Baishe x Sullivan
0.0.1 Unnamed (Feb 2025)
0.0.1 Unnamed (Feb 2025) Willoughby x Cole

A correction to the above species list that Cole is actually a female (and the mother to the latest chick).

Auckland Zoo’s flamingo flock stands at 15.13.3 birds.

It's still early days, but if they have success breeding up their flock I wonder which zoo will take on the surplus? Wellington doesn't really have the space, so I'd assume Hamilton. Orana might be a candidate too, if they sort out their internal problems. I've never been to Willowbank, but I know they've got a decent amount of exotic animals, so I wonder if it's out of the question that they'd start housing flamingos. I'd rather any new flock stay in the country, but If no one here was willing or able to take them on I suppose they'd have to be sent out of Australasia, given Australia's import laws.

 

[Zoofan15]

It's still early days, but if they have success breeding up their flock I wonder which zoo will take on the surplus? Wellington doesn't really have the space, so I'd assume Hamilton. Orana might be a candidate too, if they sort out their internal problems. I've never been to Willowbank, but I know they've got a decent amount of exotic animals, so I wonder if it's out of the question that they'd start housing flamingos. I'd rather any new flock stay in the country, but If no one here was willing or able to take them on I suppose they'd have to be sent out of Australasia, given Australia's import laws.

It’s a good question as the flock size is steadily increasing and the exhibit is at best adequate for the 31 flamingos they now have. My preference would be to see Auckland Zoo invest in expanding their exhibit (perhaps when the Cheetah are phased out); but yes, they’ll otherwise have to look at transferring some out long time (could still be 10 years away).

Orana Wildlife Park are the obvious choice, being an open range zoo with the space to accomodate a large flock. Hamilton would be my second guess as Wellington don’t really have the space in the current state.

 

[Zoofan15]

Greater Flamingo Chicks Named

The flamingo chicks have been named as follows:

0.0.1 Kokoto (Jan 2025) Baishe x Sullivan
0.0.1 Zahri (Feb 2025)
0.0.1 Waridi (Feb 2025) Willoughby x Cole

 

[Zoofan15]

I thought people would be interested to see this photo of one of the juveniles (Zahri) standing next to one of the adult females (Cole). Zahri is six months old and already noticeably taller than Cole, indicating Zahri is a male. Males Greater flamingos are taller than females, a trait observed across the adults in Auckland’s flock.