Sad news - the last Greater Flamingo in Australia, who was also the world's oldest flamingo, was put to sleep this morning. Story here: Adelaide Zoo Celebrates Life of Iconic Flamingo - Zoos SA Blog
I feel most sad for the remaining flamingo, now completely alone I do like that the zoo is considering a memorial for the flamingo.
Well, not completely alone - it shares with some white-eyed ducks... I too feel sorry for it. I hope that they do import a new flock, but I won't hold my breath. Will be interesting to see what sort of memorial they come up with.
RIP old man. In a sense, it is a second time Greater flamingos have gone extinct in Australia. First time was in Pleistocene. It would be nice if a new importation would be allowed, presumably eggs from european captive flocks (that would pose the smallest biosecurity risk I guess).
So what happened with flamingo's body? Incinerating it would be a *****'s decision - such an unique specimen should be researched & preserved. Btw nobody bothered to check its gender for a lifetime...
This is so awful and stupid. If the bird is going to be mounted anyway, what's the point in cremation of the leftovers? And since the mount's head & legs would be replicas, this means that original skull & leg bones are going to be destroyed along with rest of the skeleton. Only wing bones are left, since feathers are attached to them. But this unique flamingo must be preserved as complletely as possible!!! Burn his innards and soft tissues, but not the bones! Anthropomorphism destroyed more specimens than museum fires. Think about it. Which are the zoo's contacts? I'm going to protest the destruction of Greater's bones. If the zoo animal did not leave offspring and was not preserved, its life in a zoo was POINTLESS. And look how beautiful the flamingo skeletons are:
Do you have a notification system that lets you know whenever any zoo animal anywhere has died so that you can bemoan the disposal of it's remains?
What exactly about this flamingo makes it so unique that it's bones must be preserved? How is it different to the hundreds-of-thousands of other Greater Flamingos in the world? Hix
Not funny. You all abroad have thousands of beautiful specimens that are not present in Russian museums (or weren't preserved well), and destroy them on purpose. I'm green with envy. International exchange of zoo animals is well etablished, but that of dead animals or museum specimens is damn complicated. The animal's bones change with its age, both in shape and structure. They are different from those flamingoes that didn't live as long as this one. If you don't care it doesn't mean that nobody else cares!
Quite right. Although I don't know where you got the idea I don't care. The fact I asked the question should indicate that I have some interest. Hix
I like the idea of a 'support team' for the lone surviving Flamingo. Are there any others in Australia it could join, or were these the very last two?
These were the very last two. So there is just one left, and then none. Imports are essentially impossible, and I think the only possibility for flamingos in Australia is if Auckland's flock do well, and excess can be sent to Adelaide (or another zoo here).
Auckland's flock is so small that it will never do well enough to be able to send excess birds away, even within NZ.
