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Denver Zoo's Baby Flamingo Doing Well After Some Difficulty Early On

DENVER (CBS4) -- The Denver Zoo's baby Chilean flamingo is growing up healthy and strong, despite some difficulty early on.

"When our newest Chilean flamingo chick had trouble making it out of its shell, the animal staff at our Avian Propagation Center made the decision to intervene so the little fluffball would have the best chance of making it," zoo officials said.

"SOUND ON to hear this little cloud chirping before they've even hatched, and to see how our staff cares for our youngest birds."

Raising a Baby Flamingo

We've got an egg to chick #TransformationTuesday to share today! When our newest Chilean flamingo chick had trouble making it out of its shell, the animal staff at our Avian Propagation Center made the decision to intervene so the little fluffball would have the best chance of making it. SOUND ON to hear this little cloud chirping before they've even hatched, and to see how our staff cares for our youngest birds.

Posted by Denver Zoo on Tuesday, November 5, 2019

The chick was born Oct. 20 and had to be hand fed by the zoo staff. Zookeepers put a stuffed animal -- a flamingo, of course -- into the baby's area to offer a little bit of comfort.

It's now 18 days old and much fluffier!

It doesn't have a name just yet but the zoo says that's coming soon.

Wondering why it's not pink?

"They are born with grey feathers, which gradually turn pink in the wild because of a natural pink dye called canthaxanthin that they obtain from their diet of brine shrimp and blue-green algae," according to the BBC's Science Focus magazine.

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