SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019
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DISCOVER 57
ADAPTED TO PERIL
Although lesser flamingos are the most abundant flamingo in
the world, with a population in the millions, they’re also one
of the most in danger of extinction. That’s because the species
breeds at only six different wetlands in the world.
Lesser flamingos are colonial breeders, which means they
arrive at breeding sites by the tens of thousands to build their
nests and raise their young. The most important of these sites
is at Lake Natron in Tanzania, where about three-fourths of
the entire species gather to mate. At its wettest, it’s 35 miles
long — bigger than Lake Tahoe. But more often, much of the
lake bed is dried up, covered with a bizarre red crust.
The shallow waters here are fed by a mineral-rich spring
that, combined with frequent evaporation, has resulted in an
incredibly salty, alkaline body of water — with a pH somewhere
between Windex and hand soap.
It might sound like a weird place to call home, but flamingos
love harsh wetlands like these. The caustic water keeps most
other animals away — including predators — while the birds’
tough, scaly legs allow them to hang out with no problems
and breed in peace. Plus, one of the few other life-forms that
flourishes here also happens to be the bird’s favorite food:
cyanobacteria. It’s a photosynthesizing microorganism also
referred to as blue-green algae, though this particular species is
a deep red: It’s what gives these lesser flamingos their signature
pink coloring.
Lake Natron is named for the mineral, natron, that collects
there. But it’s not the only lake like this that the birds frequent;
some of their other favorite breeding sites are chemically similar
to Natron, called soda lakes. They’re full of this sodium-rich
combination of minerals called sodas, including sodium
bicarbonate, which we know as baking soda. Lesser flamingos also
breed at salt pans, a similar kind of “here today, gone tomorrow”
wetland that collects salt. Water levels and resources fluctuate,
but the birds are adapted with a nomadic lifestyle. If one wetland
dries up or runs out of food, they’ll move to another one.
These are the conditions flamingos evolved under, says
Felicity Arengo, associate director of the Center for Biodiversity
and Conservation at New York’s American Museum of Natural
History, and a coordinator for the International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN) flamingo specialist group. But
these wetlands are some of Earth’s most threatened ecosystems.
Wildlife officials stepped in. Ten local conservation groups each
agreed to take in hundreds of chicks. And organizations around the
world with experience rearing flamingos, including many zoos in the
U.S., sent resources, supplies and even people to aid in the effort.
From left: Drought forced lesser flamingo parents
to abandon their nests at Kamfers Dam in South
Africa; rescue centers took in almost 2,000 chicks;
the baby birds were hand-fed for weeks; once
sufficiently grown, they were ready to be released
back into the wild.