CINCINNATI — The first in a flamboyance of baby flamingos hatched at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden Monday, according to the zoo's official Twitter account.
The fuzzy new addition to the flock was gray in the picture that accompanied the tweet — it won’t turn pink until it’s grown and eaten a lot of shrimp, which give flamingos their distinctive color through a natural pink dye called canthaxanthin. Most flamingos become fully pink a year or two after they hatch.
The new chick also has a second important cosmetic difference from older members of its family: The white spot on the tip of its beak. That’s an egg tooth, a little horn-like tool baby birds and lizards use to break out of their shells.
Lots more will follow the new baby, according to the zoo.
“There are several more eggs so we expect more chicks over the next few days & weeks,” it wrote.
