NEED TO KNOW

• The Fort Worth Zoo in Texas has a new batch of flamingos

• Eight lesser flamingos have been born at the zoo in 2026

• Lesser flamingos are smaller than greater flamingos, which are the most widespread species of the flamingo family

The flamingo flock at the Fort Worth Zoo is growing.

“Hip hip hooray, flamingo hatching season is here!” the Texas-based zoo said in a Feb. 26 Instagram post of a single baby lesser flamingo walking around to fun and upbeat music.

Eight chicks have already hatched this year, with more expected, a spokesperson from the Fort Worth Zoo confirmed to PEOPLE on Friday, March 6.

Since the zoo’s breeding program began in 2022, the Fort Worth Zoo has hatched 454 chicks (and counting), making it the most successful lesser flamingo breeding program in the world, even helping to increase the population at other zoos within the country.

To care for these birds, which are listed as near threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), primarily due to habitat alteration, zoo staff offer a specialized hand-rearing process that features feeding them daily, veterinary care and walks.

The food that they are fed is a nutrient-rich, crafted formula that mimics their parents’ crop milk, aiding in the chicks’ vital growth and development.

After three months of feeding, walks and professional care, the young lesser flamingos are introduced to their adult counterparts.

And while lesser flamingos statistically have a lower reproduction success rate than any other flamingo species found in zoos within the United States, the Fort Worth Zoo’s dedicated staff and breeding program has contributed to establishing a stable, self-sustaining population.

When needed, some of the lesser flamingos are sent to other zoos, “but as we like to say, carrying a little piece of Texas with them wherever they go!”

There are six species of flamingo, found in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and include the Greater, Lesser, Chilean, Andean, James’s (or Puna), and American (or Caribbean) flamingo.

Lesser flamingos are smaller than greater flamingos, which are the most widespread and largest species of the flamingo family.

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Forty percent of the lesser Flamingo population living in United States zoos began their journey at Fort Worth Zoo, and chicks that have hatched there can now be found at 17 different institutions in the country.

Read the original article on People