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Gay Flamingo Couple Become Fathers After Hatching Chick

Flamingo couple raising chick

The flamingos are only the latest queer birds taking up the role of parents. 

An abandoned baby flamingo was taken under the wing by a pair of two gay flamingos at the Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire, England.

The egg was kept in an incubator after it was neglected by its biological parents, and zookeepers sought foster parents before it hatched.

They decided that male flamingos, Hudson and Blaze, were the best suited for the job. According to the zoo's website, they were "experienced flamingo parents," and took "excellent care of their shared nest."

The egg was placed in the couple's nest, and Hudson and Blaze immediately began to take care of it. After two weeks of sitting with it, to keep it warm and protect it from flamingos, the egg hatched into a healthy, fluffy gray flamingo.

Bird team leader, Tim Savage explained how gay flamingos are not unusual. "Flamingos usually work together, as a monogamous pair, to care for their eggs and subsequent chicks. Hudson and Blaze were the clear choice for the incubated egg, as they have always proved to be ideal parents," Savage said.

He continued by describing how their role as parents continues past birth. "Flamingo chicks are fed with bright red 'crop milk,' which is made by both male and female parents. It is made in the linings of their digestive tract, and contains fat, protein, and blood cells," Savage said.

The hormone responsible for regulating "crop milk" is stimulated after flamingos, regardless of sex, sit on an egg and watch the chick hatch.

Hudson and Blaze are taking over the internet just as queer flamingos, Freddie Mercury and Lance Bass, did in 2019. Unfortunately, since then, Freddie was seen mating with a female flamingo named Iommi. In a Facebook post for Pride Month this past June, the Denver zoo announced the couple's split. "Both Freddie and Lance are in good health. They weren't separated and their breakup was amicable," the zoo wrote.

They noted that "long-term relationships" do not typically occur in flamingos and they, most times, decide to "pair up with other birds.

Click the video below to see the new addition of Hudson and Blaze's family.

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Isabella A. Lieberman