ST. PAUL (AP) — A Chilean flamingo at the Como Zoo in St. Paul is the first flamingo in the zoo's history to have a baby chick.

The Como Zoo has been exhibiting flamingos since the late 1960s, but due to the unusual breeding practices of the flamingo numerous zoos around the country have been unsuccessful in hatching chicks. However, recent research has led to more successful flamingo hatching at several zoos.
The female flamingo lays a large egg atop a constructed mound of mud, but the egg is incubated by both parents for 26 to 31 days. The successful hatchling is one of three eggs laid in late June, but the other two appear not to be viable.

Zoo scientists put the egg in an incubator and replaced it with dummy eggs for the parents to sit on. Once the egg reached hatch stage, the zookeepers re-swapped the dummy egg with the hatching egg.

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