The Park has 34 Lesser Flamingos. This beautiful little bird
has been facing threats in the wild.
A mystery disease wiped out tens of thousands of Lesser flamingos on Lake
Bogoria in the Kenyan Rift Valley. Eighty percent of the world's flamingo
population lives in this area, since Lake Nakuru, 60 miles south, became uninhabitable
for the birds some years ago.
The most likely cause seems to be pollution. Tests on some of the fatalities
showed alarming levels of toxins such as arsenic, pesticide, mercury, copper
and other heavy metals. Conservationists were extremely concerned that this
spate of deaths since July 1999 could actually endanger the whole species
of Lesser Flamingos.
LESSER FLAMINGO
Scientific Name:
Phoenicopterus minor
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION:
Central and Eastern Africa, Pakistan and India
CONSERVATION STATUS:
Abundant
SUMMARY:
The Lesser flamingo is the smallest and most abundant of all the six species.
It stands about 1.1 metre tall with long stilt-like legs, deep pink plumage,
webbed feet and a curved bill and neck.
They are very sociable birds living in large flocks in shallow, alkaline lakes.
The Lesser flamingo has a life span of around twenty years in its natural
habitat but has been known to live longer in captivity. One egg is hatched
after twenty-nine days.
ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE FOR HUMANS:
POSITIVE: The flamingo, by eating blue-green algae, helps
keep the algae level down in that area. They also help control the number
of small crustaceans and molluscs.
NEGATIVE: Flamingos damage lagoons they live in by creating
their nests; this process can actually lead to flooding when the soil is washed
away.
CONSERVATION: The flamingos' worst enemy is man who destroys the birds' habitat and kills them for sport. Other enemies are climatic change, rising water, pollution and predators.
