Mother and Child Bonding - at the San Diego Zoo

One of my usual first stops at the Zoo is the flamingo pool. The young ones are starting to get some color finally (they start out as completely grey). I'm not quite sure what this is all about, or if it really is a mother and her child even, but these two were stuck together like this for at least four full minutes that I observed. They never once broke contact during that time, although they did move around quite a bit. I noticed a second adult and young flamingo doing the same thing on the other side of the enclosure as well.

(Edit 09-24-11: One of the keepers told me today that this is how flamingos feed their young. The mother is dripping regurgitated food into the young ones mouth. She told me that she's seen this go on for as long as 20 minutes.)


I still can't tell Christopher and Conner, the two Malayan tiger cubs, apart. They're almost 5 months old now, and getting bigger each time I see them. I think they're up to almost 50 lb. now. Here's one of them, with his arms wrapped around Mom's neck - check out the size of those front paws.

I think Mek prefers to be left alone.