Tulsa Zoo's Flamingo Flock Flourishes With Fun New Chick 'Cera'

The Tulsa Zoo welcomed a new flamingo to its flock over the summer.

Cera hatched on Aug. 13, 2024. She is named after a character from the zookeeper's favorite childhood movie, The Land Before Time.

“The little triceratops, she was a very independent character in the movie, and this flamingo has proven to have that personality as well,” said Taylor Harris, the Zoological Supervisor of the Bird Department.

The chick's independent nature has her reaching milestones more quickly.

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“Around two days old, she was jumping off of her nest and following around her mom and dad and showing a lot of independent and very advanced behavior for such a young chick and has already started eating from our food bowls while still eating from mom and dad,” Harris said.

Being the only chick in the flock or "flamboyance" of Flamingos, Cera is easy to spot.

“Right now, she still has her chick downy kind of fluff on her, and she is slowly going to be fledging that over the next couple weeks to a month,” Harris said, “Then, she is going to get a black and gray feather coloration, and that is considered a juvenile plumage.”

In another two years, Cera's pink feathers will grow.

“She is going to be slowly molting over the years to get this pink coloration that you see, and she will also have to start eating the food that gives them that coloration,” Harris said.

The Tulsa Zoo feeds the flamingos a pellet formulated by scientists that contains everything they need and could find in the wild. The zookeepers also give them krill three times a week as a special treat.

Harris said, “We use it here for training or operant conditioning, where we bring them over closer to people that they do not know, work on getting them scale trained, and work on them just being comfortable in different environments.”

To create a happy and healthy flock where a little chick like Cera can thrive.