Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 146, February 2017, pp. 1-25. | Page 8

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Yet during the summer months about half of these — about 1,500 — remain on
the Dubai Creek’s wetlands, filtering brine through upside down bills, simply
because, like many tourists, they enjoy visiting in this city of superlatives
(Robertson, 2013).
The colony at the Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary is fed twice a day - at 9.00 am
and 4.00 pm - with specially produced, cereal-based pellets that contain added
vitamins and nutrients (Simpson, 2012).
Two hundred kilograms of this is scattered into the water at four locations daily
to supplement the food the birds find for themselves, which includes marine
worms, small crustaceans and invertebrates (Simpson, 2012).
"The main reason the flamingos are here is that the site is rich in food anyway,"
said the Ecologist Kevin Hyland from the Wildlife Protection Office. "The idea of
the supplemental feed is to habituate them to people, to get them relaxed, as you
wouldn't normally be able to get close to wild flamingos‖.
"It's also to give them a bit of a boost and to encourage them to breed and stay"
(Simpson, 2012).

The Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) and the Reef Heron (Egretta gularis) at Ras Al
Khor Wildlife Sanctuary in Dubai, UAE. Photo by my precious daughter Nora Norman Ali
Khalaf. 13.06.2015. https://www.flickr.com/photos/50022881@N00/19171312601/

Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 146 – February 2017