Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 147, March 2017, pp. 1-16. | Page 7

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Rare black flamingo is spotted at a salt lake on the island of Cyprus. Photo from the Akrotiri
Environmental Education Centre Facebook page. http://www.grindtv.com/wildlife/blackflamingo-spotted-in-cyprus-a-rare-sighting/#0ZS0VAweDqsVzwbw.97

Lifespan
The average lifespan in captivity, according to Zoo Basel, is over 60 years.
The oldest known greater flamingo was a bird at the Adelaide Zoo in Australia
who died aged at least 83 years old. The bird's exact age is not known; he was
already a mature adult when he arrived in Adelaide in 1933. He was euthanized
in January 2014 due to complications of old age. Known as "Greater" or
"Flamingo 1", Adelaide Zoo's greater flamingo survived an attack by four youths
in 2008 (Wikipedia; Khalaf-von Jaffa, February 2017).

Relationship with Humans
Captivity
The first recorded zoo hatch was in 1959 at Zoo Basel. In Zoo Basel's breeding
program over 400 birds have been hatched with an average of between 20 and 27
per year since 2000.
In January, 2014, an 83-year-old greater flamingo, believed to be the oldest in the
world, died at the Adelaide Zoo in Australia where it had lived since 1933
(Wikipedia; Khalaf-von Jaffa, February 2017).
Threats
In the Rann of Kutch salt marsh of India and Pakistan, greater flamingos are
occasionally electrocuted when they sit on 1000-watt electric cables near their
Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 147 – March 2017