World Wildlife Day 2014 - love the tall pink birds!
A healthy population of Caribbean flamingos provides a strong conservation message as well as an important educational story to those coming to see them at WWT Slimbridge.
Today, 3rd March 2014, is World Wildlife Day as designated by the United Nations. A chance for folks around the world to appreciate the amazing diversity of life on the planet. It is worthwhile on such a day to consider the conservation value of the six species of flamingo that you can see at WWT Slimbridge. Two species, the Andean and the James' flamingo are still poorly understood in the wild; one species, the lesser flamingo, is currently high on the agenda for conservationists who are fighting to save its critically important breeding sites in East Africa (WWT has been instrumental in writing the conservation strategy for lesser flamingos so they really are close to our hearts); the Chilean flamingo is also in decline due to human encroachment, hunting and changes to habitat quality.
That leaves the two remaining flamingos, the closely related greater and Caribbean flamingos. Both of these species are not currently threatened and they do not have declining population numbers. However, both may face future dangers that could be detrimental to the health of their populations. The greater flamingo especially is hunted in Mediterranean Europe as it travels to and from wintering, feeding and breeding locations. The Caribbean flamingo has lost much of its former range across Central and South America, and in the Caribbean itself, and work is underway to re-stock Caribbean islands with free-living birds.
The flamingos at WWT are not just for decoration or show. They have a real, sound, conservation and educational meaning. So during your next visit to Slimbridge or to another centre, spare a thought for the work that is on-going both out in the wild and behind the scenes here at WWT to ensure that flamingo populations remain healthy for many years into the future.
Find out more about World Wildlife Day here: http://www.un.org/en/events/wildlifeday/
Find out more about how WWT coordinates species conservation here: https://www.wwt.org.uk/our-work/wetland-conservation-unit/what-we-do/saving-species/
