Sometimes huge colonies of countless animals – one could think that the flamingos are rather impersonal. However, as behavioral researchers now report, there are surprisingly complex relationship systems among birds: they cultivate loyal friendships with individual conspecifics of different sexes and form cliques that hold together for years. The opposite is also evident: some animals avoid themselves. These relationships should be considered when exchanging flamingo groups between zoos, the researchers say.
The flamingos are considered to be very “strange birds”: in addition to the pink plumage and the crooked beak for filtering tiny organisms, the six species are also famous for their “ballet shows”. In the mating season, the animals of both sexes throw their heads back and forth and move synchronously with other dancing conspecifics. It is known that this behavior serves to find partners. However, little is known about the social behavior of the quirky birds. Because relationships between individuals are difficult to recognize because of the confusing flamingo colonies.
Flamingos know each other personally
The researchers led by Paul Rose from the University of Exeter have now managed to get some insights. Four flamingo groups with a size of up to 140 animals were in her sights, which are kept at the WWT Slimbridge Wetland Center in southern England. These are Cuban flamingos, Chile flamingos, dwarf flamingos and Andean flamingos. The scientists observed the individually identifiable animals over a period of five years. In addition to the state of health, they also recorded the social contacts of the individual animals.
As they report, their evaluations show that even though the animals live in large communities, their contacts with one another are not volatile or accidental and are not limited to their respective sexual partners. The researchers found that flamingos prefer to spend time with certain “friends”. In addition, it became apparent that certain animals avoided themselves, which indicates that some flamingos simply do not like each other. “Our results show that flamingo societies are complex. We have identified pairs of males or females and also trios and quartets that are regularly together, ”says Rose.
Old friends
The scientists may also have very old friendships among the animals that can live to be over 80 years old. “Flamingos are extremely long-lived birds – some of the animals in this study have been in Slimbridge since the 1960s – and we were able to show that their friendships have remained stable for at least five years,” says Rose. “It seems that flamingos – like humans – form social bonds, apparently because they offer advantages.” However, the details of the social behavior of the flamingos should now be examined even more closely, the scientists write.
However, it is already becoming apparent that the results could have an impact on the management of flamingos in captivity. It would therefore make sense to pay close attention to the animal’s relationship systems in order to maintain groups with favorable composition: “When moving birds from one zoo to another, we should take care not to separate flamingos that are closely related” says Rose.
Source: University of Exeter, technical article: Behavioral Processes, doi: 10.1016 / j.beproc.2020.104118