Baby Flamingo Rides Train To Safety
by Becky A. Dayhuff
A rare Greater Asian flamingo chick, who was left behind by its flock and given shelter by a Russian peasant family in November, has journeyed by train to a new, more comfortable home in an indoor tropical winter garden at the shores of Lake Baikal.
The Muravyov family, which lives in the Siberian village of Verkhny Markovo near Irkutsk, sheltered the baby flamingo after it became exhausted and could not follow its flock south.
When a severe Arctic cold front plummeted temperatures to minus 40, the flamingo's foster family feared the chick would not survive in their old wooden house which was heated only by one small wood burning stove.
The Muravyovs contacted local zoos but received no assistance.
Hearing of the flamingo's plight, the regional railroad workers' cultural center at Lake Baikal several hundred kilometers away offered to transport the chick by train to its climate controlled indoor garden.
According to a January 21 report by Itar-Tass news agency, the baby flamingo made the journey successfully and now enjoys 3200 square feet of gardens complete with tropical plants and a water fountain.
Asian flamingos, along with scores of other birds, spend their summers in Siberia and migrate south, some as far as India and Africa, once cold weather arrives in the fall.
Starting the following March, the birds return to the savannahs, mountains and lakes of the Siberian countryside.
© 2004 Animal News Center, Inc.
A rare Greater Asian flamingo chick, who was left behind by its flock and given shelter by a Russian peasant family in November, has journeyed by train to a new, more comfortable home in an indoor tropical winter garden at the shores of Lake Baikal.
The Muravyov family, which lives in the Siberian village of Verkhny Markovo near Irkutsk, sheltered the baby flamingo after it became exhausted and could not follow its flock south.
When a severe Arctic cold front plummeted temperatures to minus 40, the flamingo's foster family feared the chick would not survive in their old wooden house which was heated only by one small wood burning stove.
The Muravyovs contacted local zoos but received no assistance.
Hearing of the flamingo's plight, the regional railroad workers' cultural center at Lake Baikal several hundred kilometers away offered to transport the chick by train to its climate controlled indoor garden.
According to a January 21 report by Itar-Tass news agency, the baby flamingo made the journey successfully and now enjoys 3200 square feet of gardens complete with tropical plants and a water fountain.
Asian flamingos, along with scores of other birds, spend their summers in Siberia and migrate south, some as far as India and Africa, once cold weather arrives in the fall.
Starting the following March, the birds return to the savannahs, mountains and lakes of the Siberian countryside.
© 2004 Animal News Center, Inc.
Use the feedback form below to submit your comments.
Use the form below to email this article to your friends.
