Flamingo legs and feet1/9/2024 ![]() ![]() “The second part showed that the prevalence of the various types of foot lesions is correlated with what surface the flamingos walk on,” says Nielsen. But while scientists continue in their search, zoos can take Adriana Nielsen’s studies into consideration when designing aviaries. The mystery of the bad flamingo feet hasn’t been fully solved yet. The first part of the study showed that foot lesions are extremely common in the 20 zoos she has studied. ![]() The conclusions in her two scientific articles on the subject are very clear: But Nielsen’s study is the first to uncover the extent and the possible causes of the problem. It’s long been known that captive flamingos have bad feed. Here there were no signs of foot lesions not even thickened skin, which all the captive flamingos had. The examined flamingo feet were compared to a few wild flamingos. In other animals, for example chickens, it looks as if it’s a virus doing the damage because the chickens walk around in dirt (46% affected) This causes cauliflower-like growths on the feet, which is actually scar tissue that grows wild. This is a big problem in birds of prey, penguins and in poultry production (17% affected)Ĥ. Humans can also get these fissures and they are very painful (87% of the examined flamingos affected)ģ. When flamingos limp, they usually have fissures. They emerge when hard skin becomes so dry that it cracks and the skin is so thick that it doesn’t heal. A precursor to the other lesions (100% of the examined flamingos affected)Ģ. Thickened skin – also known as hyperkeratosis. The flamingos’ foot lesions can be divided into four types:ġ. This enables zoo staff to study the flamingos’ preferences, and whether one has a different effect to the other. The pink birds are free to decide whether they want to stand on one leg in salt or fresh water. On the other hand, there is plenty of sand and soil. ![]() There is no grass either because that’s not good for the birds’ feet. The flamingo section of Copenhagen Zoo has almost no concrete surfaces. But actual foot problems such as cracks and lumps also proved very common.” “In many cases, it was merely a case of thickened skin, which doesn’t seem to bother the birds much. “We found four different types of foot injury in our study,” says Nielsen. It turned out that all the birds had foot injuries of various sorts, which are not found in the wild. Her research is based on pictures of 854 flamingos’ feet from zoos around Europe and the US. Later this year, Nielsen will publish another article, which aims to uncover a bit more of this mystery. The thesis, which was published as a scientific article, highlighted the extent of the problem. Three years ago she wrote a thesis about foot lesions in captive flamingos. Veterinarian Adriana Nielsen, in collaboration with Copenhagen Zoo, has taken a closer look at this mystery. One mystery that has bewildered animal keepers, veterinarians and zoologists for years is that the stunning pink flamingos injure their feet when in captivity. The animal world is filled with mysteries. From the left: thickened skin, fissures, bumblefoot and papillomatous growth. A Danish study now claims to have solved a part of this mystery.įour types of flamingo foot lesion. It has long been a mystery why flamingos in captivity suffer foot lesions. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |