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The hundredth flamingo

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Ever get the feeling your parents/teachers/bosses are constantly hovering over you -- and in a very judgmental kind of way?

Then imagine how this six-day-old flamingo chick must feel.

We don't know if the looming adult flamingos are his actual parents, or just fellow residents of the flamingo community at the zoo in Hanover, in central Germany.

Perhaps they are members of the flamingo neighborhood watch, or on the screening committee determining if the little chick will be allowed in the Flamingo Club.

I don't know if it's the look in the adults' eyes, the downward frown-like turn in their beaks, or  the perpetual question marks their necks form, but I'm not getting a proud parent vibe.

It's more like, did you eat all your peas? Did you turn off that video game? Your teacher called today. Didn't we tell you to clean that nest? Where do you think you're going?

Then again, I'm once again making the mistake -- fun as it might be -- of applying human values and attributes to animals, which is what we often tend to do, especially when they're those in zoos.

So we'll just tell you that the birth of this little fella brought the zoo's flamingo population to a nice even 100.

(Photo by Getty images)

Posted by John Woestendiek at 8:19 AM | | Comments (1)
        

Comments

Actually, it's rather obvious that the guy on the right is the husband. See the look he's giving his wife on the right? Dollars to doughnuts that little fella looks like the next door neighbor.

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About this blog
Jill Rosen is a reporter at The Baltimore Sun. During her nearly 20 years in journalism, she has covered news and features — including a surprising number of stories that involved animals. There were the dog Christmas carolers in State College, Pa. There were the hounds who toured with a production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The story of a preschool teacher at Baltimore’s Father Kolbe School who had to replace her class guinea pig, who died over the winter holiday. A harrowing tale of what it was like to make homemade pet food ...

Though her clean freak of a mother refused to allow her to get a dog, she has had a number of pets through the years, including goldfish named Bob and Fingle, a beta fish named Ichabod, a wild rat terrier named Wendel, who she shared with a roommate, and, currently, sweet, sweet kitties named Leo Sesame and Milo Pumpkin. She, Leo and Pumpkin live in Baltimore.
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