A Caribbean Flamingo hatchling took its first steps at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo. The chick is helped to its feet by its mother and stands on a nest mound in the pond outside of the zoo’s Aquatic Birds exhibit. Flamingos build nest mounds in the shallow water to keep their eggs and offspring out of the water until they are ready to fledge. 

It will be crucial for the little one to develop leg strength through daily walks and eventual swims as it grows, since their legs become so long compared to their body mass. But that is one thing that makes Flamingos so well adapted for their environment. Long legs allow them to easily wade across shallow water and their beaks are specially adapted to filter feed, separating food items from the mud and silt. 

Flamingos are hatched with white downy plumage but develop trademark pink coloration from pigments in the algae, crustaceans, and other invertebrates that make up their diet. In the wild, these birds inhabit shallow bodies of salty water where food is plentiful.

Photo Credit: Julie Larsen Maher © WCS

Below watch the very special moment that was captured as the mother nudges her chick to stand up... and the baby takes it's first wobbly step.

Read more about the Bronx Zoo's conservation efforts below the jump:

We here at ZooBorns love what we do - sharing the newest, cutest baby animals from accredited zoos and aquariums and showcasing them as ambassadors for conservation. To pay the bills, we rely entirely on sales of the ZooBorns books and, more recently, our iPad and iPhone app for toddlers, entitled ABC ZooBorns.

Today our ABC ZooBorns app was featured in the iTunes App Store. This is a huge development for us and reflects the thought and effort that went into creating this beautiful, educational and extensive app, which includes 200+ photos, 50+ video, mountains of text. To date, the app has received exclusively five star reviews.

While this is all good news, we need your help. When you are featured in the App Store, you have a very narrow window of (realistic) opportunity to get your app ranked #1 in its respective category. In short, it's now or never. If you have an iPhone or iPad and a young child, we would sincerely appreciate your support. We promise you won't regret it. If you're not the parent of a young child, ABC ZooBorns makes a great gift, which you can send easily by clicking here and following the two step guide below:

We wish we had an Android app but, for the moment, we simply don't have the resources to get one developed. Perhaps if ABC ZooBorns for iPhone and iPad kicks butt, we can make it happen. Just like our books, 10% of our app revenue goes directly to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Conservation Endowment Fund. 

Sincere thanks for your support. We are privileged to have you as fans. 

- Andrew Bleiman and Chris Eastland (and we suspect Rochelle and Cheryl)