Necker animals - who's hungry?
- By Richard Branson -
- May 29, 2012
Who’s hungry? (besides this beautiful Flamingo chick!)
This years' Flamingo chicks have been doing fantastically. There are now well over 70 with many more eggs still to hatch, which will make it our most successful season to date.
It is quite remarkable when you look at the size of the mothers’ beaks. She stands there for about half an hour and delicately feeds the baby. This process carries on every day for about four or five months. It is also amazing how they manage to find their babies amidst 70 others that all look identical.
We reintroduced Flamingos onto Necker in 1996, and now have the largest colony in the British Virgin Islands. The Flamingos are part of a much wider reintroduction campaign that we are conducting for the British Virgin Islands. We have also carefully reintroduced other species that had died out some years ago in the BVI. From a flock of 350, we now have one of the biggest flocks in the Caribbean. It’s fantastic to see such a stunning bird thriving in the region.
Necker animals - Crested Anole
Necker animals - first Flamingo egg of the season
Necker animals - White-Cheeked Pintail
Necker animals - Esio Trot the tortoise
Photos by Charlie Smith
By Richard Branson. Founder of Virgin Group
