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flamingo's two loving daddies

When a newly-hatched flamingo chick was abandoned by its mother and father, the search for surrogate parents did not take long.

Carlos and Fernando, the only gays in the bird sanctuary, were the automatic choice.

The pair have already brought up three chicks after snatching eggs from other (mixed) couples at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire.

This time they were to have one of their own.

For flamingoes, as for humans, bonding with baby is vital. The parent birds need to hear cheeping from within the egg then see the chick hatch.

So staff at the trust placed the abandoned youngster in a broken egg, taped it up and placed it in Carlos and Fernando's nest. Soon afterwards it emerged good as new.

Flamingos, although monogamous during breeding periods, usually find a different partner each year, making the enduring love of Carlos and Fernando all the more remarkable.

"They only have eyes for each other," said Nigel Jarrett,