A RESEARCHER has launched a bid to analyse friendships between flamingos at Slimbridge.

Paul Rose, a PhD student at the University of Exeter in the Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, has been working with the flamingos at Slimbridge Wetlands Centre for three years.

He is now embarking on a crowd-funding exercise to perform genetic analysis on the striking pink birds to see who is related to who within the flock.

Mr Rose said: “Flamingos are amazing birds. They have been around for millions of years and occur in incredibly hostile habitats where they live in flocks of up to a million or more.

“These huge flocks could be the foundation for special and important relationships between individual birds. As flamingos can live into their eighties, relationships that do exist between birds could be as important as the friendships that we form as humans.

“We know that our quality of life is enhanced by our relationships and friends – for a bird as long-lived as the flamingo, this could also be the case.”

Paul’s research uses social network analysis to evaluate the importance of stable relationships that contribute to the longevity, reproductive success and good welfare for individual animals in managed groups.

He is hoping to raise the necessary funds to carry out the genetic work, present his findings at a major conference in the subject and give some money to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust for their ongoing support for his work.

For more information or to pledge funds towards Paul’s project visit: https://hubbub.net/p/friendlyflamingos