Flamingo Population Near Riviera Maya on the Rise

Excerpts from "Long threatened, the fragile Mexican flamingo population is now soaring," by S. Lynne Walker at the Copley News Service:

Mexico's flamingo population is on the rise, rescued from the threat of extinction by a Yucatan-based environmental group.

In 1999, an estimated 26,000 flamingos lived on Yucatan's northern coast, and their numbers were falling. Less than a decade later, some 54,000 can be found in the salty lagoons, courting, mating and raising new generations.

Yucatan is home to Mesoamerica's only flamingo population living in the wild. Although flamingos can fly great distances, sometimes migrating as far as Florida's Everglades, they rarely leave Yucatan's warm, shallow inland waters. The fragile birds have struggled against predators, both human-made and natural.

Until the Mexican government declared two of Yucatan's flamingo feeding and nesting sites – Ria Lagartos and Ria Celestun – off limits in 1979, humans were their worst enemy. Maya Indians collected the birds' eggs to make a pastry known as flamingo bread. Hunters shot them and sold the meat for a handful of pesos.

Today, the stunning range of species in Ria Lagartos attracts visitors from around the world, bringing new sources of income to the impoverished Maya who live there. Flamingos were drawn to Yucatan because of inland waterways that some scientists believe were created when a huge meteor struck the peninsula about 65 million years ago and led to the extinction of dinosaurs.

More:
Riviera Maya Hotels
Airport Transportation
Tours & Activities