These flamingos are being restored to become gay emblems in music festival

Taxidermists in Australia are restoring the country's last two flamingos.Known as Chile and Greater, the flamingos will be displayed by the South Australian Museum.

The flamingoes, that were both males, are being resurrected as gay emblems for the Feast festival in South Australia. They had died in 2018 and 2014 respectively.

''It is wonderful that their stories and that of their species can continue to be told,'' said Adelaide Zoo director Phil Ainsley.

''Current biosecurity rules mean we can’t import flamingos anymore so for some visitors this could be the only chance to ever get up close to these birds,'' he added.

Greater had been at the zoo since the 1930s and is one of the oldest flamingos in the world.

Two 17-year-old boys had beaten it up and were charged with ill-treatment of an animal and faced a penalty of four years in jail.

Flamingoes, that feed on crustaceans, get their color from salt lakes. Ice Age marked the end of wild flamingoes in Australia.

After this age, they were only bred in zoos. With less water and increased concentration ratio in the water, flaminglets that were unable to fly usually die.

They are also suffering as a result of climate change and agricultural irrigation methods.

''The world and Australia got exceedingly dry because all the water was locked up in ice,'' said Flinders University vertebrate palaeontologist Trevor Worthy.

''The lakes dried out altogether, all at the same time all across Australia, so there was nowhere for them to go. Too many lakes dried out simultaneously … they were stuffed.''

They disappeared over 25,000 years ago as per the fossilised footprints and bones in creek discovered by scientists.