Today's News: April 14, 2020

World News
China is heading for ‘worst financial crash in 60 years’ with its economy tanking 10% due to coronavirus
Daily Mail – China‘s economy is predicted to suffer its worse crash for 60 years with a shrink of nearly 10 per cent due to the coronavirus lockdown.
Compared to the previous three months, China’s economy is forecast to be almost 10 per cent down and could see a 6 per cent drop on last year.
Financial data released this week shows analysts expect China’s first-quarter GDP to suffer due to the economic shutdown caused by the pandemic, which began in Wuhan and was first reported at the end of December.
A global slowdown has also led to a collapse in the oil price, exacerbated by a row between Opec and Russia.
A deal was agreed on Friday to cut supply by a record 10 million barrels a day, but it remains to be seen if this will lift the price.
Britain’s supply chain of food and medicine could grind to a halt after nearly HALF of lorries are taken off road as hauliers struggle to stay afloat
Daily Mail – Britain’s vital supply chain could grind to a halt as nearly half of the country’s lorries have been taken off the road since the coronavirus crisis began, an industry body has warned.
The lorries are transporting essential goods such as food and medicine up and down Britain as the country continues to battle the pandemic.
Britain’s spiralling death toll hit 10,000 today with 737 new fatalities.
The Road Haulage Association warned it is reaching crisis point with many transport firms are on the brink of collapse.
If they go under, the UK’s fleet of lorries which deliver essentials will stand idle.
Multiple shops and factories rely on hundreds of small independent hauliers to ferry goods to them from distribution centres and ports.
But 46 per cent of the trucks have been taken off the road since the crisis began, an RHA survey found.
The main income for many independent hauliers is transporting equipment for large concerts and events, all of which have been cancelled due to coronavirus.
Others have been hit by a lack of international imports after airports all but closed down due to the crisis.
Richard Burnett, RHA chief executive, warned many firms are in danger of going out of business permanently.
Russia develops world’s DEADLIEST sniper rife: £30,000 ‘game-changer’ gun can hit targets TWO MILES away
Daily Mail – A Russian weapon which claims to be the world’s most deadly sniper rifle is being hailed as a ‘game-changer’.
The Lobaev Arms SVLK-14S is able to kill from a distance of nearly two miles.
The weapon costs £30,000 and weighs 10kg and fires one round at a time due to its single-shot bolt action.
The weapon is said to be accurate up to 3,000m, according to The Mirror, double the effective range of the L115A3, the sniper rifle used by the British Army which is accurate up to 1,500m.
Yuri Sinichkin, chief engineer of the company which produces it, said: ‘This weapon was made piece by piece, just like a Ferrari or Porsche, for people who appreciate high-precision guns as well as for professional snipers.’
It fires a 408-inch Cheyenne Tactical round at 900m per second from the barrel, almost triple the speed of sound.
Sweden and Brazil Kept Their Economies Open and Their COVID-19 Numbers Are No Worse than US
Health & Money News – While the US shuts down all commerce for weeks and destroys the economy, other countries like Sweden and Brazil are doing the opposite and allowing the China coronavirus to run its course.
Data indicates there no material differences in fatalities between the three countries leading the casual observer to question why is the US killing its economy?
The US continues to prevent nearly all commerce from occurring to combat the China coronavirus. Many other countries are following suit. But some countries like Sweden and Brazil are keeping their countries open for business.
Data shows that the fatalities related to the coronavirus in these countries are very similar to those in the US.
Turkey to free one-third of its prisoners to curb coronavirus
Al Jazeera – A bill passed by Turkey’s parliament will see 45,000 prisoners temporarily released to limit the spread of COVID-19.
China approves two coronavirus vaccines for human trials
Al Jazeera – China has approved early-stage human tests for two experimental coronavirus vaccines as it battles to contain imported cases and prevent a second wave of COVID-19.
The experimental vaccines are being developed by a Beijing-based unit of Sinovac Biotech and by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, an affiliate of state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group, state news agency Xinhua reported on Tuesday.
Doctor fears new coronavirus strain emerging after ‘survivors test positive again’
Reports from South Korea say 116 people who were said to have recovered from Covid-19 have tested positive again
The Sun – A doctor has expressed fears that a new coronavirus strain is emerging after reports surfaced from South Korea that recovered patients have tested positive again for Covid-19.
Officials from the country said at least 116 people who initially recovered from the infection tested positive for the killer disease days later.
The unnerving news was the topic of conversation on Fox News yesterday, who spoke to medical contributor Dr Janette Nesheiwat.
“There could be several different things going on here,” she said.
“It could be that it was a ‘false negative’ (when they were told they had recovered from the virus).
“Maybe when whoever was conducting the nasal swab, for example, they didn’t get enough specimen which means they will get a ‘false negative’.”
“The other thing is that, sadly, it may never have exited the body in the first place.
“And then, finally, I hope this isn’t the case but could it be another strain that is emerging?
“The good thing is that I’m not seeing it I’m not seeing it in a lot of my patients.”
While it may sound scary having a “new strain” of the disease, it is not wholly unusual.
Scientists have already found three variations of coronavirus across the world since its outbreak in Wuhan, China.
The World Health Organisation has said it is looking into reports of the patients testing positive again.
“We are closely liaising with our clinical experts and working hard to get more information on those individual cases,” they said in a brief statement.
“It is important to make sure that when samples are collected for testing on suspected patients, procedures are followed properly.”
U.S. News, Politics & Government
AG Barr On Bill Gates Wanting ‘Digital’ Vaccine ‘Certificates’: I’m ‘Very Concerned About’ Slippery Slope
Daily Wire – Attorney General William Barr told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Wednesday night that he was “very concerned” about billionaire Bill Gates’ apparent desire to have “digital certificates” to show if people have been vaccinated against viruses.
“Bill Gates, the Gates Foundation are in favor of developing digital certificates that would certify that individuals, American citizens, have an immunity to this virus and potentially other viruses going forward to then facilitate travel and work and so forth,” Ingraham said. “What are your thoughts from a civil libertarian point of view about these types of – what some would say tracking mechanisms that would be adopted going forward to reopen our broader economy?”
“Yeah, I’m very concerned about the slippery slope in terms of continuing encroachments on personal liberty,” Barr responded. “I do think during the emergency, appropriate, reasonable steps are fine.”
“But a digital certificate to show who has recovered or been tested recently or when we have a vaccine who has – of people who’ve received it,” Ingraham continued. “That’s his answer in a Reddit ask me anything. They had a little forum.”
Barr answered, “Yeah, I’d be a little concerned about that, the tracking of people and so forth, generally, especially going forward over a long period of time.”
DOJ: ‘Expect action’ on government regulation of religious services amid COVID-19 outbreak
Fox – The Justice Department (DOJ) may take action next week against local governments that have cracked down on religious services as widespread parts of the country are shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, a DOJ spokesperson said Saturday.
“While social distancing policies are appropriate during this emergency, they must be applied evenhandedly [and] not single out religious [organizations],” DOJ Director of Communications Kerri Kupec tweeted.
She said the Attorney General William Barr is “monitoring” such regulations.
The DOJ move would come as some churches are standing up to city governments that have blocked them from holding in-person services during the outbreak — even in “drive-in” formats that keep people separated and in their own cars.
A judge in Louisville, Ky., on Saturday issued a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of Mayor Greg Fischer’s ban on drive-in church services there.
“The Mayor’s decision is stunning,” District Judge Justin Walker, a former clerk to Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, wrote in a memorandum to the order. “And it is, ‘beyond all reason,’ unconstitutional.”
Freedom of religion is the first of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” its text begins.
Separately, in Greenville, Miss., two churches have said that police came to their drive-in services and threatened to fine worshipers.
“Churches are strongly encouraged to hold services via Facebook Live, Zoom, Free Conference Call, and any and all other social media, streaming and telephonic platforms,” Mayor Errick Simmons’ office said in an April 7 press release announcing a ban on in-person and drive-in church services.
Attorneys with the Alliance Defending Freedom have filed a lawsuit challenging that order on behalf of the Temple Baptist Church in Greenville.
Kelly Shackelford, president of the First Liberty Institute, argued in an appearance on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Friday that the city’s order “is just massively unconstitutional.”
“It targets churches in a way that it targets no other group,” he said. “Cars in parking lots are fine. It’s only a crime if the cars in the parking lot are at the church parking lot.”
Due to pandemic, Supreme Court will allow live audio broadcast for first time
LA Times – Responding to the coronavirus outbreak, the Supreme Court said Monday it would hear oral arguments next month over the telephone and allow a live audio broadcast of the proceeding, both for the first time.
The announcement clears the way for the justices to decide by the summer whether President Donald Trump has an “absolute immunity” from being forced to disclose his taxes to a House committee or a New York grand jury.
Economy & Business
Govt to own 3% of AMERICAN AIRLINES
Reuters – Some large U.S. passenger airlines are close to accepting the terms of a $25 billion offer for government coronavirus payroll aid, with announcements possible as early as Tuesday, people briefed on the matter said.
Airline industry officials expect all major airlines to accept the grants in coming days, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Monday he expects decisions to come out “very quickly.”
The U.S. government would also receive warrants equal to 10% of the loan amount.
“We’ve attempted to come up with an equitable methodology that works for all passenger air carriers, and we don’t want to engage in individual negotiations that would require us to make changes across the carriers,” he said.
Global economy likely to suffer its worst recession since the Great Depression
RT – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday has dramatically downgraded its outlook on the global economic growth, projecting a sharp contraction for this year amid “exceptionally high” uncertainty.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is inflicting high and rising human costs worldwide, and the necessary protection measures are severely impacting economic activity. As a result of the pandemic, the global economy is projected to contract sharply by 3 percent in 2020, much worse than during the 2008–09 financial crisis,” said the IMF.
In January, the IMF had forecast that the global economy would expand 3.3 percent this year and 3.4 percent in 2021.
“It is very likely that this year the global economy will experience its worst recession since the Great Depression, surpassing that seen during the global financial crisis a decade ago,” said IMF’s chief economist Gita Gopinath.
Trump’s grand reopening council triggers a slew of new questions
The president is establishing numerous committees to solicit feedback from businesses as he pushes to reopen the U.S. economy in the coming weeks.
Politico – A day before President Donald Trump promised to unveil his latest task force — one devoted to reopening the economy as soon as possible — the White House was still scrambling to fortify its membership, identify its leadership and even outline the precise purpose of the group.
Trump had promoted his “Opening Our Country Council” as a teleconference-based task force that will include “great business leaders” and “great doctors” advising on how to restart the economy from its coronavirus shutdown.
By Monday afternoon, the White House still had not articulated who within the administration would lead the group and how it would differ from existing infrastructure such as the National Economic Council, which coordinates economic policy across the administration. Officials were assessing how the body could even include outside executives or doctors because that could run afoul of federal rules about engaging private-sector interests in critical government discussions. Business groups were also wary of publicly aligning themselves with the White House during a controversial crisis.
Even the exact mission seemed unclear.
“I don’t know if this is a dual mission that includes the logistics of opening up the government like when, where and how. Those decisions are way beyond the pay grade of economists,” said Stephen Moore, an informal economic adviser to the White House dating back to the 2016 campaign. “Or, if the council will have the other mission of figuring out what policies you put in place to get th
The new economic council will be forced to grapple with daunting challenges as the White House tries to determine how to safely advise Americans to return to work and schools without further spreading the coronavirus — without any vaccine or enough testing for every American. Much of the work on figuring out the logistics of reopening the economy has instead fallen to governors and private businesses.
For now, the council is expected to include White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Vice President Mike Pence, who is not expected to play a leading role. The former head of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, Kevin Hassett, who is now advising the White House on economic issues, is also expected to participate in the discussions.
Trump said Monday night that neither of his family members serving in top White House roles, son-in-law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka Trump, would be part of the new economic council.
The roster of potential names has changed repeatedly over the past week, and Trump allies and advisers have floated their own recommendations publicly. Fox News personality Sean Hannity nudged the White House on air to appoint Art Laffer, the supply-side economist close to Trump, while other advisers have urged officials to include Stephen Schwarzman, the chairman and CEO of Blackstone who has his own relationship with the president.
Governors on East and West coasts form pacts to decide when to reopen economies
CNN – States on the country’s East and West coasts are forming their own regional pacts to work together on how to reopen from the stay-at-home orders each has issued to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The first such group to be announced came Monday on the East Coast. Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said his state, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Rhode Island and Massachusetts each plan to name a public health and economic official to a regional working group. The chief of staff of the governor of each state also will be a part of the group, which will begin work immediately to design a reopening plan.
Later on Monday, the West Coast states of California, Washington and Oregon also announced they are joining forces in a plan to begin incremental release of stay-at-home orders. Governors of the three states will collaborate on their approach to getting back to business in “in a safe, strategic, responsible way,” as announced by California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The announcements by the West and East coast governors on Monday appeared to be an effort to preempt pronouncements coming from the President, who has said he will likely introduce his “Opening the Country” economic task force during his briefing on Tuesday. Governors on both costs hammered the notion that their decisions will be driven by facts, science and public health professionals, not politics.
U.S. Food Supply Chain Is Strained as Virus Spreads
Disruptions are expected in the production and distribution of products like pork, and localized shortages could occur.
NYT – The nation’s food supply chain is showing signs of strain, as increasing numbers of workers are falling ill with the coronavirus in meat processing plants, warehouses and grocery stores.
The spread of the virus through the food and grocery industry is expected to cause disruptions in production and distribution of certain products like pork, industry executives, labor unions and analysts have warned in recent days. The issues follow nearly a month of stockpiling of food and other essentials by panicked shoppers that have tested supply networks as never before.
Industry leaders and observers acknowledge the shortages could increase, but they insist it is more of an inconvenience than a major problem. People will have enough to eat; they just may not have the usual variety. The food supply remains robust, they say, with hundreds of millions of pounds of meat in cold storage. There is no evidence that the coronavirus can be transmitted through food or its packaging, according to the Department of Agriculture.
Still, the illnesses have the potential to cause shortages lasting weeks for a few products, creating further anxiety for Americans already shaken by how difficult it can be to find high-demand staples like flour and eggs.
In one of the most significant signs of pressure since the pandemic began, Smithfield Foods became the latest company to announce a shutdown, announcing Sunday that it would close its processing plant in Sioux Falls, S.D., after 230 workers became ill with the virus. The plant produces more than 5 percent of the nation’s pork.
Private island for super rich buys thousands of tests
Miami Herald – Fisher Island — an exclusive enclave of multimillion-dollar condos and homes and one of the wealthiest ZIP codes in the country — has purchased thousands of rapid COVID-19 blood test kits from the University of Miami Health System for all of its residents and workers.
The private island, set along Government Cut and nestled between Miami and Miami Beach and accessible only by boat or helicopter, worked out a deal with UHealth to make the tests available to the 800 or so families that live there, and all the workers who maintain the property and patrol its streets.
The purchase and availability of the testing are in sharp contrast to much of the rest of the state, where only about 1 percent of the population has been tested for the deadly virus that has caused a global pandemic. Most people who want a test have to meet certain criteria during a screening. Then an appointment must be set up, which generally means a lengthy wait in line. Those without vehicles can’t even access drive-thru testing sites.
Energy & Environment
In Groundbreaking Vote for Sustainability, EU Moves to Approve Insects for Human Consumption
Good News Network – As famed adventure television host, world record holder, former British Special Forces operator, and all around feel-good motivational guy Bear Grylls repeatedly reminded us on his television programs Man vs Wild and Running Wild, insects have more protein than beef or fish—sometimes as much as 8x more, if measured pound for pound.
After a long television career of pounding back worms, grubs, spiders, crickets, and ants for our amusement, Grylls would certainly be applauding the new proposed European Union legislation that would allow for mealworms, lesser mealworms, crickets, and locusts to be sold as “novel food sources,” pumping life into an industry that, while small, produces 500 tons of food annually according to The Guardian.
The products include things like cricket protein bars, locust aperitif, or mealworm burgers, and the new regulations from the European Food Safety Authority are likely to open the floodgates for insect food to flow from countries where they are made like Holland, the UK, Denmark, Belgium, and Finland, into countries where they are banned, such as Italy, France, and Spain.
Science & Technology
Metal Surfaces Can Now Be Instant Bacteria Killers, Thanks to New Laser Treatment Technique
Good News Network – Bacterial pathogens can live on surfaces for days—but what if frequently touched surfaces such as doorknobs could instantly kill them off?
Purdue University engineers have created a laser treatment method that could potentially turn any metal surface into a rapid bacteria killer—just by giving the metal’s surface a different texture.
In a study published in the journal Advanced Materials Interfaces, the researchers demonstrated that this technique allows the surface of copper to immediately kill off superbugs such as MRSA.
“Copper has been used as an antimicrobial material for centuries. But it typically takes hours for native copper surfaces to kill off bacteria,” said Rahim Rahimi, a Purdue assistant professor of materials engineering.
“We developed a one-step laser-texturing technique that effectively enhances the bacteria-killing properties of copper’s surface.”
The technique is not yet tailored to killing viruses such as the one responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, which are much smaller than bacteria.
Strange interstellar object could be a shard from a dead planet
‘Oumuamua, the first object known to have come into our solar system from beyond it, might have gotten its oblong shape when a planet was shredded by a faraway star.
National Geographic – An unusual visitor cruised through the solar system in late 2017—a small, rocky object that did not hail from Earth’s neighbourhood, but was born in a star system far, far away.
The interstellar visitor—named ‘Oumuamua by the team that discovered it, which roughly translates from Hawaiian as “a messenger from afar arriving first”—posed more than a few puzzles. First spotted by the Pan-STARRS project at the Haleakalā Observatory in Maui, the tumbling object accelerated in ways that could not be explained by gravity alone. And based on the light it reflected, ‘Oumuamua appeared to be an elongated, cigar-shaped object—a shape unlike anything seen in our own solar system.
New computer simulations reveal a possible origin story for this strange interstellar object: A world was ripped to pieces by its home star, leaving behind a wake of long, thin fragments. Some of these fragments would have been launched into interstellar space, and millions—perhaps billions—of years later, ‘Oumuamua reached our solar system. The simulations point to three possible types of home systems for ‘Oumuamua, and the work explains both the elongated shape and curious motion of the interstellar visitor.
“’Oumuamua provides a lot of problems to explain its origin,” says Yun Zhang, a researcher at the Côte d’Azur Observatory in France and lead author of a study on the simulations published today in Nature Astronomy. “Before our study, no solution can produce such an elongated shape.”
A mystery from beyond
Astronomers have always suspected that interstellar objects were traipsing through our solar system—it was just a matter of time until we spotted one. But they guessed those objects would look more like the recently discovered interstellar comet Borisov. A disintegrating world with an icy halo, Borisov looks like the frozen objects of the outer solar system.
“With Borisov, we get exactly what we expect an interstellar visitor would act like and do. Everything about it is completely ordinary,” says Greg Laughlin, a professor of astronomy at Yale University. “And that’s a startling contrast with ‘Oumuamua, where literally nothing about ‘Oumuamua was ordinary.”
Instead of icy and comet-like, ‘Oumuamua was rocky and dry, more like an asteroid. It was too tiny and dim to observe the surface directly, so astronomers inferred its shape based on how it reflected light as it tumbled. Its strange, elongated form immediately provoked speculation about its origins, and as astronomers continued to observe ‘Oumuamua’s passage, they noticed curious accelerations that were ascribed to water vapour erupting from beneath its surface.
Health
Killer Enterprise: One of Big Pharma’s Most Corrupt Companies Plans to Corner the Covid Cure Market
Truth to Power – Emergent’s history of corruption and profiteering has in no way prevented them from cashing in on the Covid-19 global health crisis. On March 10, Emergent announced a partnership with Novavax to produce a Covid-19 vaccine, a vaccine also backed by the Bill Gates-backed Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). CEPI had previously partnered with Emergent Biosolutions, giving them over $60 million in 2018. Emergent further expanded its partnership with NovaVax on March 31.
Just 8 days after partnering with Novavax, Emergent partnered with yet another producer of a Covid-19 vaccine candidate, VaxArt. Unlike the Emergent-Novavax vaccine, the vaccine candidate co-produced with VaxArt will be oral and in pill form, “offer[ing] enormous logistical advantages in the roll-out of a large vaccination campaign,” according to VaxArt CEO Wouter Latoud.
While backing two of the most prominent vaccine candidates for Covid-19 gives Emergent an advantage in terms of profiting from whatever vaccines end up being approved for use by the government, Emergent’s star has risen during the current Coronavirus crisis largely thanks to its two experimental blood plasma treatments.
Announced just one day after their Novavax vaccine partnership, Emergent’s first experimental blood plasma treatment involves pooling and concentrating blood plasma from recovered Covid-19 patients, while the second uses plasma taken from horses that have been injected with parts of the virus. These treatments were slated to begin clinical trials later this year, but have been greatly aided by HHS’ BARDA, which falls under the authority of Robert Kadlec. These treatments are now expected to begin Phase II trials by late summer.
On April 3, BARDA awarded Emergent Biosolutions $14.5 million for the development of its blood plasma treatment. Though the sum is smaller than other contracts Emergent has received from BARDA in the past, the partnership allows Emergent to overcome its greatest obstacle in developing this product, a massive supply of blood plasma from recovered Covid-19 patients. Thanks to their partnership with BARDA, Emergent will gain access to blood donations made by recovered Covid-19 to public blood centers.
Emergent’s Dr. Lisa Saward confirmed this in a recent interview with TechCrunch, stating “we are overcoming [the lack of “source material” i.e. blood plasma] with the help of partnerships like that of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority within Health and Human Services, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases announced earlier this week.”
However, Emergent’s use of donated plasma to develop its product may prove controversial, since the plasma donated by recovered Covid-19 patients is currently being used as a treatment for seriously ill Covid-19 patients. The use of plasma to treat critical patients began late last month after New York’s state government first authorized its use in such cases, followed by the FDA’s offer to approve its use for critical Covid-19 patients nationwide on a case-by-case basis. Yet, thanks to the BARDA and Emergent partnership, a significant amount of that plasma will instead go towards helping Emergent corner yet another key market.
Foods That Reduce Risk of Dementia
Newsmax – Eating a Mediterranean diet that’s high in vegetables, whole grains and fish could reduce your risk of mental decline, two studies from the U.S. National Eye Institute (NEI) suggest.
“We do not always pay attention to our diets. We need to explore how nutrition affects the brain and the eye,” lead author Dr. Emily Chew said in an NEI news release. She is director of the institute’s division of epidemiology and clinical applications.
A Mediterranean diet also features lower consumption of red meat and alcohol.
Those who most closely followed the Mediterranean diet had the lowest risk of mental impairment.
Although the study can’t prove a direct cause-and-effect relationship, high levels of fish and vegetable consumption appeared to provide the greatest protection. At 10 years, those in AREDS2 who ate the most fish had the slowest rate of mental decline.
The researchers also found that people with the APOE gene — which puts them at higher risk for Alzheimer’s disease — on average had lower cognitive function scores and greater mental decline than those without the gene.
The benefits of closely following a Mediterranean diet were similar for people with and without the APOE gene. This means the effects of diet on mental function are independent of genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease, according to the researchers.
Flamingos form friendships that last for years… Avoid certain individuals
Phys.org – Flamingos form friendships that last for years, new research shows.
The five-year study reveals that, despite being highly social as part of large flocks, flamingos consistently spend time with specific close “friends”.
They also avoid certain individuals, suggesting some flamingos just don’t get on.
The University of Exeter study examined four flamingo species at WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre, and found social bonds including “married” couples, same-sex friendships and even groups of three and four close friends.
“Our results indicate that flamingo societies are complex. They are formed of long-standing friendships rather than loose, random connections,” said Dr. Paul Rose, of the University of Exeter.
“Flamingos don’t simply find a mate and spend their time with that individual.
“Some mating couples spend much of their time together, but lots of other social bonds also exist.
“We see pairs of males or females choosing to ‘hang out’, we see trios and quartets that are regularly together.
“Flamingos have long lives—some of the birds in this study have been at Slimbridge since the 1960s—and our study shows their friendships are stable over a period of years.
“It seems that—like humans—flamingos form social bonds for a variety of reasons, and the fact they’re so long-lasting suggests they are important for survival in the wild.”
Dr. Rose said the findings could help in the management of captive flamingos.
“When moving birds from one zoo to another, we should be careful not to separate flamingos that are closely bonded to each other,” he said.