Unfortunately, the organization said, none of the eggs are viable, so no new Andean flamingos will emerge from this batch.

In a bit of human meddling, caretakers decided to get the Andean birds into parenting mode: They took a few eggs from Chilean flamingos, "near relatives," and planted them among the Andean birds, who became foster parents to new chicks, the reserve said.

A spokesman for the organization said that the Andean flamingos were some of the oldest at Slimbridge, which describes itself as the only such reserve where all six flamingo species roam.

A few flamingos arrived in the 1960s, according to the reserve, and some of them have been there longer than staff members. The Andean flock last bred successfully in 1999, the reserve said.

Both the Andean and Chilean flamingos are considered at risk of extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The Chilean birds are described as "near threatened" because of egg-harvesting, hunting, disturbance and the loss of habitat, while the Andean ones are called "vulnerable" because of past exploitation that shrank their population.

The heat wave broke in other parts of Europe, meanwhile, unleashing torrents of rain that caused flash flooding in France. Officials used helicopters to rescue about 1,600 people, mostly campers, in three regions in Southern France, Interior Minister Gérard Collomb said, according to The Associated Press.

In Switzerland, footage emerged this past week of a mudslide hitting the village of Grugnay in the municipality of Chamoson, as witnesses scrambled to safety.

No injuries were reported after the mudslide, which local news outlets said had begun after storms caused a river to burst its banks.