Don’t let your eyes deceive you - a flamingo’s knees don’t bend backward!įlamingo legs actually bend just like human legs. There are more than 2 million lesser flamingos brightening skies and shores with their pink plumage. They are the smallest flamingos and the most abundant. Lesser flamingos are found in parts of Africa and southern Asia. Andean flamingos are the rarest of the six species, with fewer than 40,000 birds. They are the largest and tallest flamingo species.Ĭhilean, Andean, and James’s flamingos are found only in South America. Greater flamingos are found in parts of Africa, Asia, and Europe. In addition to Caribbean flamingos, there are lesser, greater, James’s (or Puna), Chilean and Andean flamingos. Comb-like plates along the edge of the bill create a filter for water to rush out, while trapping food inside. It then sweeps its head side-to-side, using its tongue to pump water in and out of its bill. When it’s time to eat, a flamingo will place its head upside down in the water with its bill pointed at its feet. They eat algae, small seeds, tiny crustaceans (like brine shrimp), fly larvae, and other plants and animals that live in shallow waters. The term filter feeder may conjure images of baleen whales or oyster reefs, but flamingos are filter feeders too. Flamingos are filter feeders and turn their heads “upside down” to eat. As a flamingo dines on algae and brine shrimp, its body metabolizes the pigments - turning its feathers pink. They are also found in the microscopic algae that brine shrimp eat. Carotenoids give carrots their orange color or turn ripe tomatoes red.
Many plants produce natural red, yellow or orange pigments, called carotenoids.
Flamingos get their pink color from their food.įlamingos really are what they eat.
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