Why are flamingos pink? Detailed answer

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Why are flamingos pink? Detailed answer

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Did you know?

Why are flamingos pink?

Yes, because they eat a lot of blue-green algae.

True, flamingos also eat shrimp, but the color of the bird comes from algae. Despite their name, blue-green algae can be red, purple, brown, yellow, and even orange.

Flamingos got their name from their bright color. As well as the "fiery" flamenco dance, the name of this beautiful bird comes from the Latin flamma, which means "fire". The red and white flag of Peru is painted in honor of flamingos.

Flamingos come in four varieties. All of them are at least ten million years old, and were once found in Europe, Australia and America. Today, flamingos can be found in parts of Africa, India, South America and southern Europe. All flamingos are monogamous. They carry one egg a year, laying it on a mound of earth or silt. Both parents incubate the egg in turn, and both parents secrete bright red, highly nutritious "milk" from the throat, which is used to feed the chicks for the first two months. Flamingos are one of two "milking" bird species; the second are pigeons. In captivity, flamingos, even without being parents themselves, involuntarily produce milk if they hear the squeak of chicks nearby.

After the chicks leave the parental nest, they go to live in a spacious nursery. And although up to 30 birds can be in such places at the same time, young flamingos are fed only by their own parents, who recognize their offspring by their cry.

Flamingos eat with their necks arched so that the upper jaw is down. Unlike other birds, flamingos filter their food - just like whales and oysters do. The edges of their massive, downward-curved beaks are equipped with small horny plates that filter the disturbed soil, retaining only its edible part. The lesser flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor) has such a dense filter that it can trap plankton less than 0,05 mm in diameter. The flamingo's tongue works like a pump, pumping water through its beak four times per second.

Pliny the Elder recommended flamingo tongue as an excellent delicacy.

Flamingos sleep standing on one leg, and only one half of the body sleeps (like dolphins), while the other is always on the alert.

Flamingos live for fifty years. They live in lakes that are not suitable for the life of other animals, with a high content of salt and soda, where the water is undrinkable and nothing grows. Therefore, the main predators for flamingos are zookeepers.

Author: John Lloyd, John Mitchinson

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

Why are brass doorknobs better than steel?

Some metals, such as silver and copper, have an oligodynamic effect - their ions can kill bacteria and other microorganisms by denaturing proteins and destroying cells. That is why the use of vessels silvered from the inside for storing and transporting drinking water is more than justified. And doorknobs made of brass (an alloy of copper and zinc) self-clean fairly quickly even in high-traffic public places, while steel handles are items with one of the highest concentrations of bacteria.

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