pink gracious

 FLAMINGO 


"only the gentle are ever really strong"
- James Dean



When you think about a flamingo the first thing that comes to your mind is the color pink, but flamingos are born white (so they get that pink color as they grow up?). No, they get that pink color because they eat a lot of brine shrimp and algae (huh?), Carotenoids give carrots their orange color or turn ripe tomatoes red. They are also found in the microscopic algae that brine shrimp eat. As a flamingo dines on algae and brine shrimp, this makes their feathers pink. There are so many things about this animal that are weird.

Flamingos are filter feeders. It is a form of food procurement in which food particles or small organisms are randomly strained from water. You would usually see this in whales and marine animals. A flamingo will place its head upside down in the water with its bill pointed at its feet. It then sweeps its head side-to-side, using its tongue to pump water in and out of its bill. Comb-like plates along the edge of the bill to create a filter for water to rush out while trapping food inside. 

When you hear about a bird's nest, you would think of a bowl-shaped thing made of twigs. Flamingos use mud instead. They lay only one egg, so need the nest big enough to accommodate one egg and incubate it. The male and the female both incubate the egg. The chicks have straight bills (beaks), which change as they grow up. Flamingos produce milk in a part of their throat to feed the young one. Both the male and the female can produce this milk. There are a total of 6 species of flamingos in the world. The saying ‘having strength in numbers’ is highly applicable to flamingos. Flamingos form large colonies to breed and lay eggs. They all lay eggs at the same time so that the chicks can hatch and grow up together. A group of flamingos is called a flamboyance.

                                   

Flamingos have pretty weird knees, if u see, you might think that the joint in their legs is the knee (it’s not?) and it bends backwards, that joint is actually the ankle. Their knees are high up, which is hidden by the feathers. Flamingos sleep while standing on one leg. They balance themselves really well. Flamingo population is in the least concern category in the conservation status. Their population is increasing. 


citations: 

http://surl.li/cakxg


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