Pink flamingo animal9/27/2023 Master explained, “Their characteristic pink color derives from carotenoid pigments in their food, especially the shrimp, which are processed by their liver enzymes and incorporated into their feathers.”Ĭarotenoids are also found in many vegetables, like carrots, and they are responsible for the vegetable’s color. Flamingo feathers are naturally white.ĭr. The feathers of flamingos are not actually pink. They have tiny comb-like “teeth” that they use to filter the tiny shrimp and algae into their mouths, keeping out any muck from the water in which they feed. “Their beak structure is unusual and mimics that of a Baleen whale in function,” Dr. Flamingos eat so much shrimp and algae that, throughout evolution, the species has developed specialized beaks just for eating! Terry Master, ESU’s ornithologist, commented, “Many species nest in otherwise very inhospitable conditions in extremely salty and hot soda lakes in East Africa and high altitude salty lakes in South America.”įlamingos choose to make nests near water because of their food source, which consists mostly of blue-green algae and brine shrimp. Each species varies slightly in morphology, but all of them exhibit the infamous pink coloration, and each species lives near water.ĭr. There are six species of flamingo, which live in South America, Africa, and western India. Is there a tall, pink bird that comes to mind? The pink flamingo is this week’s “Animal of the Issue!”
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