These days flamingos are everywhere. These animals managed somehow to become a fashion trend due to their unique appearance.
So, let’s find out more things about these lovely animals, that we love to see, and of course recreate on our clothes.
- Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of wading bird.
- They belong in the family Phoenicopteridae, the only bird family in the order Phoenicopteriformes.
- Four flamingo species are distributed throughout the Americas, including the Caribbean, and two species are native to Africa, Asia, and Europe.
- The name “flamingo” comes from Portuguese or Spanish flamengo, which means “flame-colored”.
- The first flamingo hatched in a European zoo was a Chilean flamingo at Zoo Basel in Switzerland in 1958.
- Since then, over 389 flamingos have grown up in Basel and been distributed to other zoos around the globe.
- Greater is an at least 83-year-old greater flamingo, and it is believed to be the oldest in the world.
- Greater died at the Adelaide Zoo in Australia in January 2014.
- Zoos have used mirrors to improve flamingo breeding behaviour.
- The mirrors are thought to give the flamingos the impression that they are in a larger flock than they actually are
- You can;t easily distinguish them though.
- Adult flamingos are four to five feet tal.
- They only weigh between four and eight pounds.
- Their body is the main reason why they can’t… fight!
- Flamingos tend to congregate in mudflats or lagoons, where they can find shallow saltwater prey.
- These habitats makes their predators’ lives difficult.
- Flamingos feed by stirring up mud with their feet.
- Then they reach down and scoop up a beakful of mud and water. Their beaks are designed to strain animals out of the mud, and the muddy water is expelled.
- Fun factL This happens as the flamingo’s head is upside-down.
- The American flamingo is the only flamingo species native to North America.
- Despite that facts it is rarely seen in the United States anymore.
- It is generally more brightly colored than the Greater flamingo that inhabits the coasts of Africa, Asia, and southern Europe.
- Tthe Greater flamingo is the most widespread species.
- The most numerous is the Lesser flamingo (Phoenicopterus minor) though.
- The color pink comes from beta-carotene in the crustaceans and plankton that flamingos eat.
- Zoo flamingos will turn white if their diet is not supplemented with live shrimp or flamingo chow containing carotenoid pigments.
- The feathers under their wings (flight feathers) are black.
- As flamingos are birds, they can fly.
- Flamingos flock in groups of up to several hundred birds.
- They also mate while being in a flock.
- However, different species and even different flocks will put a slightly different spin on their communal rituals.
- Flamingos are into gender equality. The male and female of a mating pair build a nest together.
- Also, both sit on the egg while it incubates for about a month.
- Some flamingos steal a nest from others.
- When a flamingo chick hatches, both parents take turns feeding it:.
- First with a special liquid baby food they produce in their throats called crop milk, then with regurgitated regular flamingo food as the chick ages.
- Flamingos are not endagered, but they are classified as “least concern”, because their number is unstable.
- Plastic lawn flamingos (Phoenicopterus plasticus) are an American cultural icon that was introduced in 1957 by artist Don Featherstone.
- In 2009, Madison, Wisconsin, named the plastic pink flamingo the city’s official bird.
- Apart from flying flamingos can swim, but they rarely choose to do it.
Got anything to add?