Flamingos are elegant-looking birds, with long legs and neck, found usually in low-lying waters in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America. Having striking pink, red, orange and sometimes white coloured feathers, they tend to stay in large flocks, of hundreds and even thousands.
There are six recognised species of flamingo, with the greater flamingo being the largest, 60 inches tall, and the lesser flamingo is both the smallest and the most common one. The Caribbean flamingo is almost as large as the greater flamingo and boasts the brightest pink coloration of all the species.
Flamingos are found is alkaline or salt water courses which may be either coastal or inland. Their long legs and neck are ideal for wading and feeding in such water courses. They are elegant swimmers and can survive in hot as well as cold temperatures.
What makes these birds unique and an object of fascination is their ability to stand on just one leg and to hide the other leg inside the feathers. There are many theories about this, with the most commonly agreed one being that they do it to save energy and body heat. As their legs are so long, making up most of the bird’s height, it must take a lot of energy to pump blood through both legs, putting strain on its heart. So it pulls up one leg to rest and some believed that they can even go to sleep standing on one leg!
The length of the birds is between 3.3 to 4.6 feet, depending on the species, they weigh up to 3 to 9 pounds and the wingspan measures about 152cm (60in). The average flamingo lifespan is about 25 to 30 years in the wild, and in captivity they can live up to 50 years.
The colour for a flamingo’s feathers depends on what it eats. They eat algae and crustaceans that contain pigments called carotenoids. Flamingos that eat mostly algae are more deeply coloured than birds that eat the small animals that feed on the algae. Captive flamingos are fed a special diet that includes prawns or additives such as beta-carotene or canthaxanthin, otherwise they would be white or pale pink.
Flamingos are one of the most social of birds, not only living in large groups but also interacting well with the other creatures found in their habitat. They don’t have too many enemies, this could also be because their group, or flock as it is called, can be of hundreds and thousands of flamingos at a time, so who would dare attack them?
They feed by sticking their heads in the water upside down and suck mud and water in through the front of their beak. The top and bottom of the beak have bristles that intertwine when they meet, forming a comb-like filtering mechanism. The water and mud flow through, getting pumped out of the sides of the beak and usually algae and small crustaceans are left for the birds to happily swallow and eat.
Flight speed of a flock of flamingos can reach 50 to 60kph (31-37mph) but are known to fly 500 to 600km (311-373 m) each night when going from one habitat to another.
Unlike most birds, flamingos cannot just take off from the ground and start flying and this is the reason why they don’t fly too frequently. To take off, a flamingo runs several steps, begins flapping its wings and lifts off into the air. When landing, the procedure is reversed, the bird touches down and then runs several paces before coming to a stop. It flies with its head and neck stretched out in front and its legs trailing behind.
Isn’t their method of flying so much like our modern aeroplanes that first taxi on the runway before take off and touch down on their tyres before slowly coming to a stop? — Compiled by A.F.