It is difficult to imagine a more amazing and unusual bird than the flamingo. Plumage color different types can vary greatly from soft pink, orange to rich red. In addition, the bird's long legs and unusual curved beak attract attention. Flamingos are famous for their grace and sophisticated beauty. It deserves to learn in more detail about its habitats, breeding and feeding habits.
Description of graceful birds
The most common species is the common flamingo, or, as it is also called, the pink one. The bird belongs to the order Flamingidae. The description of flamingos should begin with the fact that this species is the largest. The bird resembles a creature from the Garden of Eden. Despite the fact that she can most often be seen walking along the shore of a reservoir, she is an excellent swimmer. The unusual color of flamingos is impossible not to notice. In adult males and females, the main plumage is pale pink, the wings are purplish-red, and the flight feathers are black. The skin on long and thin legs also has a pink undertone. The bird has a large beak, as if broken in the middle, with a black tip.
When describing flamingos, one cannot fail to mention that they are somewhat similar to storks, cranes, and herons. But they have no relationship with these birds. The closest relatives of flamingos are ordinary geese. Previously, they were even part of the order Anseriformes. On average, a flamingo weighs several kilograms and has webbing between its front toes.
The appearance of the pink flamingo can be safely called exotic, due to the unique shade of its plumage. The birds hold their necks gracefully and gracefully, looking like a question mark. Very often you can see how these representatives of birds stand on one leg. In order not to freeze, they alternately tuck and hide one leg in their plumage. This situation seems difficult and inconvenient to people, but for them it is very simple.
The pink flamingo has small red rings and a frenulum “painted” around its eyes. The body is round, the tail is short. The bird is quite large, the body length is 120-130 cm. Adults can reach a weight of 4 kg. Each paw has four toes and three connecting membranes.
Why are flamingos so beautiful, what determines the pink color of their plumage? These birds have this coloring due to lipochromes (fatty pigments or carotenes) that they receive from food. Flamingos eat red crustaceans, which are high in carotene. Food is obtained by filtering water and mud using its beak. In zoos, these birds are just as beautiful because carotene-rich foods are specially added to their food: carrots, bell peppers, and shellfish.
Flamingo habitats
Common flamingos can be found in different parts of the world. Many people are eager to find out where flamingos live. They can be found in Africa and southwest Asia. This bird also lives in southern Europe - in France, Sardinia, and Spain. Places where flamingos live always attract tourists.
Birds can also be found in African countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritania, Kenya, and the Cape Verde Islands. They also live in the south of Afghanistan, northwest India, and Sri Lanka. These birds also show off on several lakes in Kazakhstan.
Where do flamingos live in Russia? It is important to note that birds do not nest on the territory of the Russian Federation, but only sometimes migrate along the mouths of southern rivers. So, they can sometimes be seen on the Volga and next to other flowing reservoirs of the Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories. Sometimes they fly to Siberia, Yakutia, Primorye, and the Urals, but only in the warm season. They go to Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Iran for the winter.
Flamingos are social birds; they live in colonies of varying numbers. For flights, they gather in flocks, and already on the ground they form groups. Their favorite habitats are salt lakes, sea lagoons, estuaries, and shallow waters. Most often they roam in large groups in places with muddy bottoms. Some pink flamingo colonies number hundreds of thousands of individuals.
These are sedentary birds; they roam only to find places for favorable living with sufficient food. Flights are made only by representatives of northern populations.
Habitat conditions for flamingos different countries are different. Birds are quite hardy. Their favorite places are salty and alkaline lakes, where there are many crustaceans. Such reservoirs are usually located in the mountains. Birds stand in salt water all day long and do not feel discomfort due to the thick skin on their legs. To quench their thirst, they sometimes fly to springs with fresh water. Flamingos sleep standing in the water.
Nutrition
You already know where the flamingo lives, but what does this bird eat? The article has already mentioned small mollusks. Small crustaceans form the basis of the diet. Flamingos also eat worm larvae, insects, mollusks, and algae. Birds look for all this in shallow water in a thick layer of silt. The beak of these birds has a specific structure; along its edges there are filters that look like small plate-like combs. It plays the role of a kind of sieve. The flamingo keeps its beak in the upper layers of water, where there is a lot of plankton. The bird first draws water into it, then closes it and releases liquid through the beak, and swallows the food. This process goes very quickly.
Reproduction
The pink flamingo is a monogamous species that forms pairs that last a lifetime. There are exceptions where some individuals seek a new partner for each mating season. To hatch chicks, they build nests, which are located in large clusters, very close to each other.
Individuals older than three years are considered sexually mature. However, older birds (5-6 years old) are engaged in building nests. Several months before nesting, pairs engage in mating games. Both males and females take part in peculiar dances. This is an amazingly beautiful sight. Large groups of birds move in unison with necks straight and heads raised, which are constantly turned from side to side. When choosing a partner, plumage color plays an important role. The decision remains with the female; she chooses the male. The intensity of the color indicates the bird’s health and good appetite. The brighter it is, the more likely males are to be chosen by a female.
Those couples who took place earlier do not take part in the dances. Migratory birds perform mating displays in resting areas. As soon as they fly to the nesting sites, they immediately begin building nests. They do this for two weeks.
How do flamingos build nests?
The process of building nests is unique and labor-intensive. To reproduce, flamingos build cone-shaped structures from silt and clay in shallow water, resembling small mounds about 60 cm high. Both the female and the male are involved in the construction. They do not lay many eggs; most often there are 2-3 eggs in a clutch. Parents take turns incubating the chicks for thirty days. The chicks hatch completely independent and active. Within a few days they become full members of the colony.
Parents feed the chick with special bird milk, which is formed in the upper part of the esophagus. This milk is also pink in color. It is produced not only by females, but also by males. The hatched chicks are covered with white down, which turns gray over time. First, the cubs end up in a kind of kindergarten, which even has teachers. Parents are busy searching for food at this time. Such nurseries can house up to 200 cubs. Parents recognize their babies by their voice. The cubs begin to feed on their own after two months, when the beak grows. At three months, young flamingos are already similar in appearance to adult birds.
Flamingo species
Five species are currently known. Red flamingos live on islands in the Caribbean and the Galapagos. The color of their plumage can range from purple to bright red.
Dwarf or small flamingos live off the coast of the Persian Gulf, as well as in areas near the salt lakes of Kenya and Tanzania. Their body length reaches only 80 cm. High in the Andes there are salt lakes where Andean flamingos live. Their plumage is white and pink, less often scarlet. The very rare James's flamingo lives in Bolivia and northern Argentina. They feed on diatoms. In South America you can see Chilean flamingos. The wings of these birds have a red tint.
The dangerous life of flamingos in the wild
The natural threat of flamingos is predators: foxes, jackals, wolves. Birds of prey, such as eagles, also pose a certain danger to colonies. Sensing danger, the flamingos fly away. To take off, they need a takeoff run, which they can do both in water and on land. Since flamingos live in groups, it is difficult for predators to choose one specific prey, and their colorful wings make it difficult for them to focus. In the wild, birds live up to 30 years, in captivity - up to 40.
- The ancestors of flamingos lived on the planet 30 million years ago.
- The plumage of birds can be not only pink, but also red and even crimson.
- To take off, they run 5-6 meters through the water.
- In flight, they take the shape of a cross, extending their legs and neck.
- Future parents sit on the nest with their legs tucked in and stand up from it, resting their beaks on the ground.
Protection of different species of flamingos
Due to poaching and human activities, the world's flamingo populations have decreased significantly. In the International Red Book they currently have the status of “Least Concern”. Some species were considered extinct for a long time. So, James's flamingos were found only in 1957. Many countries around the world have listed flamingos in their Red Books.
The Pink Flamingo (common) is a well-known and easily recognizable bird due to its colorful plumage. They live in shallow lakes, mangrove swamps and sandy islands of Africa, Asia, America and Europe. Flamingos' distinctive feather colors are a result of their rich beta-carotene diet. Unfortunately, changes to their aquatic habitat, such as toxic bacteria and pollution environment, led to the death of thousands of these birds.
The birds are well known for their distinctive plumage, which ranges from light pink to bright red-orange. In the wild, bright plumage is an indicator of a healthy animal. Pale or white feathers on a bird indicate frequent malnutrition and possibly poor health.
The wingspan reaches 1.5 meters. During molting, all the feathers on the wings fall out for a whole month. During this period, the flamingo becomes the main victim for predators, as it is completely unable to fly.
The legs are straight and very thin. To take off, they have to run along the shore at least 5-6 meters. Flamingos usually stand on one leg. Birds are graceful in the air. There is probably no more beautiful sight than a flock of pink flamingos flying in the sky.
Pink flamingos are the most common of their species. A large number of them live in Africa, southwest Asia and Europe (its southern part). Numerous colonies live in France and Spain. As for Africa, on this continent birds settle in Morocco, Kenya, Tunisia, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, and also in the Republic of Cape Verde.
You can often find this species of Flamingidae in the northwestern part of India, on some lakes in Southern Kazakhstan and in Sri Lanka.
The pink flamingo is one of the largest representatives of the genus. Adults reach a maximum weight of 5 kg and a height of up to 50 cm. Males are somewhat larger than females and more beautiful in appearance. Distinctive feature Birds, in addition to bright feathers, have long limbs and a neck. The head is small, but it has a huge curved beak with small teeth along the edges.
Reproduction and nesting
Pink flamingos nest with thousands of other pairs, forming large colonies. Puberty occurs closer to 4 years of age. It is at this age that the plumage begins to acquire a pink color. They prefer to mate in the warm season, when there is food and suitable conditions for hatching offspring. Although pink flamingos are not usually territorial, they will defend their nest during the breeding season.
Their nest is a mountain of dirt and small stones lined with feathers. They build their nests in shallow water. The height can reach 30 cm. It may take the couple up to 6 weeks to complete construction.
Interesting! The pink flamingo chooses its mate for the rest of its life.
The female lays mostly only one white egg, rarely two. Parents divide the incubation, which lasts about 26-31 days, between two. When one hatches the egg, the second gets food for itself and gains strength. A month later, the birds have snow-white and very fluffy chicks.
For about two months, both parents feed the babies a substance called bird's milk. It contains various nutrients and beneficial substances, such as fat and protein, as well as red and white blood cells. This milk is produced in the glands that line the entire upper digestive tract. The chicks usually leave the nest when they are about 4-7 days old.
Nutrition
The common flamingo feeds on larvae, small insects, blue-green and red algae, mollusks, crustaceans and small fish. Their tendency to eat both vegetation and small animals makes them omnivores.
Interesting fact! Flamingos have pink plumage because the algae they eat contains beta-carotene, an organic substance that contains a reddish-orange pigment. Molluscs and crustaceans contain similar pigment.
If a flamingo bird stops eating food containing carotenoids, its new feathers will begin to grow in a paler shade, and the pink color will eventually disappear. To get food, they have to plunge their feet into the mud and lower their heads under the water, moving from side to side. This process allows them to collect a mixture of water and food. The curved beak helps stir up water.
Pink flamingos can survive under water for several minutes due to the fact that they can hold their breath. Then they quickly stick their heads out and take a deep breath. The process happens so quickly that you may not even notice that the birds have taken oxygen into their lungs.
They receive water during the absorption of food, then, through the filtration process, they displace it from the body. To drink they only need fresh water. To do this, they fly to another body of water or lick rainfall from their feathers.
Flamingo birds live in huge flocks. They live in the shallow waters of some ponds and rivers. They choose only salty bodies of water for their residence. The skin on the limbs is dense and versatile, so the salt contained in the water does not damage it.
Pink flamingos have long been listed in the Red Book of our country. This suggests that you need to treat these birds with great care. Of course, many die from the clutches of predators. Foxes, wolves, jackals and badgers love to eat them. Seagulls, eagles and vultures eat their chicks, destroying their nests.
They also die from such an accident as electric current, because during the flight flamingos can sit down to rest on the wires.
These birds treat people with special caution, and despite the fact that many rivers and lakes have dried up, they try to settle away from places where people live. After all, it is people who are the most terrible enemies for these birds. Many rich people like to feast on their meat and eggs, and also use bright feathers to decorate their premises.
People have used flamingos for centuries. Currently, the most common threats to flamingo species are habitat loss due to road construction and agricultural development. These birds were even threatened with lead poisoning in Mexico.
This led to legislation banning lead ammunition in this area. Fortunately, steps have been taken to prevent the pink flamingo population from declining further. Chile has created a national flamingo sanctuary to protect them.
Lifespan
In natural wild conditions, birds can live up to 20-30 years. If an ordinary flamingo has been tamed and domesticated, then its life expectancy doubles, that is, 50-60 years. But for this, a person must follow all the rules for keeping poultry, and most importantly, feeding. A case was recorded at the zoo when a bird lived in captivity for 65 years.
Flamingos, about which there are many beautiful stories and legends and interesting facts, have become almost legendary birds. Here are some facts:
- They got their name from the Latin word flamenco, which means “fire”.
- The health of pink flamingos is judged by the brightness of their plumage - the brighter the color, the healthier the bird.
- The sounds they make are reminiscent of the “gasping” of geese.
- When eating food, their head is turned upside down. They absorb water and filter food.
- During migration, their flight speed is 60 km per hour, and they fly more than 500 km to reach their new habitat.
- An ordinary flamingo can eat about 6-7 kg of food per day. A colony of 500,000 individuals in India consumes 140 tons of food per day.
- Pink flamingos spend 17-30% of the day preening their feathers.
- They live in large groups. Some colonies consist of millions of birds.
- Cubs are born with a straight beak, but by the age of three months they acquire a peculiar and unique curve.
- To rest, pink flamingos stand on one leg.
- In ancient Rome, local residents considered their tongue a delicacy. Today, meat and eggs are valued all over the world.
- Birds can be found not only in shallow waters, but also on high-mountain lakes. Birds tolerate temperature changes well.
- Males are somewhat larger and have longer legs than females.
The pink flamingo is an amazing and graceful bird, whose population is decreasing every year. They are constantly in the water in search of food, and birds eat not only during the day, but also at twilight. These are good and caring parents who have many enemies both from the animal world and from humans.
Everyone, both adults and children, knows about the existence of these beautiful noble birds. But not everyone has seen them live in a zoo, and even fewer in the wild. Where do flamingos live? What is their habitat? What do they eat? How do different species differ from each other? The article will answer these questions.
Classification: species, genus, family, order
Flamingo (Latin flamma - fire) is the only surviving genus of birds of the Flamingidae family, which, in turn, belongs to the order Flamingiformes. In addition to them, the family includes several relict genera. The Flamingo genus includes several species: the common or pink flamingo, Andean, red, Chilean, small, and James flamingos.
These birds owe their name to the characteristic coloring of their wings, on which bright red feathers grow on top and on the inside. It formed the basis for the official, scientific name of the genus - Phoenicopterus, which was given to it by Carl Linnaeus. The scientist probably saw in the coloring of flamingos features that make them similar to the mythical fiery Phoenix, which burns and is reborn from the ashes.
Characteristic features, structure of birds
Flamingos have long, thin legs that allow them to roam freely in shallow water. There are membranes on the toes that allow the bird not to get stuck in the mud. Birds have a long flexible neck, which helps them bend low and search for prey in the water. But the most recognizable feature of flamingos of all species is their wide, downward-curved beak.
Flamingos can often be seen standing on one leg. At this time, they tighten the other one to reduce heat loss, since their thin, long limbs have a fairly large surface. In windy weather, birds freeze. Standing on one leg does not cause them any discomfort and is natural. It is not difficult for flamingos to hold it in an extended position; this pose does not require any special muscle effort from them. The skin on the legs of birds is very dense. Thanks to this, they can live near very salty and even alkaline lakes and wander around them for several hours, looking for food.
Where the pink flamingo lives, the water is often unsuitable for drinking. But some planktonic organisms, for example brine shrimp, which make up the main part of the pink flamingo’s diet, live in very salty water, thrive in it and reproduce, also due to the lack of fish, which simply cannot live in such reservoirs. Therefore, flamingos are very fond of such reservoirs. However, they can fly to freshwater reservoirs and springs to wash off excess salt and drink.
Flamingo plumage
Flamingos owe their unique plumage color primarily to their diet. Dying substances called lipochromes enter their bodies along with plankton containing the pigment canthaxanthin. When birds are kept in captivity, their diet, in addition to crustaceans, is enriched with plant products containing carotene - bell peppers, sweet carrots. Flamingo flight feathers are always black. According to scientists, this coloring is distracting and serves to mislead the predator, which, due to the black flight feathers flashing before its eyes, cannot determine the exact position of the prey.
Nutrition of adults and features of the diet of chicks
What does a flamingo eat? And where does this beautiful bird live? Its main food is small crustaceans. Birds usually settle on the banks of shallow bodies of water. With the help of a beak, the upper part of which is movable, and not the lower, like all birds, flamingos scoop up water or liquid silt. The beak allows them to filter prey from water or mud. The powerful tongue makes pushing movements, water flows out through the covered beak, which acts like a sieve. And only the edible part of the catch remains in the mouth - what can be swallowed. At the same time, the beak of African (small) flamingos is much thinner, and its capabilities as a filter are greater. Therefore, they can filter out not only small crustaceans and shrimp, but also unicellular algae.
Where flamingos live, there is a lot of food that is familiar to them. A bird eats an amount of food per day, the mass of which is about a quarter of its own weight. Their large colonies naturally purify a lot of water every day. Thus, one of the colonies of pink flamingos living in India, which includes about half a million birds, eats almost 145 tons of food every day.
In the event of a shortage of usual food, flamingos are capable of making long flights to other bodies of water - up to 50-60 kilometers.
Nursing offspring
Birds are monogamous. Nesting begins at the age of 5-6 years. A female flamingo lays 1-3 eggs at a time, but most often there is one baby in each family. The nests of these birds have a bizarre conical shape. They are unique; no other bird species builds them like this. To create them, flamingos use their paws to scrape silt and dirt into a pile. The chicks leave the nest within a few days, and at the age of two and a half months they catch up with the adults in size and begin to fly.
Interestingly, newborn birds have straight beaks, therefore they cannot filter water. Parents come to the rescue, feeding the chicks with so-called bird's milk - a special red liquid secretion - for up to two months. It is secreted by glands that line the esophagus from the inside. The secretion contains fat, protein, and some plankton. The same hormone is responsible for the production of “milk” as in mammals, including humans.
The colony raises its chicks together, just as penguins do, and there can be several hundred babies in it at the same time.
Settlement area. Common flamingo
Where do flamingos live? In Russia, the pink flamingo, also known as the common flamingo, is best known. This is the most common species, and the only one living in the territory former USSR- In Kazakhstan. In addition, although flamingos do not nest on the territory of our country, during seasonal migration they fly through Russia - Dagestan, the Volga region, Stavropol and Krasnodar territories, even affecting the south of Siberia. Wintering for these populations occurs in Afghanistan, Iran, and Azerbaijan.
Where do pink flamingos live in Europe? Their colonies are in southern France, southern Spain, and in the south of the island of Sardinia. In Africa, this species lives in Morocco, southern Tunisia, Kenya, in Asia - on the lakes of India and Afghanistan.
Andean flamingo
Sexual maturity is reached at the age of 6 years. There are 1-2 eggs in a clutch. Both males and females incubate the eggs. Representatives of this species are generally very difficult to distinguish by gender, although males are usually somewhat larger (2.5-3 kg, females - 2-2.5 kg). The height of birds is 100-110 cm.
Red flamingos are kept in the Moscow Zoo along with pink ones. Representatives of different species are friendly to each other, but do not form mixed pairs. They reproduce well in captivity and live up to 40-50 years.
Small
Where do flamingos live, in what country? This species is mainly found in Africa. He is the most numerous. These are small birds, only 80-90 cm in height. Its beak is darker than other species and has a burgundy color. The characteristic black spot at the end of the beak is also present. The horny plates on it are well developed, thanks to which the lesser flamingo can filter water more thoroughly than other species.
If you do not feed the small flamingo with its usual food, in captivity it, like other species, quickly becomes white, not counting the characteristic black tips of its feathers. These birds are good swimmers.
Instead of a conclusion
Thus, to the question of where pink flamingos live, the answers may be different, because different kinds These birds are colored this color to varying degrees. The only exception can be considered, perhaps, the red flamingo due to its specific coloring. In general, the distribution area of this genus covers the countries of South America, Asia, southern Europe, the Caribbean Islands, and certain areas of the African continent.
Fascinating with its magnificent grace and unusual coloring of feathers, it is sung in songs. Where do flamingos live? What are the conditions of their captivity, their characteristics and habits, what do they eat?
The red flamingo has pink to purple or bright red plumage.
Flamingo small
Of all modern species, the small one has the smallest size. Its body length is only 80 cm (others are more than 100 cm). In this species, the beak has a keel that descends into the depths of the beak. Its food mainly consists of algae.
When searching for food, the small flamingo does not lower its beak to the bottom, but simply moves it along the surface of the water from side to side. It nests on the salt lakes of Tanzania, Kenya, as well as off the coast of the Persian Gulf (Lake Sambhor in India).
Andean flamingo
Its habitat is salt lakes located in the Andes at an altitude of 2500 meters (north and center of Chile, southern Peru, northwestern Argentina and western Bolivia). They prefer lakes, and often waters with a high content of gypsum, caustic soda and hydrogen sulfide.
Adult flamingos are colored white-pink or beautiful pink-red colors are caused by the pigment that enters the birds' bodies with crustaceans (food). The flight wings of this bird are black, the legs are yellow.
Flamingo James
The birds live in the Andes of Bolivia and Northern Argentina. Food: diatoms. There are colonies of this species that also live in harsh mountain conditions.
This species, also called short-beaked, is very rare.
Chilean flamingo
This is a relatively short-legged flamingo found in South America. On mountain lakes (Andes) it can live together with the species of short-billed flamingos.
The color of the Chilean flamingo is light: scarlet or white-pink. Red shades are developed on the wing coverts, which is why flamingos received the Latin name meaning “fire-winged”. The legs are greenish, but the knees and paws are red.
Conclusion
Where do flamingos live in North America?
These birds belong to one of the oldest bird families. Their remains, which are closest to modern forms, date back to 30 million years ago, and the fossils of more primitive species date back to more than 50 million years ago.
They were found in places where flamingos do not live today: some parts of Europe, North America and Australia. This suggests that in the past these amazing birds had a wider habitat.
“Even in his most beautiful dreams, man cannot imagine anything more beautiful than nature.”
(Alphonse de Lamartine)
“Beauty has the power and gift to bring peace to hearts.”
(Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra)
“There was something dramatic in the night: the moon floated out from behind the ragged clouds, then disappeared again behind them, the shadows of the clouds fell on the white slopes, and the slopes came to life - it seemed as if giant flamingos were flying over the ground with powerful wings.”
(Erich Maria Remarque)
Flamingos, which were the sacred birds of the ancient Egyptians, are one of the most amazing and distinctive birds in the world.
A distinctive feature of flamingos is their very long, strong legs and flexible neck, which they need to move and feed in shallow waters. On the small head there is a huge, downward curved beak that filters food from the water. Despite the fact that their body appears disproportionate at first glance, flamingos have become a symbol of grace and sophisticated beauty, largely due to their amazing colors, which range from white and pink to bright red and crimson shades.
Although in their appearance these birds most resemble cranes, herons and storks, they are not related to any of the listed bird species, and their closest relatives are geese.
Flamingos come from a very ancient genus of birds and their ancestors, according to the Smithsonian National Zoo, lived on our planet 30 million years ago. They are native to the Americas, Africa and Asia, but fossils show they were once found in much wider areas, including North America, Europe and Australia.
There are six living species of birds in the flamingo genus.
The largest are pink or common flamingos, living in Africa (lakes of Kenya, Tunisia, Morocco, Northern Mauritania and the Cape Verde Islands), Europe (southern France, Spain and Sardinia) and South-West Asia. Their height can reach 1.3 - 1.5 meters, and their weight is 3.5 - 4.0 kilograms.
The smallest ones small flamingos, reach only 0.8 - 0.9 meters and weigh no more than 1.5 - 2.0 kilograms. They are found in Africa and the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent.
Caribbean flamingos, which mesmerize with their bright pink, almost red feathers, can be found in the Caribbean, northern South America, the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula and the Galapagos Islands.
Andean flamingos and James's flamingos settle in South America (Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina), and red and Chilean flamingos– in Central America and Florida.
Flamingos settle in large colonies along the shores of shallow water bodies or lagoons. Colonies of these beautiful birds sometimes number hundreds of thousands of individuals. Flamingos are mostly sedentary, and only the northern populations of pink flamingos are migratory. There are known cases when, during flights, pink flamingos even flew into Estonia.
In the fall, during the migration period, flamingos take off very heavily and reluctantly into the air, gathering in huge flocks and heading to the warm regions of Africa and South Asia. To take off, flamingos take a long time to run, and even after leaving the ground, they continue to run through the air for some time. Then, in flight, they extend their long necks and legs in a straight line.
Flamingos prefer to settle on the banks of reservoirs with a high concentration of salt, in which there are many crustaceans, but no fish at all. These unique birds manage to adapt to extreme natural conditions in which only a few other species of animals and birds survive.
Interestingly, these birds also manage to withstand low and high temperatures quite well and often settle on the shores of mountain lakes, for example in the Andes.
Because flamingos live in aggressively salty or alkaline environments, their legs are covered with tough skin. However, due to the presence of large amounts of bird droppings, a huge number of pathogenic microorganisms develop in the water around them, and even minor scratches on their skin can lead to serious inflammation.
Flamingos spend most of their time in the water, where they sleep, rest, or feed. Long, strong legs help them walk along the bottom in search of food at relatively great depths, which gives flamingos an advantage over other birds.
Flamingos rest, standing on one leg and maintaining perfect balance without any muscular effort, thanks to the unique adaptation of their paws. They also alternately bask their long bare legs in their warm, fluffy plumage to reduce heat loss during windy weather and while standing in cold water.
Flamingos lubricate their beautiful plumage with special fat from the coccygeal gland, as a result of which it becomes waterproof and repels water when flamingos swim, skillfully moving through the water with their webbed feet.
Flamingos feed mainly on small red crustaceans, which contain a carotenoid that gives pink and red color to their plumage. The intensity of a flamingo's color depends on the amount of carotenoid pigment (which gives oranges their bright orange color) eaten, which turns into red pigments when digested.
They also eat shellfish and blue-green algae, worms and insect larvae.
To ensure that flamingos kept in captivity do not lose the brightness of their plumage and do not gradually turn white, they are fed in zoos not only with seafood, but also with carrots and red bell peppers.
The flamingo's beak, large and seemingly broken in the middle, is similar to that of a goose, but unlike all other birds, the flamingo's movable part of the beak is the upper, not the lower. When searching for food, the flamingo lowers its head under the water and turns it inside out so that the upper beak is at the bottom. In addition, studies have shown that flamingos have a special float that supports the bird's head (upside down) on the surface of the water while feeding.
The bird moves from foot to foot and pushes water with possible food through its beak. The water is filtered through special filter plates-lamellas (similar to whalebone) and squeezed out with a rough, fleshy tongue, and all edible living creatures remain in the beak and are swallowed. This whole process occurs very quickly, and the flamingo's tongue works like a piston in an internal combustion cylinder.
Not much remains in the beak at one time a large number of food, but in a day (and flamingos feed at any time of the day and in any weather conditions) the bird can eat an amount of food reaching a quarter of its weight. According to the observations of ornithologists, multimillion-dollar colonies of flamingos in India select about 145 tons of food from the silt per day, which amounts to about 21,750 tons of small animals in five months.
If there is a shortage of food in their places of permanent residence, flamingos can fly to get it within a range of up to 30-50 kilometers to other bodies of water.
Flamingos periodically fly to freshwater springs and ponds to drink and wash off the salt, but they are also able to drink brackish water (in permanent habitats) or collect rainwater from their plumage during heavy tropical downpours.
Being social birds, flamingos always stay in groups of different sizes. They always gather in flocks when flying from place to place, and prefer to stay in a group while on the ground.
The largest flocks of flamingos on the planet form in East Africa, forming colonies of more than a million individuals.
A flamingo colony is usually led by an elderly and experienced male, who, in case of danger, emits muffled calls that serve as a warning to all birds in the flock.
The beginning of the mating season in flamingos depends on the abundance of food, so it is not known in advance whether the known nesting sites will be occupied by the flock.
During the mating season, males perform a special ceremonial dance in front of females, synchronously repeating certain movements.
The video below shows these famous synchronized flamingo dances that would be the envy of the best dancers.
Flamingos form pairs during the breeding season, but the following year they select other partners.
The female and male together build a conical nest with a truncated top from silt, mud and shell rock, where they make a bowl-shaped recess. Unlike the nests of other birds, flamingo nests are naked and do not contain feathers or insulating vegetation. The height of the nest reaches 60-70 centimeters, which protects the masonry during rising water.
Sometimes, in the absence of the necessary building material, flamingos lay eggs directly on the sand. These birds live very closely, the distance between neighboring nests does not exceed 50-80 cm.
In a colony, many thousands of female flamingos synchronously lay one to three olive-green eggs each in one day. Future parents alternately incubate the chicks for a month. After the babies hatch, mother and father work together to feed and protect them.
Flamingo chicks are born sighted and active, covered with gray down and with a straight pink beak. Their beak bends only after two weeks.
Parents diligently feed hungry babies with “bird milk”, a special red nutrient mixture consisting of semi-digested crustaceans and algae and the parent’s blood, which is secreted from special glands of the lower part of the esophagus and proventriculus.
On days 5-12, the chicks already leave the nest and join the huge “ kindergarten", numbering hundreds of chicks. However, parents unmistakably recognize their babies in the group and feed only them for 2 months, until they grow a beak and are able to filter water and get food themselves.
The chicks in the group are protected by a guard-nanny while the parents fly away to feed several tens of kilometers from the nesting sites. In the evening, at dusk, the watchman takes the babies to their nests, urging those who lag behind.
At the age of two and a half months, young flamingos reach the size of adult birds and begin to fly. Young birds acquire their bright colors after two years.
Flamingos in nature have only a few natural enemies - foxes, wolves, jackals and large feathered predators - eagles and falcons, which settle near the colonies.
In nature, flamingos live on average 20-30 years, and in captivity they can live up to 40 years.
Flamingos were revered in ancient Egypt as sacred birds. IN ancient Rome Flamingo tongues were considered a valuable delicacy. The Indians of South America killed flamingos for their fat, because they believed that it could cure tuberculosis.
Currently, the number of these beautiful and graceful birds is declining due to the drying up of water bodies associated with climate warming and thoughtless active human activity, destroying their nesting places. Many birds are dying out due to increasing concentrations harmful substances in natural reservoirs. In addition, poaching is leading to a reduction in the flamingo population.
Flamingos are listed in the Red Books of many countries, including the Red Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
I would like to hope that humanity will be able to prevent the disappearance of these uniquely beautiful birds, as seven have already disappeared from the face of the Earth. valuable species flamingo.
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