Elegant pink long-legged birds

The flamingo is a large, slender bird with a stylized figure. It has long legs and neck, and a rather curved beak. Its physical form is very characteristic, which makes it an attractive, exotic and beautiful animal. They can measure around 80 to 140 cm in length.

Their particular hook-shaped beak allows them to remove the mud to find food. The color of flamingos is always pink, but the intensity varies from one species to another. So there are from intense salmon pink (Caribbean Flamingo) to light pink (European Flamingo).

Fun facts

• The young flamingo are born light in color, but they are colored as they eat food. So the color comes from the orange and red pigments (carotenoids) they get from food.
• You can determine the health of the flamingo by looking at the color of its feathers. When the animal is very pale, it is possible that it is sick or has not been fed as it should.
• Color is also a determining factor when finding a mate. The pinker, the more desirable it is to other flamingos.
• The beak of the flamingo is unique, curved and with a special structure that allows it to filter nutritional substances as they forage in the mud.
• They need to live in large areas of salty or alkaline water, at sea level and shallow. This is because it feeds on algae, crustaceans, shrimp and plankton.
• They are sociable birds that interact with the members of the colony, which can reach up to 20,000 individuals.
• They feed their young with a kind of milk produced by the parents in glands in the digestive tract.
• They have the ability to fly and reach up to 60 km per hour. In one day they can cover hundreds of kilometers.