Why Are Flamingos Pink? And Other Flamingo Facts

2. Flamingos get their pink color from their food.

Flamingos really are what they eat. Many plants produce natural redyellow or orange pigmentscalled carotenoids. Carotenoids give carrots their orange color or turn ripe tomatoes red. They are also found in the microscopic algae that brine shrimp eat. As a flamingo dines on algae and brine shrimpits body metabolizes the pigments — turning its feathers pink.

3. Flamingos are filter feeders and turn their heads “upside down” to eat.

The term filter feeder may conjure images of baleen whales or oyster reefsbut flamingos are filter feeders too. They eat algaesmall seedstiny crustaceans (like brine shrimp)fly larvaeand other plants and animals that live in shallow waters.

When it’s time to eata flamingo will place its head upside down in the water with its bill pointed at its feet. It then sweeps its head side-to-sideusing its tongue to pump water in and out of its bill. Comb-like plates along the edge of the bill create a filter for water to rush outwhile trapping food inside.

4. A group of flamingos is called a flamboyance.

A group of crows is called a murderand a group of geese is called a gaggle. Sowhat is a group of flamingos called? A flamboyance! Other collective nouns for flamingos include standcolony and pat.

At the Zoo’s historic Bird House, keepers continue to care for more than 60 Caribbean flamingos (also called American flamingos) behind the scenes. In the wildflamingos sometimes gather by the thousands! Scientists estimate that there are more than 200,000 Caribbean flamingos in the wildwith populations in the Bahamas and CubaMexicoand the Southern Caribbean — as well as a small group of about 400-500 in the Galápagos Islands.

5. There are six flamingo species.

In addition to Caribbean flamingosthere are lessergreaterJames’s (or Puna)Chilean and Andean flamingos. Greater flamingos are found in parts of AfricaAsiaand Europe. They are the largest and tallest flamingo species.

ChileanAndeanand James’s flamingos are found only in South America. Andean flamingos are the rarest of the six specieswith fewer than 40,000 birds. Lesser flamingos are found in parts of Africa and southern Asia. They are the smallest flamingos and the most abundant. There are more than 2 million lesser flamingos brightening skies and shores with their pink plumage.

6. Don’t let your eyes deceive you — a flamingo’s knees don’t bend backward!

Flamingo legs actually bend just like human legs. What looks like a flamingo's knee is really its ankle joint. A flamingo’s knees are located higher up the legshidden by the body and feathers. Confused? Think of a flamingo as standing on tiptoe. When the leg bendsit’s the ankle you see hinging. 

7. Some flamingos live in extreme environments.

Flamingos are typically found in shallow saltwater or brackish waters (where saltwater and freshwater mix). But some flamingo species breed and raise their young in extremely salty bodies of watercalled alkaline or “soda” lakes. The high concentration of carbonate salts in these lakes is so corrosive that it can burn the skinmaking the water uninhabitable for most animals.

Researchers are still uncovering the unique aspects of a flamingo’s physiology — like tough leg skin — that help it survive such harsh waters. The high salt can still be deadly for some flamingo chicks if salt rings build up on their legsmaking it impossible for them to walk.

8. Flamingo parents feed their chicks a liquid they secretecalled crop milk.

A flamingo’s “milk” is produced in its crop (part of its throat) and then brought up through its mouth. It may sound ickybut a flamingo’s crop milk is chock-full of healthy proteins and fats. Both parents can produce crop milk to feed a flamingo chick until it is old enough to eat on its own.

9. Yesflamingos can fly.

You may be used to seeing flamingos gathered in large groups on the groundbut they also take flight. Some flamingos will travel to breedmigrate to a new body of water as seasons changeor move to warmerlower-altitude areas for the winter. If flamingos are traveling long distancesthey often go by night.

10. Flamingos can sleep standing on one leg.

Flamingos can stand on one foot for long periods of time — even long enough to fall asleep. Butwhy do they perform this balancing act? Research suggests that flamingos use more muscle power when standing on two legsso standing on one leg may be less tiring.

Scientists also believe that a one-legged stance may help flamingos stay warm. Birds lose body heat through their limbs. By standing on one leg and tucking the other under their bellyflamingos can limit the amount of heat that escapes through their legs and feet.