Flamigo

Flamingos often stand on one leg, the other tucked beneath the body. The reason for this behavior is not fully understood. Some suggest that the flamingo, like some other animals, has the ability to have half of its body go into a state of sleep, and when one side is rested, the flamingo will swap legs and then let the other half sleep, but this has not been proven. Recent research has indicated that standing on one leg may allow the birds to conserve more body heat, given that they spend a significant amount of time wading in cold water. As well as standing in the water, flamingos may stamp their webbed feet in the mud to stir up food from the bottom.Young flamingos hatch with grey plumage, but adults range from light pink to bright red due to aqueous bacteria and beta carotene obtained from their food supply. A well-fed, healthy flamingo is more vibrantly coloured and thus a more desirable mate; a white or pale flamingo, however, is usually unhealthy or malnourished. Captive flamingos are a notable exception; many turn a pale pink as they are not fed carotene at levels comparable to the wild. This is changing as more zoos begin to add prawns and other supplements to the diets of their flamingos.Flamingos filter-feed on brine shrimp and blue-green algae. Their beaks are specially adapted to separate mud and silt from the food they eat, and are uniquely used upside-down. The filtering of food items is assisted by hairy structures called lamellae which line the mandibles, and the large rough-surfaced tongue. The pink or reddish color of flamingos comes from carotenoid proteins in their diet of animal and plant plankton. These proteins are broken down into pigments by liver enzymes.The source of this varies by species, and affects the saturation of color. Flamingos whose sole diet is blue-green algae are darker in color compared to those who get it second hand (e.g. from animals that have digested blue-green aglae). Zoo-fed flamingos, who often lack the color enhancer in their diet, may be given food with the additive canthaxanthin.Flamingos are very social birds that live in colonies that can number in the thousands. These large colonies are believed to serve three purposes for the flamingos; predator avoidance, maximizing food intake and exploiting scarce suitable nesting sites. The most basic and stable social unit of flamingos are pair bonds which are made up of one male and one female. The bond between them tends to be strong, however in larger colonies, where there are more mates to choose from, mate changes will occur. In pair bonds, both the male and the female contribute to building the nest for their egg and defending it. Before breeding, flamingo colonies split into breeding groups of around 15-50 birds. Both males and females in these groups perform synchronized ritual displays. These displays serve to both stimulate synchronous nesting and establish pair formation for birds that do not already have mates. A flamingo group stands together and display to each other by rasing neck, followed by calling with head-flagging and then wing flapping. The

displays do not seem to be directed towards an individual but instead occur randomly.Flamingo pair bonds establish and defend nesting territories. They locate a suitable spot on the mudflat to build a nest, which is usually chosen by the female. It is during nest building that copulation usually occurs. Nest building can also be interrupted by another couple trying to steal the nesting site. Flamingos will viciously defend their nesting sites and young. After the chicks hatch, the only parental expense is feeding.Flamingos produce a crop milk, like pigeons and doves, due to the action of a hormone called prolactin (see Columbidae). It contains more fat and less protein than the latter does, and it is produced in glands lining the whole of the upper digestive tract, not just the crop. Both parents nurse their chick, and young flamingos feed on this milk, which also contains red and white blood cells. In the first six days, the adults and chicks stay in the nesting sites. At around seven to twelve days the chicks begin to move and explore their surroundings. After two weeks, the chicks join groups called "microcrèches" and their parent soon leave them in these groups. Later, many microcrèches come together to form crèches which contain thousands of chicks. Chicks that do not stay in their crèches are vulnerable to predators.Many people don’t realize how much Flamingos fly or their abilities. They can take off rapidly and fly up to 35 miles per hour. They can also fly hundreds of miles a day between different locations in order to find adequate amounts of food for them to survive on. Most of this flight time takes place at night though which is why many of us never see them.Flamingos tend to live a long life in the wild though with an average of 25 to 30 years. In captivity some of them have lived up to 50 years. They aren’t really in danger of extinction at this time but some conservation efforts are in place. This is based on research that shows introduction of bacteria into the water has killed of large numbers of them in certain areas.Adult flamingos range from 3.3 to 4.6 feet tall and weigh 3.3 to 9 pounds depending on their species. Wingspans range from 3.3 to 5 feet. There are 5 species of flamingo.

The webbing between their toes helps them stand in soft mud and when swimming when the water is deeper than wading depth.During the day flamingos preen using their bills and spreading oil from a gland near the base of their tail through their feathers. They spend 15 to 30% of the day preening.Flamingos live in groups called colonies. They won’t nest unless there are other flamingos around. Both male and female flamingos mound up mud for a nest for their 1 egg and take turns incubating it. When chicks hatch, their down is gray or white. Once the chick is ready to leave the nest it joins a crèche like penguins.The five species are the lessser flamingo, the greater flamingo, the chilean flamingo, the caribean flamingo, and the James' flamingo. They can be pink or orange. :-)(http://www.naturehaven.com/Flamingo/flamingo.html)