Where do flamingos live? The common flamingo is the eighth wonder of the world

Russian name - Pink (common) flamingo
Latin name - Phoenicopterus roseus
English name - Greater flamingo
Class- Birds (Aves)
Squad- Flamingoformes (Phoenicopteriformes)
Family- Flamingidae (Phoenicopteridae)
Genus- Flamingo (Phoenicopterus)

Until recently, pink and red flamingos were considered subspecies of the same species, but are now distinguished as independent species.

Conservation status

Currently, the species is not in danger of extinction, but its numbers are unstable. It is listed in the International Red Book as causing least concern in the next 10 years - IUCN (LC), and is also included in the Convention on international trade species wild fauna and flora - CITES II.
In Russia it is a non-breeding, migratory and regular migrant. How rare view, the pink flamingo is included in the Red Books of Russia and Kazakhstan.
The reason for the decline in numbers is the reduction of suitable nesting places and the disturbance factor.

Appearance

Flamingos cannot be confused with any other bird due to the peculiarities of their body structure and the amazing color of their plumage. These are quite large birds (height 120–145 cm, weight 2100–4100 g, wingspan 149–165 cm), with females smaller than males and slightly shorter-legged. The flamingo's head is small, its beak is massive and in the middle part is sharply (knee-shaped) bent downwards. The jaw apparatus is highly specialized in filtering water in search of small food. The beak contains horny plates, on which various phyto- and zooplankton (small animals and plants living in the water column) settle during feeding.
Flamingos have very long legs, with 4 toes, the three front ones being connected by a swimming membrane. The back toe is small and located above the foot. The thin neck in a calm state is curved in the shape of the letter S. The plumage of these birds is loose and soft. Flamingos swim well, but their feathers get wet, and the birds prefer not to go into deep water.
Flamingos often settle on salt marsh lakes and strain their food from salt water. They also drink brackish or alkaline water. However, they are not in danger of “salinization” of the body - these birds have well-developed salt-excreting glands.
The color of the plumage is pale pink, the ends of the wings are black. The pink color of the plumage is due to the presence of pigments in the tissues - fat-like coloring substances of the carotenoid group. Birds obtain these substances from food, from various crustaceans. In captivity, after 1–2 years, the pink-red tint of the plumage usually disappears due to a monotonous diet. But if you specifically add red carotenoids contained in carrots and beets to flamingos’ food, the birds’ color always remains rich. Young birds are gray-brown; they “put on” their adult plumage only in the third year of life.

Spreading

Pink flamingo- resident of the Old World. The distribution of the species is extremely uneven. Lives in Southern Europe, Asia and Africa. It nests annually on lakes Kurgaldzhino and Tengiz in Central Kazakhstan; temporary nesting sites periodically appear in the north-eastern Caspian region and on small lakes in Kazakhstan.
Changes in the nesting area are associated with changes in the humidity of arid areas. At the end of the 1950s. The Kazakh population of pink flamingos numbered 30,000–50,000 pairs, now from 2,500 to 11,500 pairs. One breeding colony was found in the Kyzylagach Nature Reserve.
In Europe, the most significant and stable breeding ground for flamingos is located in the Camargue nature reserve, at the mouth of the Rhone River (Southern France). Up to 25 thousand birds gather here in the spring. In 1963, a colony of 3,600 nests was discovered in Las Marismas in southern Spain, where no flamingo breeding had been observed since 1941. In Africa, birds nest on lakes in Morocco, southern Tunisia, northern Mauritania, Kenya, the Cape Verde Islands and in the south of the continent. Flamingos also live on the lakes of Southern Afghanistan (at an altitude of up to 3000 m) and Northwestern India.
Flamingos inhabit large bays of sea coasts, large and small salty steppe lakes.

Lifestyle and social behavior

Flamingos are active during the day; at night, these birds sleep.
Flamingos are strictly colonial birds: they nest and feed in large groups. The distance between nests and feeding or resting birds can be only a few centimeters. At nesting sites, birds only protect the nest itself.
Between birds living in such a “communal” apartment, interactions are periodically observed that look like “quarrels”: flamingos begin to cackle loudly, standing opposite each other and fluffing up their feathers. The “quarrels” stop as suddenly as they began, the birds remain in their places and continue to go about their business.
When a flock is feeding or resting, individual birds remain alert, which allows the entire flock to avoid danger in time. Flamingos suffer to a greater extent not from predators, but from climate vicissitudes (droughts, floods) and the unpredictable hydraulic regime of reservoirs.
In the northern part of their distribution, flamingos are migratory. The main part of the Kazakh population winters in the Krasnovodsk and Kyzylagach reserves; some birds fly to Iran for the winter.

Nutrition and feeding behavior

The basis of the pink flamingo's diet is the small reddish crustacean Artemia and its eggs. In addition, flamingos feed on other crustaceans, as well as mollusks, insect larvae, and worms. They look for food in shallow water areas. Flamingos can feed in the same body of water where they nest, but if there is little food, they can make long flights every day to more feeding bodies of water (30–40 and even 50–60 km).
Having entered the water, the birds trample with their feet, slightly stirring up the silt, and then filter this suspension with their beaks. When feeding in shallow water, birds lower their heads so that the mandible is below the surface of the water, and the mandible is above it. Moving their heads in different directions and using their tongues as a piston, flamingos filter water and silt. On great depths The entire head, and sometimes the neck to the shoulders, is immersed in the water.
Flamingos drink salty and fresh water during rain, licking drops of water running down the plumage.

Vocalization

Reproduction

Flamingos nest in large colonies of up to 20,000 pairs (in India - up to 2,000,000 pairs). Breeding by individual pairs is unknown. Preference for nesting is given to highly saline and alkaline lakes, often with a high content of caustic soda, gypsum and hydrogen sulfide. Lakes off the coast are covered with a salty or gypsum crust, under which there is liquid mud. From this mud and shell rock, flamingos make nests that rise above the water like high hummocks. Their shape resembles a truncated cone, and their height is more than half a meter.
Flamingos are monogamous; they can form pairs for one season or for several years. Courtship is accompanied by loud calls, ritual posturing with outstretched wings and ruffled feathers, as well as group ceremonial runs with high legs and sudden stops. The mating ritual is strictly species-specific, so even if a colony is formed by several species of flamingos, mixed pairs are not formed and hybrids are unknown.
There are 1–2 large white eggs in the clutch. Both partners take part in incubating and feeding the chicks. Incubation lasts 27–33 days, and in hot areas it rather turns into protecting the masonry from overheating. The chicks hatch covered with down, sighted and with a straight beak. By the time the chicks hatch from the eggs, the parent's crop approximately triples in size. A creamy mass, the so-called goiter milk, begins to be released from the crop, which is a mixture of semi-digested crustaceans, larvae of aquatic insects and secretions from the walls of the crop itself. She's light Pink colour due to the presence of carotenoids in it with the addition of approximately one hundredth of the blood of nursing birds, its composition is reminiscent of mammalian colostrum. The parents regurgitate this “bird milk” and feed it to the chicks from beak to beak.
The chicks leave the nest a few days after hatching and, at about a month of age, change their first downy plumage to a second one. At 2 weeks of age, the baby flamingo's beak, which was straight when hatched, begins to curve. Downy chicks, having already left the nest and left for a while without their parents, who have flown away to feed, gather in groups and are under the supervision of the few “duty teachers” remaining on site. Adult birds returning from feeding feed the chicks by regurgitating food from the crop.
The feathers of the chicks begin to grow in the second month, and the young acquire the ability to fly on the 65-75th day of life; at the same age, their filtering apparatus is finally formed. The color of young birds remains gray for a long time; only in the third year of life does it acquire a bright color, characteristic of flamingos. They become adults at the age of 3–4 years, and begin breeding in the 5th year of life.

Lifespan

In the wild, they apparently live up to 30 years, and in captivity even longer (up to 40 and even 50 years).

The story of life at the zoo

Flamingos are represented very widely in the collections of zoos around the world - the bird is cute, displayable, and easy to keep. In the history of the Moscow Zoo they have always been there. Most of the flamingos on display are red. There are a few pink ones - these are older birds that arrived at the zoo before the reconstruction of the 90s. In our zoo, pink flamingos are kept together with red ones. Birds different types do not conflict, but do not form mixed couples.
The flamingo's diet includes the maximum of what we can offer them. These are grated carrots, minced fish, dry gammarus, special high-protein feed with the necessary vitamins and microelements. All this food is filled with water, and the birds strain out what they need from this liquid mixture. We give liquid food once a day, and dry feed constantly. In a zoo it is impossible to provide the same level of carotenoids in their food as they consume in the wild, so we add dietary carotene to their food.
The difficulty in keeping flamingos is the selection of food so that both vitamins and protein content are balanced.
In summer, flamingos are kept in an open enclosure on the Big Pond, in winter - in a warm room adjacent to this enclosure, where they are perfectly visible behind glass. We move the birds to a warm room at temperatures close to zero - when night frosts begin.

Until recently, flamingos were classified as members of the order Cioriformes, but scientists have come to the conclusion that flamingos should be placed in a separate order - Flamingiformes.

2. The birds got their name from Latin word flamenco - "fire", which refers to their bright color.

3. Nowadays, there are 6 species of flamingos on Earth: small, common or pink, Caribbean or red, Chilean, James flamingo and Andean flamingo.

4. Flamingos prefer to live near salty shallow lakes, in coastal lagoons, on shallows and near estuaries.

5. Flamingos belong to one of the most ancient bird families. Fossil remains of flamingos closest to modern forms, date back to 30 million years ago, while fossils of more primitive species have been found dating back over 50 million years. The fossils were discovered in places where flamingos are no longer seen today - some parts of Europe, North America and Australia. This indicates that they had a much wider range in the past.

Pink flamingo

6. Pink flamingo is the most common type of flamingo. Common or pink flamingos live in Africa, southern Europe and southwest Asia. They are the largest among flamingos. The pink flamingo reaches 1.2-1.5 meters in height and weighs up to 4 kilograms.

7. This is also the only species of flamingo that lives in the territory of the former Soviet Union in Kazakhstan (Lake Tengiz, Lake Chelkartengiz and Lake Ashitastysor).

8. In Europe, flamingos nest in the Camargue nature reserve, at the mouth of the Rhone River (Southern France), as well as in Las Marismas in Southern Spain. In Africa, the bird nests on the lakes of Morocco, Southern Tunisia, Northern Mauritania, Kenya, the Cape Verde Islands, and the south of the continent. It also lives in the lakes of Southern Afghanistan (at an altitude of up to 3000 m) and North-West India (Kutch), and recently nested in Sri Lanka.

9. Flamingos do not nest in Russia, but are regularly observed during migrations - at the mouth of the Volga River, in Dagestan, Kalmykia, Krasnodar and Stavropol territories. Also flies to the south of Siberia in Altai region, Tyumen, Omsk, Tomsk, Novosibirsk regions, Buryatia, Irkutsk region, Yakutia, Primorye, Ural. Flamingos flying through Russia winter in Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Iran.

10. It is estimated that a common flamingo eats up to a quarter of food per day. own weight. A colony of half a million pink flamingos in India consumes approximately 145 tons of food per day.

Lesser flamingo

11. The lesser flamingo lives in Africa and the northern parts of India, it is the smallest of the flamingos. The small flamingo reaches just over 0.8 meters in length and weighs an average of 2.5 kilograms.

12. Pink flamingos have the palest feather colors, while Caribbean flamingos are famous for their bright pink, almost red feathers.

13. The pink or red color of flamingo plumage is given by lipochrome dyes, which birds receive along with food.

14. Flamingos are social birds that live in groups of different sizes. They gather in flocks when they fly from place to place, and also prefer to stay in a group when they are on the ground.

15. When eating, flamingos lower their heads under the water, draw in water with their beaks, sifting nutritious foods which are eaten, and the water comes out through the beak. Tiny, hair-like filters help filter out food and release water. One study found that a special float that supports the bird's head allows it to feed by turning its head upside down and holding it on the surface of the water.

Caribbean (red) flamingo

16. Caribbean flamingos can be found in the Caribbean, in the north South America, on the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula and Galapagos Islands.

17. The long legs of flamingos help them walk along the bottom even at relatively low great depth in search of food, which gives them some advantages over other birds.

18. The ancient Romans highly valued flamingo tongue as a delicacy. Flamingos also eat meat and eggs in different parts Sveta.

19. Flamingos can also be found on high mountain lakes. In addition, they can tolerate very large temperature changes.

20. Equality reigns in the family lifestyle of flamingos. Here both the male and the female participate in the process of bearing and then raising the chicks. Male flamingos incubate the eggs laid by the female along with their mate.

Chilean flamingo

21. Chilean flamingos are found in southwestern South America.

22. Flamingos have a massive, downward curved beak, the lower part of which is movable, which distinguishes it from other birds.

23. Males are generally larger than females and have much longer legs.

24. Average age flamingos are approximately 30 years old. These birds live longer in nature reserves and zoos than in the wild.

25. Flamingos have loud and shrill screams.

Flamingo James

26. James flamingos live only in South America: Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina.

27. These birds can fly, but to get off the ground, they need a short run. During flight, they extend their long necks and legs in one straight line.

28. When in danger, flamingos take off, and it is difficult for a predator to choose a specific victim from them, especially since the flight feathers on the wings are always black, and when flying they make it difficult to focus on the prey.

29.Flamingos can float well, although not very deep. However, it is almost impossible to catch them doing this - they prefer to walk, swaying smoothly from side to side, rather than bathe their feathers in water.

30. We can safely say about graceful flamingos that they go from one extreme to another. So, these unusual and beautiful birds They live either in hot volcanic lakes or in icy water.

Andean flamingo

31. The Andean flamingo lives in Argentina, Chile, Peru and Bolivia.

32. Of all the flamingo species, only the Andean flamingo has yellow legs.

33. The Andean flamingo population is in severe decline due to loss of habitat and environmental quality.

34. Not only do flamingos eat sand and dirt from the water, they also do not breathe while eating.

35. Flamingos lay one egg at a time. Both females and males incubate it in turn. The chick that appears after 30 days is called a chick. At first it has a gray or white color, which does not change until two years.

Flamingo chick

36. In appearance, a flamingo chick is not much different from the young of other birds. Even his beak is very ordinary, not curved.

37.Flamingo chicks are picky eaters. Meat, fish or insects are not suitable for them - everything that other birds feed their offspring with. And they cannot get plankton, because their beaks are straight from birth. The proud curve is visible only at the age of two weeks, but both before and after that - for two whole months - the babies are fed by their parents. Like pigeons, they produce a liquid secretion - “ bird's milk", only in red. It is secreted by special glands lining the esophagus. It contains a lot of fat, protein, blood and some plankton.

38. Milk is produced not only by females, but also by males, but the most interesting thing is that its production is controlled by the same hormone as in all mammals, including humans.

39.Each flamingo family has only one chick, but the birds take care of all the children living in the colony. In this they are similar to penguins: flamingos also have “kindergartens”, where the chicks, under the supervision of teachers on duty, spend all the time while their parents get food. There can be up to 200 chicks in such a group, but any parent quickly finds their child by their voice.

40. A flock of flamingos can fly at speeds of up to 35 miles (about 56 km) per hour.

41. Flamingos pair up during the mating season, but find other partners the following season.

42. The female and male build a nest together. The nest is usually built from mud and is about 0.3 meters high. The height allows you to protect it from floods and the very heated surface of the earth.

43. The female lays only one egg per season, which is guarded by both parents. After the chick hatches, both parents are also responsible for feeding it.

44. The hatched chicks have gray feathers, pink beaks and legs. They do not acquire the characteristic pink color of their feathers until they are 2 years old.

45. Flamingos cannot be confused with any other bird due to the peculiarities of their body structure and the amazing color of their plumage. These are quite large birds (height 120-145 cm, weight 2100-4100 g, wingspan 149-165 cm), and females are smaller than males and have shorter legs. The flamingo's head is small, its beak is massive and in the middle part is sharply (knee-shaped) bent downwards.

46. ​​B East Africa flamingos group in giant flocks of more than a million individuals, forming the largest flocks of birds on the planet.

47. Flamingos can handle even extreme situations natural conditions, in which few other animal species survive. For example, they are found near very salty or alkaline lakes. This is due to the presence of a large population of crustaceans (such as brine shrimp) in highly saline reservoirs, where fish do not live due to high salinity. Crustaceans are the main food of flamingos.

48. Flamingos have a habit of sleeping on one leg. They use this technique to save energy and conserve heat.

49.Flamingos’ legs are not covered with feathers, so they freeze in the wind, trying to warm one or the other in turn. In fact, their body is designed in such a way that a flamingo easily stands on one leg, holding it straight, without using muscular strength.

50. Flamingos are omnivores: they eat both plants and meat. The mollusks and algae that they get from water bodies contain carotenes - coloring substances that make their feathers pink or orange.

The most incredible birds live on our planet. They come in all colors of the rainbow and are monochromatic. Fluffy or without feathers at all. Huge eagles or miniature canaries. Chickens, ducks, owls, eagle owls, turkeys, peacocks and parrots.

What do we know about rare birds listed in the Red Book? Absolutely nothing. One of the representatives of this book is Pink Flamingos. These are such ancient birds, one would assume that they saw dinosaurs. After all, the very first, ancient fossilized skeleton of a flamingo , more than forty-five million years!

Description and features of flamingos

Flamingo bird , resident of African and southern parts The Asian continent, some territorial parts of southern Europe. And even in St. Petersburg and Dagestan they were noticed.

Pink flamingo- one of the largest representatives of its kind. The rest of them are: Common and Red Flamingo. Andean and Chilean flamingos. Lesser and James's flamingo.

The smallest of flamingo species, This is Maly. It does not grow even a meter tall, and an adult bird weighs only two kilograms. Pink adults individuals flamingos weigh four to five kilograms.

A flamingo growth, one and a half meters. In fact, they have the longest necks and legs when compared to the crane and heron families. Well, as always happens in nature, males, of course, are larger and more beautiful than females.

Flamingo color a variety of shades, from dirty white, gray, to rich coral, purple. And their color directly depends on what they eat. After all, some algae eaten as food color their feathers a delicate pink hue.

And the more flamingos eat those same algae, the brighter the color it will be. And the tips of the wings are black. But this can only be seen when the bird is in flight. After all, there is no more beautiful sight than a flock of flying Pink flamingos.

The flamingo's head is small, but it has a huge beak. The edges of which are equipped with very small denticulate partitions. Top part the beak is curved, similar to a knee, pointed towards the bottom.

And it is the only movable part, unlike the lower one. The base of the beak and up to its half are light, the end is dark, almost black. The neck is longer and thinner than a swan's, so the bird quickly gets tired of holding it straight and often throws it over its back to relax its muscles. On the chin and in the eye area, flamingos have no feathers at all. The plumage of the entire bird is loose. And their tails are very short.

The wingspan of an adult flamingo is one and a half meters. It’s interesting that when a bird matures, it completely loses the feathers on its wings, all at once. And for a whole month, until she fledges again, she becomes vulnerable, defenseless against predators. Since he completely loses the ability to fly.

The legs of pink flamingos are thin and long. In case of escape, in order to take off, they need to run another five meters along the shallow shore. Then, taking off, flap your wings very often.

And once in the air, they keep their neck straight, straight forward. The legs also do not bend throughout the entire journey. Like a flock of pink crosses flying across the sky.

Also, it can be seen on flamingo photo, they always stand on one leg. And this is not just like that. They have to stay in water for a long time, which is not always warm. Therefore, in order not to overcool its body, the flamingo now and then changes one or the other leg.

The front toes are elongated and webbed like those of waterfowl. And the back toe, like a small appendage, is located on the leg, higher than the front toes. Or some don’t have it at all.

Character and lifestyle of flamingos

Flamingo birds They live in large flocks of several hundred thousand birds. They live on the quiet banks of rivers and ponds. These birds are not all migratory.

Because some of them live in the southern territories, and there is no need for them to fly for the winter. Well, the residents northern regions Of course, with the arrival of cold weather, they are looking for warmer places to live.

Birds do not choose deep-sea reservoirs for their residence, but only those with salt water. Fish, flamingo, practically not interested . They need a large number of crustaceans and algae that color birds. And since they choose just such lakes for themselves, the lake shoreline is also painted pink.

The skin on the paws is so versatile that salt in water does not damage it in any way. And to get a drink, birds fly into fresh water, or lick rainwater from their feathers after precipitation.

Reproduction and lifespan of flamingos

Puberty occurs in birds at four years of age. And just then, their feathers begin to acquire pink shades. Birds can mate in different time of the year. But they prefer warm ones summer days. Then there will be more food and climate for offspring flamingo better.

It all starts with a male flirting with a female. He circles around the lady of his heart, raising and lowering his head, flapping his short wings, and as if pinching her with his beak. When the other half reciprocates his feelings, she completely begins to follow the man, repeating his movements.

It looks very beautiful dance. If a pair is chosen, then only once and for the rest of their lives. After all, birds are very loyal to each other. They move a little away from the pack to mate.

Afterwards, the male begins to build a house for the future offspring. He builds it only on the water, so that no predator gets to the helpless children. The composition of the future home consists of clay compounds, twigs, and feathers.

And the structure must necessarily rise above the water. The nest looks like a square hill, with a hole in the middle for eggs. The female lays one, less often two eggs, in one color white.

And together with their companion they begin to hatch. When one sits alone in the nest, the other eats at this time and regains strength. On the nest, flamingos sit with their knees bent. And only by leaning on their beak can they rise.

Within a month, snow-white babies appear, fluffy as snowflakes. What's interesting is how flamingos live large families, and their nests are located next to each other. Every parent recognizes their child by its squeak.

After all, while still in the shell, the chicks were already making sounds. It is not customary for flamingos to feed other people's children, like cuckoos. Therefore, if suddenly something happens to the parents, the little chick will die of hunger.

The first week, the offspring are fed with excretory secretion, pink in color, the composition is very similar to the milk of animals, and people too. And just like that, after seven or eight days, the chicks jump out from their hiding place to splash in the water and profit from something. And they will be able to learn to fly and fully eat independently only after three months of their life.

IN wildlife, pink flamingos live thirty or even forty years. In zoos and nature reserves, much longer. In one of the protected areas, there is an old-timer flamingo, he is already in his eighties.

Flamingo food

Flamingo birds live in large, friendly flocks. But when the time comes flamingo food, they begin to zealously divide the territory, not allowing anyone to approach their chosen fishing spot.

They begin to look for food by raking the muddy bottom with their webbed fingers. Then they lower the head down, and turn it inside out so that the beak turns out to be with its sharp end facing up.

And having opened it, they swallow everything, along with water. Then closing the beak, and its edges, as we already know, are jagged. Releases all the water from its cylindrical beak. Well, what's left is swallowed. Be it a crustacean, or a fry, or a tadpole, or a component of the bottom itself.

We must not forget that pink flamingos are included in the Red Book of Russia. Though flamingo population and not on the verge of extinction, it is still necessary to treat the reproduction of their species with great care.

Many birds die from predatory animals, foxes and badgers. From birds of prey The ones that destroy nests are seagulls and vultures. During the flight, accidentally sitting down to rest, electrical wires.

A lot of rivers and lakes where these birds lived have dried up. And even though they are long-time inhabitants of the earth, they are still biased towards people. And they settle in places very remote from humans.

Because people are the most terrible enemies. Instead of saving, we are destroying such beautiful creatures. Eating their meat, eggs. Using their unusual feathers for decoration.

And you never know the fattening rich who, at any cost, want to get such an outlandish bird for their farm, knowing nothing at all about it. As a result, the flamingos die stupidly.

(Phoenicopterus roseus). Flamingo squad and family. Habitats: Asia, Africa, Europe. Wingspan 2.4 m. Weight 5.6 kg

Pink flamingos are otherwise called ordinary, although these birds are completely unique. They are found not only in Africa, but also in Iran and Azerbaijan. They can be seen in southern Spain and France. When feeding, flamingos filter out blue-green algae - up to 100 g per day. Essentially, these are bacteria capable of photosynthesis. Artemia crustaceans, growing in the water of brackish lakes, are also excellent food. Sticky banks are not a problem for birds. You can walk on stilt legs and through the swamp. The parents feed the hatched chick with a nutrient mixture. It contains proteins, vitamins and blood cells. How do they come from circulatory system parents into this “baby formula” are a mystery.

Flamingos live in huge colonies. They mainly lead sedentary image life, only the northern populations of pink flamingos are migratory. They settle mainly along the shores of sea lagoons, large lakes with brackish water and in shallow waters, where they can find food - a variety of small crustaceans, worms, mollusks and algae. The pink or red color of the flamingo's plumage is given by lipochrome dyes, which enter the bird's body along with food. It is interesting that in zoos these birds lose their unique plumage color after just a couple of years, since the food they are fed does not contain the same substances that flamingos can find in the wild. Flamingos get their food by lowering their head under the water and digging with their beak in the bottom silt. In this case, the bird turns its head so that the back of its head touches the bottom, and the upper beak is located below.

Flamingo nests are high; they look like pedestals, built from available materials - pebbles, shell rock, and worn-out stems. Sludge is used as a binding material. The clutch contains from 1 to 3 (usually 1) large white eggs.

Flamingos are birds that scientists classify as members of the flamingidae family. These birds unusual appearance. Which? Look at the photo of this beautiful bird and you will understand everything for yourself.

There are six species of these birds in the world: the Andean flamingo, the red flamingo, the lesser flamingo, the common flamingo, James's flamingo, and the Chilean flamingo.

Appearance of a flamingo bird

Depending on the species, they can reach different heights and weights. The smallest species is the small flamingo, living in southern and eastern Africa; they grow to 80-90 centimeters and weigh about 1.5-2 kilograms.

The largest are pink flamingos, which live in Europe and Asia; their height is about 1.3 meters and their weight is 3.5-4 kilograms.

Females are slightly smaller than males. Flamingos often stand on one leg. The reasons for this behavior are not exactly clear, but according to recent scientific research, this is how birds reduce heat loss, since they have to stay in cold water for hours.

Flamingos have long neck. The plumage varies from white to red.

The red and pink shades of feathers come from bacteria in the water that contain beta-carotene. The flight wings of these birds are black. There are webs between the toes.

The birds have an unusual massive beak with a curved lower part. With the help of such a beak, the bird filters food from the water. The young are reddish-gray in color.

Where do flamingos live?

They live in the western and eastern regions of Africa, India, Asia Minor and the Caspian Sea. Flamingos are also found in Europe - in southern Spain, Sardinia and France. If we talk about the American continent, flamingos have chosen the northeastern part of South America, Central America and Florida.

Behavior of flamingo birds in nature

The habitat of flamingos is the shores of small reservoirs and lagoons. These birds live in large colonies, which can consist of hundreds of thousands of individuals.

Flamingos lead a sedentary lifestyle. These birds prefer reservoirs with a high concentration of salt, in which there are many crustaceans, but no fish.

In search of their favorite habitat, flamingos can settle on the shores of mountain lakes. It is worth noting that these birds tolerate low and high temperatures. Because birds live in hostile environments, their legs are covered with tough skin. From time to time, flamingos fly to fresh water bodies, where they get drunk and wash off salt deposits from their bodies.

What do flamingos eat?

These birds feed on crustaceans, blue-green algae, mollusks, small worms and insect larvae.

Flamingos obtain food in shallow waters. When searching for food, the bird turns its head so that the upper beak is down. Water enters the mouth and the bird closes it. The flamingo pushes water out of its mouth using its rough tongue through hairy structures called lamellae.

The bird swallows the food remaining in its mouth. This process happens very quickly.

Reproduction and lifespan

Flamingos mate for life. Birds build nests from mud, shell rock and silt. The nests are cone-shaped and reach a height of 60-70 centimeters. This height of the nest protects the masonry during rising water.

Listen to the voice of a flamingo

Most often, there is 1 egg in a clutch. The incubation time lasts 1 month. Parents feed their chicks with a special pink liquid produced in the glands of the esophagus. This liquid contains large amounts of protein and fat, making it extremely nutritious.

The chicks stay in the nest for 6 days, then gradually begin to leave it. Parents feed their babies for about 2 months. The young then develop a beak, and the birds can feed themselves, filtering food like adults.

The young begin to fly when they reach 2.5 months. Sexual maturity in flamingos occurs at 3 - 4 years. Flamingos live no more than 40 years.

Flamingo and man

Flamingos were revered in Ancient Egypt as a sacred animal, and Ancient Rome The tongues of these birds were considered a delicacy. The Indians of South America killed flamingos for their fat, because they believed that the fat helped cure tuberculosis.

Nowadays, the number of these graceful birds is also declining; this situation is associated with active economic activity. A huge part of the reservoirs that were home to flamingos have dried up. Also, the concentration of harmful elements in the water has greatly increased. All this negatively affects the overall population size.

The zoo first began breeding flamingos in 1958. This happened at the Swiss zoo in Basel. Since then, 389 flamingos have been born in captivity and transferred to other zoos around the world.

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.