10 Fun Facts about Flamingos

Fun Facts about Flamingos tell us about a type of wading bird. They are included in the family Phoenicopteridae. The Old World had two species of flamingo, while America has four species of flamingos.  The species of flamingos are American flamingo, Andean flamingo, Greater flamingo, Chilean flamingo, Lesser flamingo and James’s flamingo. Let us get other interesting facts about flamingos by reading the following post:

Fun Facts about Flamingos 1: American flamingo

American flamingo has the biological name Phoenicopterus ruber. They live in Galapagos Islands, Bolivia, Chile and High Andes in Peru.

Fun Facts about Flamingos 2: Greater flamingo

Greater flamingo has the biological name Phoenicopterus roseus. They live in Asia, Europe and Africa.

Fun Facts about Flamingos 3: the unique behavior

Flamingo has a unique behavior that the experts cannot understand.  It is related to the way they animals stand. They will have one leg tucked beneath the body while the other is used to stand.

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Fun Facts about Flamingos 4: theories

Theories are developed by the experts to explain the unique behavior of flamingos when they stand.

Fun Facts about Flamingos 5: wing clipper

Wing clipping is required for the flamingos, which live in captivity for they are great flyers.

Fun Facts about Flamingos 6: the body color

The adult flamingos have the bright red to light pink color.  The bird has this color because of the presence of betacarotene from the food. On the other hand, the grey reddish plumage is spotted on the young flamingos.

Fun Facts about Flamingos 7: the healthy one

The healthy flamingo is identified from the body color. It is unhealthy if it has pale color. The vibrant colored flamingos are the healthy ones.

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Fun Facts about Flamingos 8: filtering food

Flamingos have the ability to filter food from the silt and mud using their bills. They eat the blue-green algae and brine shrimp. The lamellae are the hairy structures located at the mandibles and tongue, which assist flamingo to filter the food.

Fun Facts about Flamingos 9: a social bird

Flamingos do not live alone. They form a colony, which consists of hundreds to thousands of flamingos. Thus, they are included as social birds.

Fun Facts about Flamingos 10: the purposes of having a colony

A colony of flamingos is formed for a number of reasons such as to improve the efficiency of the scarce nesting site, maximize the food intake and avoid predators.

Are you impressed after reading fun facts about flamingos?