5 Fascinating Facts About Flamingos (Phoenicopteridae)

Particularly when flying overhead, these distinctive waterbirds appear absurdly proportioned, with their neck and long legs hanging down. Southern Africa is home to two kinds of flamingos: the smaller, pinker lesser flamingo (Phoenicopterus minor) has a dark red bill, while the bigger greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) has a black tip to its light bill.

One of the most amazing wildlife spectacles in the world is their massive gatherings in the rift valley’s soda lakes.

Flamingos use their heads upside down to feed, blowing out extra water with their tongues and scything their bills back and forth underwater to filter microscopic food. A whale uses the same fundamental method to filter plankton through its baleen plates.

Although the two species frequently coexist, competition is avoided because greater flamingos eat larger creatures while lesser flamingos primarily consume blue-green algae.
On their breeding grounds, hundreds of flamingos perform a tightly coordinated performance in which they “salut” with brilliant crimson wings and rotate their heads from side to side in a “flag dance.”

When flamingos are out of their wading depth, they can swim well despite their gangly appearance.
The pigments known as carotenoids, which are present in the small crustaceans that flamingos eat, give them their pink color. To maintain this coloring while in captivity, they need a certain diet.