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American Flemingo
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Birds |
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Africa, Asia, America |
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African Savannah |
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Phoenicopteridae |
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2.1 to 4.1 K.G |
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lakes, lagoons, deltas |
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Algae, shrimps, invertebrates |
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27 to 31 days |
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1 |
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Birds of prey, ravens, gulls |
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Abundant |
Pigments
contained in the food give the flamingo its pink coloration.
Flamingos are unique birds, not only because of their pink plumage and their
curved beak but also because of the way they feed, their distinctive habitat and
their capacity to resist extreme living conditions like very high temperatures.
The Great Flamingo can weigh from 2.1 to 4.1 kg (4.5 to 9 lbs) and can be 120 to
145 cm (48 to 58 in.) tall. The wingspan varies between 140 and 165 cm (56 to 66
in.). The long legs with webbed feet are particularly well adapted to enable the
bird to easily move about in muddy substrate without sinking in, while feeding.
It can also swim if it has to go to deeper waters in order to feed. We usually
find it in shallow lagoons and deltas as well as lakes. Since preys are of tiny
proportion (algae, diatoms and invertebrates), the bird must filter the water
with the ridges of its beak in order to extract the food from the water. The
sense of smell is not well developed but the eyesight is good. They have a wide
distribution ranging from Caribbean, Galapagos Islands, South Africa,
Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, western coast of Africa, India and Sri Lanka. This
is a gregarious bird: one colony can gather up to one million individuals. These
very vocal birds use a series of ritualized postures to communicate amongst each
other. Each pair will raise only one young which will be fed a nutritive
substance produced by an oesophagus gland. Adults have no natural predators;
young ones can be the prey of birds of preys, gulls and foxes. Flamingos can
live about 50 years old in nature. This fascinating bird was rarely been hunted
by humans. The Great Flamingo is not considered as an endangered species.