What do flamingos eat in the wild?
How do flamingos feed?
What do flamingos eat that turn them pink?
Why are some flamingos more pink than others?
What do lesser flamingos eat?
What do flamingos eat in winter?
Are flamingos omnivores?
Do flamingos eat shrimp?
Do flamingos eat krill?
Do flamingos eat vegetables?
Do flamingos eat crabs?
Do flamingos eat fish?
Do flamingos eat meat?
Do flamingos eat upside down?
Do flamingos eat frogs?
Flamingos are undoubtedly one of the strangest looking birds around, known for their pink plumage, long legs and unusual group mating. Flamingos are actually the only remaining birds in the order of Phoenixes—the rest are extinct. These tall wading birds have an interesting diet to match their other funky features, so what do flamingos eat?
Flamingos are not born pink, but become pink throughout their lives due to an algae-rich diet. Their diet consists mainly of algae and shrimp, as well as other shellfish that also consume algae. Algae are rich in carotenoids—naturally occurring nutrients and pigments that are also found in colorful vegetables like carrots, peppers, and tomatoes. Once metabolized, these carotenoids are what color flamingos pink.
While all species of flamingos have a similar diet, the amount and type of algae they consume can affect their pink color. Interestingly, their pink hue began to affect them in other ways as well, as healthy mates were often selected on the basis of the deep pink color of their plumage, which indicated a particularly rich diet.
Read on to discover more about the feeding habits of this quirky bird!
Flamingo eating and looking for food in water
What do flamingos eat in the wild?
All species of flamingos eat blue-green and red algae as well as small crustaceans such as shrimp, prawns, crabs and crayfish and molluscs, small fish and some seeds and plant matter.
Algae is the main food for some flamingo species, including the lesser, James and Andean flamingos, while the greater, Caribbean and Chilean flamingos prefer fish, crustaceans and large biology. This depends on what organisms are present in their lake and lagoon habitats, which also vary with the pH of the water. Very acidic or very alkaline waters are less likely to host complex marine life.
The carotenoids that make flamingos pink or red come not only from the algae itself, but also from shrimp and other foods that feed on the algae. The pinkest flamingos still tended to be the ones that ate the most algae and the least meat.
A pair of Andean flamingos feeding together
How do flamingos feed?
Before feeding, flamingos often stamp their feet on lake or lagoon beds to stir up mud and sediment, releasing algae and other food in the process.
Flamingos are known as filter feeders and feed with their heads facing down, with their backs to their bodies. Their bill applies to this as well, and has a fairly pronounced downward curve. Their lower beaks are actually much stronger than their upper beaks and can move independently, allowing the flamingo to pump water quickly through its internal filtration system.
This inverted posture allows flamingos to accurately scoop water with their high-capacity upper beaks and pump water into hair-like sheets, which effectively filter even very small organisms such as algae and diatoms. This is a complex and highly adaptive filtration system that can also be observed in some waterfowl such as mallard ducks.
Lesser, James and Andean flamingos are better at filtering algae, while greater, Caribbean and Chilean flamingos are better at filtering larger organisms such as crustaceans, larvae, molluscs and small fish.
Close up of a flamingo feeding in water
What do flamingos eat that turn them pink?
Flamingos are known the world over for their pink or red plumage, but lesser flamingos are actually dull gray and not pink at all. The word flamingo itself comes from the Spanish “flamengo”, which means “flame color”.
Flamingos have a rather specific diet that includes large amounts of blue-green and red algae and other algae-eating organisms. This does vary by species – some flamingos (such as the American flamingo) are much pinker than others (such as the lesser flamingo). These algae contain high concentrations of nutrients and natural dyes called carotenoids, especially beta-carotene, which is found in carrots and sweet potatoes.
Liver enzymes break down the carotenoids, and the pigment is reabsorbed and subsequently deposited in the flamingo’s feathers and skin. Juvenile flamingos gradually darken in color over a period of 2 to 5 years.
A pair of juvenile flamingos with dark gray plumage
Why are some flamingos more pink than others?
Not all flamingos are the same color or pink. American flamingos are the brightest pink or red due to their particularly algae-rich diet, while smaller flamingos tend to be lighter pink, especially in algae-rich areas. The color also varied with the proportion of the flamingos’ diet, as those flamingos that ate almost exclusively algae and thus obtained first-hand carotene were darker than those that ate shrimp and molluscs and thus obtained second-hand carotene.
Greater flamingos have also been observed preening directly with beta-carotene-rich secretions produced by glands near the tail. This allows them to “float out” their colorful plumage to help them attract mates.
What do lesser flamingos eat?
For about two months, the lesser flamingos are fed exclusively on crop milk. The crop is an extension of the digestive tract that allows the bird to store food and partially digest it before passing it to the stomach or regurgitating it to feed the chicks.
The adult bird digests part of the food in the crop before regurgitating the food into the chick’s mouth to feed it. Flamingo milk is often bright red, which some have likened to blood. Other birds that breastfeed their young include pigeons, doves, and penguins.
After about two months, the lesser flamingo will begin to ingest food from the environment in much the same way as an adult, keeping its head underwater and filtering food such as algae and small crustaceans.
An adult flamingo feeds their baby crop milk
What do flamingos eat in winter?
Depending on where they live, some flocks of flamingos actually migrate during the winter. For example, many greater flamingos that live in Central Asia migrate to India in winter, while James’ flamingos migrate to lower elevations when lake feeding grounds freeze over.
Once the flamingos find suitable feeding grounds for the winter, their diet will be similar to that of the summer, consisting of copious amounts of algae, small crustaceans and molluscs.
Are flamingos omnivores?
Flamingos are classified as omnivorous birds that filter and eat any nutritious organisms they can find in their lake or lagoon habitat. This includes all kinds of algae and meat, mainly molluscs, crustaceans and other shellfish, insects, larvae and small fish.
All flamingos are omnivores, although certain species of flamingos are better at filtering the more important non-algae foods.
Closeup of Chilean Flamingo
Do flamingos eat shrimp?
Flamingos do eat shrimp, and those they eat may be pink for the same reason as flamingos—because they ingest algae from their environment.
All flamingos are omnivores, although some feed primarily on algae, while others are more inclined to eat meat.
Do flamingos eat krill?
Krill are shrimp-like crustaceans that live in the ocean, mostly in cooler waters down to a depth of about 50 meters or so, although this does vary. Therefore, flamingos do not eat krill because they are not seabirds and prefer to live in calm lakes and lagoons.
In some rare cases, krill make their way into coastal lakes and lagoons, and then possibly into the flamingo’s diet.
A flock of flamingos in Laguna Colorada, Bolivia
Do flamingos eat vegetables?
Flamingos are omnivores and will eat plants if they are present in their environment. While they are not specifically designed to rip and tear plant matter from the lake bed, they will still consume any filtered plant matter or seeds.
Do flamingos eat crabs?
Greater, Caribbean and Chilean flamingos consume more crab and other shellfish than other species of flamingos. Their diet consists of crabs, lobsters, shrimps, crayfish, barnacles and prawns, although they may only eat the smallest hard-shelled crustaceans.
Do flamingos eat fish?
If fish are present in their environment, flamingos will eat them as part of their standard diet. Greater flamingos have perhaps the most exotic appetites for fish, and are adept at sifting through more water to sustain their diet.
Greater flamingo fishing in the lake
Do flamingos eat meat?
All species of flamingos are omnivorous to some degree, so yes, all flamingos eat meat. Certain species of flamingos prefer algae, while others prefer meat. It really depends on the type of organisms living in a typical flamingo lake or lagoon habitat – there could be a myriad of fish and other marine life, or very few.
Do flamingos eat upside down?
Yes, the entire jaw structure of the flamingo has adapted to this.
When flamingos feed, they hold their heads upside down in the water, pointing toward their bodies. They then suck up the water through a comb-like structure, using their tongues to pump the water through the filter system four times per second.
Flamingos are one of the only animals that can move their lower jaws independently of their upper jaws — and their lower jaws are also much stronger than their upper jaws.
flamingos eat upside down
Do flamingos eat frogs?
Think of it this way, somewhere, sometime, a frog has entered a lake or lagoon only to find itself scooped up by flamingos. But that would be a very rare encounter, and while flamingos are omnivores, they eat almost exclusively crustaceans and molluscs when it comes to meat.
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