How Do Flamingos Stay Pink?

Flamingos are gregarious birds known for their long legs, large beaks and above all, their remarkable pink plumage. However, flamingos are not born pink, but turn various shades of blush, depending on one key ingredient -- their diet. Yes, flamingos are birds who live up to the expression, "You are what you eat."

  1. Diet

    • Flamingos eat a diet of shrimp, crayfish and blue-green algae, which have pigments high in alpha and beta-carotene called carotenoids. In captivity, flamingos are often fed krill and pellets derived from shrimp and mollusks to help them maintain their pink color. The more food high in carotenoids flamingos eat, the deeper pink their feathers get; which is why their colors range from pale pink to cherry red.

    Function

    • Flamingos eat with their heads upside down, using their large tongues to pump food and water through their upside down bills. Flamingos beaks are lined with a thin, plate-like structure called lamellae. It's this lamellae that keeps the food in the bird's mouth and filters out water and mud. This filtering system is highly efficient, as a flamingo can filter 20 beak fulls of water per second. Flamingos are designed for wading through water and mud as well as swimming, thanks to their long legs and webbed feet. This natural design also enables the vibrantly colored birds to have no trouble finding plenty of carotenoid-rich food.

    Facts

    • There are six species of flamingos currently found in the world. These majestic birds range in height from under 32 inches to over 50 inches and can live to be over 50 years old. Flamingos walk on their toes, can be very noisy with their loud grunts and squawks, and are very social creatures. Flamingos live in colonies that can number in the thousands, and fly in equally large flocks. They require water and a warm climate and often live in large shallow lakes.

    At Birth

    • Baby flamingos, called chicks, are born greyish-white and have straight bills. It isn't until chicks start eating the food rich in beta carotene, that they turn pink. Chicks are nursed by both their mother and father. The parents nurse their young with crop milk, produced by glands lining their upper respiratory tract, regurgitated into the chicks' mouth. Between 28 and 42 days, a chick's beak turns upside down and it can feed itself. It is also around this time that the coloring of a chick's feathers start turning pink.