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 Flamingos
are beautiful pink birds with long legs. They are usually 1 meter long from
the tip of the head to the tip
of the tail. They are as tall as
1.5 meters. They weigh 2.2 to 2.7 kilograms,
and have a wingspan of 1.4 meters. There
are 5 kinds of flamingos in the
world.
Their pink feather color comes from
their diet, which is high in alpha and beta-carotene. They usually
eat seeds, green algae, crustaceans, brine-shrimps and mollusks. Flamingos use their
large beaks to filter small food items from the water.
Flamingos live in Central and South America, and the Galapagos Islands.
They can be found in lakes, where there is lots of mud and water. They live
in large groups called colonies. Tens of
thousands of flamingos can live in one colony!
 Flamingos
are able to reproduce by the age of about
6. Every flamingo does not nest every year. When they
nest, they lay one large, white egg. The nest is built of mud and
small stones in the shape of a volcano. Mounds can be as high as
30 centimeters. It can take a pair of flamingos up to
6 weeks to build their nest! Both parents
take turns brooding the egg for 30 days.
Newly hatched chicks have gray or white
down feathers. The chicks
will turn from gray to pink within about 3 years. Chicks
leave the nest after 10 days.
Then, they join a group of other chicks.
The group is watched by a few adults. |
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