Flamingos are birds that scientists classify as members of the flamingidae family. These birds have an unusual appearance. Which? Look at the photo of this beautiful bird and you will understand everything for yourself.

There are six species of these birds in the world: the Andean flamingo, the red flamingo, the lesser flamingo, the common flamingo, James's flamingo, and the Chilean flamingo.

Appearance of a flamingo bird

Depending on the species, they can reach different heights and weights. The smallest species is the small flamingo, living in southern and eastern Africa; they grow to 80-90 centimeters and weigh about 1.5-2 kilograms.

The largest are pink flamingos, which live in Europe and Asia; their height is about 1.3 meters and their weight is 3.5-4 kilograms.

Females are slightly smaller than males. Flamingos often stand on one leg. The reasons for this behavior are not exactly clear, but according to recent scientific research, this is how birds reduce heat loss, since they have to stay in cold water for hours.

Flamingos have a long neck. The plumage varies from white to red.

The red and pink shades of feathers come from bacteria in the water that contain beta-carotene. The flight wings of these birds are black. There are webs between the toes.

The birds have an unusual massive beak with a curved lower part. With the help of such a beak, the bird filters food from the water. The young are reddish-gray in color.

Where do flamingos live?

They live in the western and eastern regions of Africa, India, Asia Minor and the Caspian Sea. Flamingos are also found in Europe - in southern Spain, Sardinia and France. If we talk about the American continent, flamingos have chosen the northeastern part of South America, Central America and Florida.

Behavior of flamingo birds in nature

The habitat of flamingos is the shores of small reservoirs and lagoons. These birds live in large colonies, which can consist of hundreds of thousands of individuals.

Flamingos lead a sedentary lifestyle. These birds prefer reservoirs with a high concentration of salt, in which there are many crustaceans, but no fish.

In search of their favorite habitat, flamingos can settle on the shores of mountain lakes. It is worth noting that these birds tolerate low and high temperatures well. Because birds live in hostile environments, their legs are covered with tough skin. From time to time, flamingos fly to fresh water bodies, where they get drunk and wash off salt deposits from their bodies.

What do flamingos eat?

These birds feed on crustaceans, blue-green algae, mollusks, small worms and insect larvae.

Flamingos obtain food in shallow waters. When searching for food, the bird turns its head so that the upper beak is down. Water enters the mouth and the bird closes it. The flamingo pushes water out of its mouth using its rough tongue through hairy structures called lamellae.

The bird swallows the food remaining in its mouth. This process happens very quickly.

Reproduction and lifespan

Flamingos mate for life. Birds build nests from mud, shell rock and silt. The nests are cone-shaped and reach a height of 60-70 centimeters. This height of the nest protects the masonry during rising water.

Listen to the voice of a flamingo

Most often, there is 1 egg in a clutch. The incubation time lasts 1 month. Parents feed their chicks with a special pink liquid produced in the glands of the esophagus. This liquid contains large amounts of protein and fat, making it extremely nutritious.

The chicks stay in the nest for 6 days, then gradually begin to leave it. Parents feed their babies for about 2 months. The young then develop a beak, and the birds can feed themselves, filtering food like adults.

The young begin to fly when they reach 2.5 months. Sexual maturity in flamingos occurs at 3 - 4 years. Flamingos live no more than 40 years.

Flamingo and man

Flamingos were revered in Ancient Egypt as a sacred animal, and in Ancient Rome the tongues of these birds were considered a delicacy. The Indians of South America killed flamingos for their fat, because they believed that the fat helped cure tuberculosis.

Nowadays, the number of these graceful birds is also declining; this situation is associated with active economic activity. A huge part of the reservoirs that were home to flamingos have dried up. Also, the concentration of harmful elements in the water has greatly increased. All this negatively affects the overall population size.

The zoo first began breeding flamingos in 1958. This happened at the Swiss zoo in Basel. Since then, 389 flamingos have been born in captivity and transferred to other zoos around the world.

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A short message about flamingos will tell you about this amazingly beautiful bird. Also, information about flamingos will help you prepare for class and deepen your knowledge in the field of biology.

Message about flamingos

Flamingo is big bird with red or pink feathers, long legs and a long, slightly curved beak. The largest flamingo in the world is the Pink Flamingo, which reaches a height of 1.2-1.5 meters and weighs about 3.5 kilograms. The smallest flamingo is the Lesser Flamingo, which reaches a length of 0.8 meters and a weight of 2.5 kilograms. It is noteworthy that the Pink Flamingo has the palest feather color, but the Caribbean Flamingo is known for its bright, almost red feathers.

They come from an ancient genus of birds. Their ancestors were similar to modern flamingos. Archaeological excavations have shown that these birds appeared on Earth a very long time ago. It is worth noting that flamingos are social animals. They live in groups. When they fly from place to place, but gather in flocks. They communicate with loud and shrill screams. Flamingos are flying birds, but in order to get off the ground, they need to run. In flight, they extend their legs and long necks in a straight line.

What do flamingos eat?

Note that the pink color of flamingos directly depends on the food that the birds eat. What do you think flamingos eat? They eat shrimp and algae, since these foods contain orange carotenoid pigments, which are transformed into red pigments during digestion.

When eating, flamingos lower their heads under the water, use their beaks to draw in water and sift the food they eat. Water comes out through the beak. This is facilitated by small hair-like filters. In search of food, flamingos walk with their long legs along the bottom of the reservoir, wandering even to great depths. This is their main advantage compared to other bird species.

Flamingo way of life

During mating, pairs are created, but for one season. The female builds a nest together with the male. During the season, the male lays only one egg, which is “looked after” by both parents. After the chick hatches, they feed it together and are responsible for it. The nest is built from mud. It is up to 0.3 meters high. This protects it from the very hot surface of the earth and floods.

The chick has gray feathers, pink legs and beak. The feathers acquire their characteristic pink color at 2 years of age. The babies remain in the nest for 5-12 days. Their parents feed them a fatty substance that is produced in the upper part of their digestive tract. Then the chick begins to feed on its own.

Where do flamingos live?

The homeland of flamingos is South and North America, Asia and Africa. Archaeological excavations have shown that birds used to live in Australia and Europe. Life expectancy in natural environment habitat - 20-30 years, and in captivity they live more than 30 years. They prefer to settle in small salt lakes, on shallows, and next to estuaries, in coastal lagoons.

Flamingo species

• Pink flamingos (Africa, southern Europe, southwestern Asia).
• Lesser flamingos (Africa, northern part of the Indian subcontinent).
• Chilean flamingos (Southwestern South America).
• Caribbean flamingos (Caribbean, northern South America, Yucatan Peninsula, Galapagos Islands).
• Andean flamingo (Chile, Peru, Argentina, Bolivia).
• James's Flamingo (Chile, Peru, Argentina, Bolivia).

Why are flamingos listed in the Red Book?

Some bird species are on the verge of extinction. These are the Lesser Flamingo, the Chilean Flamingo, the James Flamingo, and the Andean Flamingo. The decline in flamingo numbers is due to human activity.

• Flamingos form the largest flocks of birds on the planet. They number more than a million individuals.
• Only the Andean flamingo has yellow legs. In other species they are pink.
• In ancient Rome, flamingo tongue was prized as a delicacy.
• Flamingo eggs are a recognized delicacy in the world.
• Scientists are still at a loss as to why flamingos stand on one leg. According to one version, they pull their leg out of cold water to save heat and waste less of it. According to another version, they rest in a position that is very comfortable for them.

We hope that the essay about flamingos helped you learn a lot about this large bird with pink feathers. You can add your story about flamingos using the comment form below.

Flamingos are one of the most amazing and controversial birds. On the one hand, their body is disproportionate: a short body, a very long neck, incredibly thin legs, a small head and a curved beak are somehow disproportionate to each other. On the other hand, such disproportion is surprisingly harmonious and flamingos have become synonymous with grace and sophisticated beauty.

Red or Caribbean flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber).

At first glance, flamingos in their appearance resemble long-legged birds - storks, herons, cranes - but they are not related to any of the listed species. The closest relatives of flamingos are... banal geese. Previously, flamingos were even classified as an Anseriformes order, but then they were separated into a separate Flamingiformes order, which has only 6 species. All representatives of the order are medium-sized birds, weighing several kilograms. A distinctive feature of flamingos is their long legs and neck, which are necessary for movement in shallow waters. Flamingos have clawed feet like a goose. The large beak of a flamingo, as if broken in the middle, is also similar to a goose, its edges are dotted with small teeth. These teeth form the filtering apparatus with which flamingos obtain food.

The fringed edge of a flamingo's beak works on the principle of a whalebone.

All types of flamingos have a similar coloration from pale pink to deep scarlet. Flamingos are typical inhabitants of the tropics, but some species can tolerate cold weather. Thus, South American flamingo species inhabit the highlands of the Andes, where frosts are common. The pink or common flamingo lives in the subtropical and even in the south of the temperate zone; in the northern part of its range, these birds are migratory. There are known cases when flamingos during flights accidentally flew even into the territory of Estonia. All species of flamingos live along the banks of shallow water bodies, and flamingos prefer water bodies with a high salt content. Such habits are determined by the nature of the diet. Flamingos eat small crustaceans and microscopic algae rich in coloring substances - carotenoids. These organisms are not found in fresh water bodies, so in search of food, flamingos are forced to inhabit extreme places. In some African lakes inhabited by flamingos, the water is so alkaline that it can literally corrode living flesh. Flamingos survive in such reservoirs thanks to the dense skin covering the birds' legs, but the slightest damage to it causes inflammation, which can end disastrously for the bird. By the way, flamingos owe their magnificent plumage color to these crustaceans: pigments accumulate in the feathers and give them a pink or red tint. When kept in a zoo, flamingos lose their pigment over time and become white. To maintain their attractive appearance, coloring components, such as red pepper, are added to bird feed. Such “artificial” birds can be recognized by the red-orange hue of their feathers.

All flamingos are gregarious birds, living in large flocks of several thousand individuals. In search of food, flamingos gather in a dense flock and walk together in the shallow water, stirring up the water with their paws. At the same time, they lower their beak into the water and filter edible animals through it.

Lesser flamingos (Phoeniconaias minor) feeding on Lake Nakuru in Africa.

Flamingos sleep right in shallow water, standing in the water. Flamingos are good flyers, but takeoff (like many geese) involves some difficulties.

At first, flamingos accelerate by running, then with flapping wings they rise into the air, continuing to move their paws by inertia for some time. Flamingos fly with their necks and legs extended.

Chilean flamingos (Phoenicopterus chilensis) in flight.

These birds have a peaceful nature; they rarely get into fights with each other. During the mating season, flamingos perform a collective “wedding” dance. They gather in a large group and mince through the shallow water in small steps, accompanying the procession with bass cackling.

The mating dance of the rarest of all species - James's flamingo (Phoenicoparrus jamesi).

Flamingos also nest amicably at a distance of 0.5 -1 m from each other, choosing hard-to-reach places for this - islands, marshy banks and shallows. Flamingo nests look very unusual - they are cone-shaped towers up to 70 cm high, made of silt and mud.

Flamingos on nests.

At the top of such a cabinet there is a tray with eggs. Birds build such nests to protect their clutches from the caustic water of salt lakes. Flamingos are not very fertile and have only 1-3 eggs in one clutch. Both parents take turns incubating them for a month. Flamingo chicks look even more amazing. In the first days of life, they look like adopted children because they are not at all like their parents. The chicks are covered with white down, their legs are short, and their beak is completely straight! How can one not remember the relationship with geese! The chicks are born quite developed, but spend the first days in the nest. Their parents feed them a kind of “bird milk” - a special belch from the crop that is pale pink in color.

Flamingo feeds the chick.

After two weeks, the chicks’ beaks begin to bend and they gradually switch to independent feeding, but for a long time they remain under the supervision of adults. At the same time, the chicks form a herd, and several adult birds guard them; after a while, the “guards on duty” change. For a long time, young animals have to look like “ugly ducklings” with dirty gray plumage, because flamingos reach sexual maturity only at 3-5 years.

Young flamingo.

The life of a flamingo is full of dangers. Due to the peculiarities of their physiology, these birds often receive injuries; wounded flamingos in nature are practically doomed. Flamingos are hunted by almost all local predators - from hyenas and baboons to kites and foxes. Only man, by some miracle, overlooked this bird with his gastronomic gaze. But people have always been attracted by the appearance of these birds; because of their beauty, all zoos tried to keep them, but flamingos never became ordinary inhabitants of poultry houses. These waterbirds need to be kept in special conditions, and breeding is possible only when kept in large groups.

Flamingo is an unusually graceful and beautiful bird. It belongs to the order Flamingidae. These birds are the only ones in their order who have thin long legs and a graceful flexible neck. The flamingo bird, a photo and description of which we have prepared for you, is an amazing animal on our earth.

Appearance of a flamingo

Flamingo feathers are loose and soft, and the tail is short. There is no feathering at all on the head, chin and around the eyes. An adult flamingo grows up to 130 centimeters in height and can weigh about 4.5 kilograms.

Species, habitat and lifestyle

In nature there are such types of flamingos as:

• James's flamingo (lives in Peru, Chile, Argentina and Bolivia);
• common flamingo (lives in the southern regions of Eurasia and Africa);
• red flamingo (lives in South America, the Galapagos Islands and near the Caribbean islands);
• Andean flamingo (lives in the same place as James's flamingo);
• small flamingo (lives in Africa, southern India and eastern Pakistan);
• Chilean flamingo (found in the southwestern part of South America).

These magnificent animals live only in large colonies; their favorite habitats are lagoons and shallow ponds. In general, flamingos are very resilient birds; they can cope even with those natural conditions that some other bird species cannot cope with. For example, a colony may live near very salty or high-altitude lakes, and, in addition, the birds are able to adapt to sudden temperature fluctuations.

The lifestyle is sedentary, with the exception of pink flamingos, which are migratory birds.

What constitutes the basis of flamingo nutrition?

The most favorite foods of these birds are insect larvae, worms, small crustaceans, algae and mollusks. It is noteworthy that flamingos get their pink color thanks to crustaceans that are eaten and contain a carotenoid.

In general, flamingos obtain food for themselves in shallow water. There is something like a “float” above the bird’s beak. This “device” allows the bird to keep its head in the upper layer of water for a long time, without much effort. The absorption of food occurs as follows: the bird takes a lot of water into its mouth, closes it, and with the help of a special “strainer” the water is pushed through and the plankton is swallowed inside.

Flamingo breeding

Flamingo is a nesting bird. She builds her “home” in a compaction of silt. Construction material Small shells, mud, and silt are used. The nests are in the shape of a cone. Flamingos incubate about three eggs. The eggs are large and the color is white.

Small chicks hatch already quite developed. And, a few days after birth, they can independently get out of the parental nest.

The food for the babies is bird's milk, which the chicks feed on for the first two months after hatching. This mixture is formed in the mother’s esophagus and has a pinkish color, because a quarter consists of the parent’s blood. How blood gets there is a puzzle for biologists and zoologists. And yet, this is a fact.

How can chicks get enough of bird milk alone? There is nothing surprising in this, because this “mother” food is very nutritious in composition and is similar to the milk that is produced in mammals.

Listen to the voice of a flamingo

After the beak of baby flamingos is finally formed, they begin to obtain food on their own, from the water. The chicks grow to the size of adults by two and a half months, at which time they begin to fly.

Our planet is generous with the enormous variety of representatives of the animal world that inhabit it. The colors characteristic of one or another species of our smaller brothers are also diverse. Children who get to know exotic animals in zoos will be interested in learning information about such unusual birds as flamingos. However, some facts about them are unknown even to adults.

What do we know about them?

1. There are 6 types of flamingos:

• Small - he lives in Africa and India.
• Common, or pink, lives in Africa, Europe and Asia.
• Red - has taken root in the Caribbean and Galapagos Islands, Florida and Mexico.
• Chilean.
• James's Flamingo.
• Andean - like the previous two species, lives in South America.

2. The birds got their name from the Latin word flamenco - “fire”, which indicates their bright color.

3. They are social animals and live in large flocks.

4. Flamingos are very beautiful birds that are distinguished by their red or orange color. They have very long legs and equally long, beautifully curved necks.

5. They build their nests from mud.

6. One egg is laid at a time. Both females and males incubate it in turn. The chick that appears after 30 days is called a chick. At first it is gray or white in color, which changes by age three.

7. The color of the plumage depends on their food. Flamingos are omnivores: they eat both plants and meat. The mollusks and algae that they get from water bodies contain carotenes - coloring substances that make their feathers pink or orange.

8. A flock of flamingos can fly at speeds of up to 35 miles (about 56 km) per hour.

9. They love to stand on one leg and do not experience any discomfort, thanks to a physiological device in the supporting limb that reliably fixes this position.

10. The largest of all species is the common (pink), its length reaches up to 1.6 m. The smallest is given out by the name of its species - small, its height barely reaches one meter.