February 12, 2021
It’s difficult, not able to look at them; their captivating color and large wings are truly amazing. Learn more about flamingos and their lifestyle.
In the early decade of Egyptian culture, flamingos represented the god Ra, the sun god. Due to this, everything was done for the preservation of the bird. Their name means “flame', attributed to their fiery red color.
FLAMENCOS OR FLAMINGOS?
What is the correct way to say it?
We have heard both these words to refer to this type of bird. However, there is a difference in meaning.
“Flamenco' refers to two concepts: first to birds and second, to an artistic and cultural dance.
“Flamingo' on the other hand is a word that doesn’t exist in the Spanish language, so it is used in terms of the English language. It means practically the same thing but in a different language.
CHARACTERISTICS
FEEDING
Flamingos have their beaks upside down while feeding for several hours a day, they do so to be able to filter their food while floating on waves of water.
The coloration of a flamingo is not due to a given species.
Their diet consists principally of algae, crustaceans, insects, and plankton. Foods are highly rich in carotenoids. Due to consuming this type of substance, they obtain their natural pigmentation, their characteristic pink plumage.
TYPES OF SPECIES
The family of flamingos is named Phoenicopteridae. They all share physical characteristics similar, like their curved beak shape, long legs, palms fingers and pink plumage with tone variations. Taxonomists have discovered that there are currently six species of this type of bird.
Common Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus)
Caribbean Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber)
Dwarf flamenco (Phoenicopterus minor Phoeniconaias minor)
Andean flamingo (Phoenicoparrus andinus)
James’s Flamingo (Phoenicoparrus jamesi)
Chilean flamingo (Phoenicopterus chilensis)
REPRODUCTION
First, they must perform a type of courtship ritual to find their future mate, this ritual includes marches, grooming, turns of the head, and so on; principally the males are who do this type of dance, if the female isn’t impressed, the male must perform their dance repetitively until a female accepts it.
Their mating stage begins after their first six years of life.
When a couple of flamingos mates, their entire colony gets involved.
To create their nests they use materials such as sticks, stones, mud, and even feathers. Creating something like a volcano; reaching 4.7 inches tall.
The female lays only one egg in the nest due to its large size. Its incubation lasts around 30 days.
Flamingo´s babies are born gray or white and take up to three years to reach their plumage of the color they usually have in their adult life.
Usually mate when it rains, because rain helps them to have supplies for the construction of nests and food.
ENDANGERED OF EXTINCTION?
Flamingos aren’t yet considered an endangered type of bird. However, this can happen due to threats from predators, principally humans due to the poaching of the ornamental feathers that these beautiful birds possess. Other factors could be loss of habitat generated for problems such as global warming, pollution, among others.
READ ABOUT:
10 BIRDS YOU CAN SEE IN THE AVIARY OF XCARET
FLYING HOME: ALL ABOUT THE SCARLET MACAW CONSERVATION PROGRAM AT XCARET
Now that you know more about flamingos, I invite you to leave me in the comments your opinion about what you think of this information.
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