What Do Flamingos Eat?

Flamingos live near lakes and swamps, Therefore, its diet depends on meat and plants, so it is considered a carnivorous bird. However, there are some slight differences in the diet preferences of some species, as flamingos are divided into six different types. For example, flamingos that have deep beaks tend to eat plant foods more than others. Others feed on plankton and blue-green algae, known as cyanobacteria, which are a rich source of beta-carotene. While flamingos have shallow beaks, their diet depends on meat such as insects and invertebrates, so the presence of the two species in the same place does not cause competition for food. Food: The flamingo’s diet is also affected by the food available, and adult flamingos generally feed on red and blue algae, small fish, and insects such as larvae and shrimp.

Food for baby flamingos

Flamingo chicks depend on their parents for food and survival. Both the male and female produce red milk in the upper digestive system and then spit it out for the young to eat. This milk is called crop milk, which contains the pigment canthaxanthin that gives it its red color. It is a source of It is rich in proteins and fats to improve the rapid growth of the young. Both parents continue to feed the chicks until they reach 9 to 13 weeks of age, after which they move to the diet of adult birds.

The effect of diet on flamingo color

Flamingo babies are born in white or grey, and as soon as the babies start eating, their color begins to gradually change based on the type of food they eat, as flamingo food contains foods rich in carotenoids such as beta-carotene, which is a nutritious organic chemical that contains a reddish-orange pigment, which It makes the flamingo appear pink, and when the flamingo eats food, the digestive system begins to extract the dye that dissolves in fat, and it begins to be deposited in the skin and feathers of the flamingo during growth, turning its color to pink. Some types of flamingo appear more pink than others, as the color depends on the amount of dye. Found in the flamingo diet, the color of young flamingos begins to change to dark pink over the course of 2-5 years.

The way flamingos eat

Flamingos are filter-feeding birds, meaning they take in water and food together, then excrete the water from their bodies. In order for the flamingo to get its food, it stands in the mud to help move food sources and algae to the surface of the water. The flamingo is distinguished by its ability to turn its head. Upside down and back towards his body, then he lowers his beak into the water, and begins to move his head from side to side to collect the mixture of water and food. The flamingo’s tongue, which resembles a piston in the way it works, allows it to eat food and water, until the filtration system does its job, where the plates begin The fringe filters food and passes water through its beak, eliminating foods that are too large or too small for flamingos.