Feasting Flamingos

A flamingo gets it's pinkish or orange color from the food it eats.

 Picture from Otts World

Most flamingos we see are pink and that's because shrimp and other crustaceans are one of the primary sources of food.   They also eat algae, diatoms, and aquatic insects.  Flamingos that eat mostly algae are more deeply colored than birds that eat the small animals that feed off of algae.

AA flamThe flamingo’s pink or orange color comes from the food they eat, including algae, diatoms, and small aquatic insects and crustaceans such as shrimp. - See more at: http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/flamingo#sthash.caDIBVzq.dpuf

Shockingly Pink

Ever wonder why a flamingo is so pink? It is directly linked to the shrimp-like crustaceans that they eat. If these shrimp-like creatures are not a part of their diet, they stay quite pale. Young flamingos are born gray and white, and don’t turn pink for two years.

Greater and Lesser

The Greater African Flamingo (right) is the largest flamingo. Males are almost five feet tall.

There are more Lesser Flamingoes (below) than Greater Flamingos. They are the ones you usually see in pictures with massive numbers on the African lakes in the Rift Valley of Kenya and Tanzania.

Read more about flamingos here.