lasaireĢan Sileach
- Scientific name: Phoenicopterus chilensis
- IUCN status: Near threatened
- Habitat: Chile, southern Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina – shallow salt water lakes, rivers, streams
- Diet: Carnivore – tiny crustaceans, insects, snails and micro-organisms living in water and mud
Flamingos build cone-shaped nests of mud with a dip at the top to prevent the egg from rolling off. Upside-down filter feeders, they use their tongue and beak to suck in water and filter out plankton. Parent flamingos can recognise their chicks by their call in a flock of up to 30,000 other youngsters. The pink or reddish colour of flamingoes comes from pigments derived from plankton.
Keeper’s Secret
A flamingo’s leg does not bend backwards ... what looks like its knee is actually its ankle and so bends the right way. The knees are hidden under the wings!