All species of flamingo produces milk not from teats but from crop.
It’s moderately well known that several families of birds (pigeons and doves, flamingos, and penguins) secrete a kind of milk (called “crop milk”, though penguins don’t have crops) for their young. This is real milk, secreted by a special gland – not regurgitated, half-digested food from the parent’s stomach. (Regurgitators put their bills into the chick’s mouth to deliver food, whereas in milk-providing species the chicks put their bills inside the parent’s mouth to nurse. )
With flamingos it’s apparently because the chicks aren’t able to handle normal food, and perhaps because the flamingo’s bill makes the regurgitation method awkward.
Flamingo "milk", produced by both parents, is a red liquid with a nutritional value similar to the milk that people drink. Think Pink: Flamingos get their wonderful pink color from the food they eat.
Flamingo crop milk is bright red due to the presence of canthaxanthin, and feeding parents can lose the red color in their feathers.
===================================================
www.edogadvice.com
2006-07-25 22:52:14
·
answer #1
·
answered by Anonymous
·
0⤊
0⤋
I don't know, I tried looking it up, and all it came back with were 'flamingos', without being very specific.
maybe it says here
http://www.durrellwildlife.org/upload/MainSite/Documents/pdfs/chilean%20flamingo.pdf
(flamingo milk is not milk from mammary glands, like we make... but is from the crop of the bird and fed to the babies via the mouth - I believe flamingo milk is bright red, though I have never seen any to be sure!)
2006-07-25 22:37:05
·
answer #2
·
answered by HP 5
·
0⤊
0⤋
I've never tried to milk a flamingo before. I'll put that on my 420 to do list!
2006-07-25 22:32:58
·
answer #3
·
answered by Anonymous
·
0⤊
0⤋
Flamingos dun even produce milk!only cows, goats and etc
2006-07-25 22:32:05
·
answer #4
·
answered by Noctural 1
·
0⤊
0⤋