2006-08-02 11:14:14 · 10 answers · asked by smartblonde 2 in Pets ➔ Other - Pets
Why are flamingos pink?
Feather color varies with species, ranging from pale pink to crimson or vermilion. Caribbean flamingos have the brightest coloration: crimson or vermilion. The Chilean flamingo is pale pink.
A flamingo's pink or reddish feather color comes from its diet, which is high in alpha and beta-carotene. People eat beta-carotene when they eat carrots.
What do flamingos eat?
The typical flamingo diet consists of diatoms, seeds, blue-green alage, crustaceans, and mollusks they filter out of the water. Using their long legs and partially webbed feet, flamingos will stamp on the muddy bottom of lagoons to mix the food particles with the water. Different species of flamingo have slightly different shaped bills; the different shapes helping it obtain slightly different types of food. Flamingos drink fresh water.
2006-08-02 11:21:22 · answer #1 · answered by Michael B 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It's not fish that makes their feathers pink. It's actually carotenoid-containing species of shrimp and algae they eat. Carotenoids are natural pigments (and antioxidants) that are found in many sources, including carrots, crustaceans, and deciduous trees (trees turn red/orange during the fall because chlorophyll production, which causes green/blue pigments, ceases due to the cold, leaving the red/orange pigments). Depending on how rich in carotenoids their diet is, flamingos will vary in color from a pale pink to a deep crimson. Interesting fact: salmon are pink/red because they maintain a diet high in crustaceans. Combined with the high amount of oxygen they maintain in their body (in order to power themselves upstream for breeding), their bodies turn a rich red/pink color.
2016-03-27 15:02:35 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The pink color in the shrimp they eat makes them pink.
2006-08-02 11:17:10 · answer #3 · answered by Lisa the Pooh 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The beta karotene in the shrimp they eat. If you feed a canary paprika - it will also turn red (cuz paprika has a lot of beta karotene)
2006-08-02 11:19:24 · answer #4 · answered by misskitten627 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Eating shrimps.
2006-08-02 11:23:46 · answer #5 · answered by curious 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its diet causes it to turn pink which has high alpha and beta-carotene.
2006-08-02 11:18:55 · answer #6 · answered by b_ballcutie4vr 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the pink from the stuff they eat, i think it's shrimp...
2006-08-02 11:20:02 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
From the food they eat.
2006-08-02 11:17:39 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's from what they eat.
2006-08-02 15:37:16 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
there diet, duh
2006-08-02 11:24:48 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋