2007-02-04 07:15:48 · 24 answers · asked by Katherine C 1 in Pets ➔ Birds
their main diet is shrimp and algae. They actually get their coloration from the blue-green algae.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamingo
2007-02-04 07:18:06 · answer #1 · answered by lulu 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Flamingos are pink because of their diet of certain types of shrimp. Though all breeds of flamingos are pink, some are much brighter than others, the least pink and most pale colored flamingo being the greater flamingo.
Flamingos bring the saying " you are what you eat" to a whole new level! They really are what they eat!
2007-02-04 12:17:01 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are born white. Their diet consists of mainly shrimp. The shrimp are a pink color, and as the flamingo's body digests the shrimp, the coloring of the shrimp is "stored" and over time turns the flamingo's feathers pink. The more shrimp a flamingo eats, the pinker it gets. Hmmm. . . who knew that 7th grade science would actually pay off. I just wished I could have remembered this when I was taking the test. lol. . . . . no seriously.
2007-02-04 07:28:49 · answer #3 · answered by Rayne 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wild Flamingo's get the pink colour from their diet, they eat shrimp which turns them this colour. In captivity, a dye in added to their food to keep the colour sometimes as they don't get the same diet. Often you will see that they are pretty much white in zoo's where the dye hasn't been added.
2007-02-04 10:22:00 · answer #4 · answered by Esquire 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
LOL maybe they were born naturally pink, which could possibly help them hide from predators? (you know...around native pink colored flowers!) LOL! I have no idea! I really don't know anything about flamingos! It's just a guess or maybe it IS the shrimp, so I am going with everyone else on that one!
2007-02-04 07:26:28 · answer #5 · answered by sara 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Flamingo's are pink
because of the type of food that they eat.
2007-02-05 15:35:08 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Things appear to be a particular colour because the material in which it is made of reflects light in different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, (the term for the light rays that come from the sun).
Objects that appear black, absorb all the light that falls on them, and reflect none back to the eye, so they appear black.
Oppositely, items that reflect all the light in teh light ray appear white.
Items that reflect parts of the light rays, appear different colours depending on what parts of the light ray they absorb/reflect.
Flamingos' reflect back whatever part of the light ray that makes them appear pink.
xx
2007-02-04 10:07:57 · answer #7 · answered by myfairladyisasleep 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
there born white but the food they consume which is shimp are pink so the pink pigments in the shrimp are flown through the blood stream and into the feathers herby making the feathers pink
2007-02-04 07:26:43 · answer #8 · answered by john h 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They're not naturally pink, but the food they eat makes them pink! It's absolutely true!
2007-02-04 07:19:17 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Diet. The small creatures they consume turn their feathers pink. It's something to do with the toxicity of the water.
2007-02-04 07:27:15 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋