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The pink or reddish color of flamingos comes from carotenoids in their diet of animal and plant plankton. American flamingos are a brighter red color because of the beta carotene availability in their food while the lesser flamingos are a paler pink due to ingesting a smaller amount of this pigment.
Newly hatched flamingos are gray or white. Their feathers acquire a pink color by the time they are around 2 or 3 years old, due to their carotene-rich diet. The chemicals that color their feathers are the terpenoids: alpha- and beta-carotenes (similar to carotene in carrots). [10] An adult has 12 major feathers designed for flight on each wing.
The largest male flamingos have been recorded to be up to 187 cm (74 in) tall and to weigh 4.5 kg (9.9 lb). [6] Most of the plumage is pinkish-white, but the wing coverts are red and the primary and secondary flight feathers are black. The bill is pink with a restricted black tip, and the legs are entirely pink. The call is a goose-like honking.
The American flamingo is a large wading bird with reddish-pink plumage. Like all flamingos, it lays a single chalky-white egg on a mud mound, between May and August; incubation until hatching takes from 28 to 32 days; both parents brood their young. They may reach sexual maturity between 3 and 6 years of age, though usually they do not ...
The flamingo has a pale pink body with brighter upperparts, deep vinaceous-pink lower neck, breast, and wing coverts. It is the only flamingo species with yellow legs and three-toed feet. [7] Its bill is pale yellow near the skull, but black for the majority of its length, and curves downward.
The lesser flamingo is the smallest species of flamingo, though it is a tall and large bird by most standards. The species can weigh from 1.2 to 2.7 kg (2.6 to 6.0 lb). [ 5] The standing height is around 80 to 90 cm (31 to 35 in). [ 6][ 7] The total length (from beak to tail) and wingspan are in the same range of measurements, from 90 to 105 cm ...
For example, the bright yellow of an American goldfinch, the startling orange of a juvenile red-spotted newt, the deep red of a cardinal and the pink of a flamingo are all produced by carotenoid pigments synthesized by plants. In the case of the flamingo, the bird eats pink shrimps, which are themselves unable to synthesize carotenoids.
In the media and fiction, plastic flamingos are often used as a symbol of kitsch, bad taste and cheapness. The movie Pink Flamingos is named after them and helped them become an icon of trash and kitsch. In 2009, the city of Madison, Wisconsin, Common Council designated the plastic flamingo as the city's official bird. [ 5]