Caribbean Flamingo Diet

A flamingo is a colorful, striking animal.

Flamingos are often popular animals at zoos and wild animal parks for their brightly colored feathers, their standing-up sleeping stance and their unique body structure. These tall, stately birds also stand out in the crowd with their loud calls. Their bright color comes from their diet that is heavy in carotenoid pigments found in the algae and crustaceans they eat in wild habitats, and maintained with special food in captivity.

The Facts--Flamingo

Flamingos are social and live in large groups.

According to TheAnimalFiles.com, Caribbean flamingos are the only birds of this species to make their home in North America. They live in the Caribbean, Yucatan Peninsula and the Galapagos Islands. Flamingos are social birds that live and breed in groups that can number in the hundreds.

Features

Flamingos are tall birds, standing up to 4.5 feet in height thanks to their long legs and necks. They range from white to orange to pink in color, with hooked black beaks. These large birds are quite capable of flying, though they prefer to live and feed in set spots. Their long legs make the birds uniquely capable of wading into deep water, while their long necks and hooked beaks make their underwater reach for food longer.

Diet in the Wild

According to the San Diego Zoo website, flamingos are omnivorous animals. They suck up mud and water to filter out tiny shrimp, algae, plankton and other marine life as their food. Other food sources include crustaceans, mollusks and flies.

Feeding Process

One of the flamingo's most important features is the way it eats. When it pushes its head into the water, the flamingo points the top of its head down, so that its hooked beak is upside down. It sucks water into its beak from the front, passes the water through filters called lamellae to catch food, and then pushes the water back out through the sides of its beak.

Diet in Captivity

In captivity flamingos eat pellets that are specially designed for flamingos. The pellets contain protein, nutrients and a special solution to help flamingos maintain their color, which is usually brought on by eating crustaceans in the wild. Zoos feed flamingos the pellets near water to maintain the flamingo's natural eating process.

References

• Philadelphia Zoo: Caribbean Flamingo
• The Animal Files: Caribbean Flamingo
• Saint Louis Zoo: Caribbean Flamingo
• San Diego Zoo: Birds: Flamingo