
WHEN IT COMES TO DANCING AND dressing to impress, flamingos are capable of putting on an extravagant spectacle with the pizzazz to match any West End or Broadway show. These birds of a feather are, of course, dancing together to find a mate for the breeding season.
Four species are distributed across the Americas, with another two found across Africa, parts of southern Europe, the Middle East and Asia. All six species are capable of complex mating displays, but most research has been conducted into the routines of the two Old World species - the greater and lesser flamingos.
Flamingos spend most of their lives in the shallow waters of lagoons and lakes, some of which are characterised by a very high salt content that occasionally hits an unbelievably caustic 11 on the pH scale. The birds are specially adapted for filter-feeding on the small aquatic organisms that also live in these hyper-saline environments. They use their upside-down bills to draw in water and mud, before pushing it out the sides of their bills through thousands of tiny plates known as lamellae that trap algae, diatoms, crustaceans, insect larvae and molluscs. It is the carotenoid pigments present in this food that gives flamingo plumage its striking pinkish tones.
Denne historien er fra May 2024-utgaven av BBC Wildlife.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra May 2024-utgaven av BBC Wildlife.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på

WALKING WITH PENGUINS
Mourning her late husband, photographer Ursula Clare Franklin needed a new direction. Soon she was travelling the world, on a quest to photograph her favourite animal, the penguin all 18 species of them

"Satellites and space tech play a huge role in protecting the natural world"
Far above our heads, space technology is supporting conservation in exciting and vital ways

FOREVER YOUNG
The prehistoric-looking insect that never grows up

BIRDS THAT BREAK THE RULES
Discover the extraordinary birds that defy nature's norms

FEMALE OF THE SPECIES
Vampire bats make for blood-spewing besties

Onagers gallop back to Saudi Arabia
Rare subspecies fills the desert niche left by its extinct relative

Front lines for nature
Inside the ambitious UK project rallying local communities to fight for wildlife

"Europe seems hellbent on creating the most hostile environment for bears possible"
WE EUROPEANS ARE INCAPABLE of living alongside predators.

Airborne lifts off on Sky Nature
ACROSS THE PLANET, ANIMALS HAVE conquered the skies in ways we can only dream of.

CROSS COUNTRY
Translocating elephants is no mean feat-but it's helping this iconic mammal to reclaim its historic lands