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Pink Flamingos: The Caribbean Flamingo
Flamingo’s one-legged stance and flamboyant pink color make them the most recognizable of the world’s exotic birds. Flamingos are the only members in the family phoenicopteridea, with five species divided into three genera. Fossil evidence indicates that flamingos existed about 30 million years ago, before many other avian orders had evolved. ...
The Caribbean flamingo, described by Linnaean as the typical flamingo named Phoentcoplers Rubber Rubber, is limited to the Yucatan, West Indies, Bahamas, Galapagos Islands, and the Northern most tip of South America. ... The largest colony of flamingos in the world estimated 60,000 and was located on the Southern Bahamian island of great Inagua.
Flamingos live in a habitat of shallow salt lakes, lagoons, mangroves, and anywhere there is lots of mud and water. Since the majority of lakes where they live have high concentrations of salt, the flamingos has adapted to high-salinity environments and are capable of drinking fresh water boiling geysers. ... They migrate in colonies of thousands, but the tropical weather keeps the Caribbean species in the Bahamas. ... An adult flamingos legs are longer than its body.
Flamingos are social creatures, living and breeding in very large colonies. ... Like most birds, flamingos have an excellent sense of hearing. ... The sense of taste and smell are poorly developed in birds so, like other shorebirds and waders, flamingos depend on the flicker of touch in searching for prey. ...
Flamingos are the most highly adapted and uniquely shaped birds. The brilliant pink Caribbean flamingos are the brightest of their species. ... As a matter of fact, when they captured flamingos and put them in zoos, the animals stayed perfectly healthy but completely lost their pink color. ...
The feeding method of flamingos is characteristic and peculiar due to their upside down eating stance. Flamingos are filter feeders, much like that of a whale. ... Another unique eating habit, which is characteristic to flamingos in the Bahamas and Florida area, is to swallow snail-like cerithium mollusks whole. The flamingos have very powerfully muscled stomachs that crush the shells and trigger digestion. ... In addition, since flamingos are virtually defenseless, their main form of protection is to fly away. ...
Flamingos reach sexual maturity several years after hatching and usually begin to breed at about six years of age. ... The courtships of flamingos start in groups and perform ritualized stretching and preening. ... When flamingos become interested in one another they will call out to one another frequently and often in unison. ... All female flamingos have the same behavior of stretching out their wings and lowering their head, which gives the male permission to mount her. ...
The flamingos form long-term bonds, so they will be looking for the same mate the following season. ... Flamingos build their nests mounds anywhere from one inch to one foot in height for protection against extreme heat and flooding that occurs at ground level. ... On Great Inagua Island, feral pigs prey on flamingos. Like other birds, the adult flamingos molt their flight feathers simultaneously and are grounded for several weeks in the summer. ... Hunting for plumage is not a central problem because the dead flamingos’ feathers lose their color with time and when in the sun. ... It has a negative effect on the breeding and feeding grounds of flamingos.
Flamingos only lay one large egg that looks similar to that of a chicken egg.
Approximate Word count = 2744
Approximate Pages = 11
(250 words per page double spaced)
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