The vain flamingo actually raised its babies to the point of vomiting blood?

The national emblem of the Bahamas is a shield, which looks like this👇

Coat of arms of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas | Wikipedia

In the following content today, we will talk specifically about the American flamingo and its relatives.

Flamingo is the common name for six species of birds in three genera of the family Phoenicopteridae. The American flamingo mentioned in the card is also called the Caribbean flamingo or the American flamingo. It is the most colorful species in the genus Phoenicopterus, and looks like a blazing fire from a distance.

Pink in the Caribbean | riolagartosnaturetours.com

Flamingos are found in salt lakes and lagoons in Africa, India, and South America (Flamingos have also been spotted in the Dongting Lake Nature Reserve, where they stopped by Dongting Lake to rest because of weather and other reasons that prevented them from navigating). They are easy to recognize: they travel in pairs, have long necks and legs, make goose-like calls, and have red feathers.

Rose-red is the natural habitat of flamingos | Wikiwand

There are six species of flamingos in existence, of which three belong to the genus Phoenicopterus: the American flamingo (P. ruber), the Chilean flamingo (P. chilensis), and the greater flamingo (P. roseus). Flamingos range in color from red to white with a hint of pink, and are both enchanting and adorable.

Left: buzzfeed.com; Middle: flickr.com; Right: Kommetjie

They also have two other distant cousins ​​in the genera Phoeniconaias and Phoenicoparrus, which look like this:

Left: animalia-life.club; Middle: antpitta.com; Right: Pete Oxford

Well, now that we have gathered all six types of flamingos in the world, we can summon the dragon.

Flamingo mothers work hard to raise their babies? That's not blood

Although the degree of scarlet varies, all flamingos have scarlet feathers. This color is not innate, and the newly born flamingos are gray and fluffy , not like their parents at all.

Gray Flamingo | flickr.com

The first food that a flamingo eats is the blood-red juice regurgitated by its mother . This is not blood, but a kind of bird milk that looks like blood, and its main component is canthaxanthin .

Pay attention to the red juice that the flamingo mother regurgitates | Disneynature documentary "Red Wings: The Flamingo Story"

As for where the red color of flamingos comes from, the consensus in the past was that it comes from astaxanthin in the food. However, newer scientific research shows that this answer is not entirely accurate . The red color of flamingos is caused by a variety of red pigments in their bodies. Only in the Caribbean flamingo does astaxanthin dominate, while in other flamingos, canthaxanthin dominates.

Collective courtship rituals | wikiwand

I am born to be vain

When we go to the zoo for a walk, we can see groups of flamingos doing nothing but standing in the pond to preen their feathers . Flamingos spend a lot of time doing this every day. They use the oil secreted by the glands on their tails to smear their bodies. This oil is a natural waterproof material and can also make the feathers look shiny. After preening the feathers, you can show them off.

When Miami was hit by a hurricane in 1992, zoo keepers at the city's zoo captured all the flamingos and put them in the zoo's toilets. | Ron Magill

Busch Gardens in Florida, USA, once had a star flamingo named Pinky, the one in the picture below. This pink and cute animal is really lovable. Flamingos are born to show off, and Pinky is even more exaggerated. Without any training, she knows how to perform in circles under the attention of everyone...

"Hi everyone, my name is Little Color Flag (laughing). I am a flamingo, and the thing I spend most of my time doing every day is grooming my feathers and looking good." | ABC Action News / youtube.com

Sad news: In August 2016, a crazy tourist threw Pinky to the ground. Because her injuries were too serious, the authorities had to euthanize her.

Flamingos are highly social animals and consciously practice monogamy . That is to say, once they have identified a partner, they will remain faithful for at least the next 20 years of their lives. In their natural state, flamingos usually appear in groups, migrate, and return to their birthplaces to reproduce. The number of groups is in the thousands, gathering into a large area of ​​red flames. In such a fiercely competitive environment, their sense of crisis is even stronger. Only by dressing themselves up beautifully and outstandingly can they have a chance to win the heart of the "village flower".

One hundred black question marks? ? ? | tumblr.com

The English name of flamingo is Flamingo. Hearing this, some people may think of the passionate gypsy dance "flamenco". The wild and exotic beauty, the color is like a flamingo preening its feathers in the lagoon. Although both come from the same Spanish transliteration, whether there is a direct relationship between them is still unclear.

"I walk on stilts every day and sleep on one leg." | flickr.com

As for Doflamingo... Drawing | Wing Wolf Elang

Flamingos in American popular culture

The unique pink color and natural concave shape, coupled with the mysterious exotic beauty, made the flamingo trigger a large-scale trend in the United States in the 1950s. In 1957, Union Products brought pink plastic flamingos to the lawns of middle-class homes, adding a touch of exotic red to the monotonous gardens. The plastic flamingo became a symbol of the middle class at that time .

Don Featherstone, the father of the plastic flamingo | usatoday.com

This flamingo, which only sold for $10, became a real hit and became a representative product of mainstream culture at the time. However, this craze was suppressed after the rise of the hippie movement in the 1960s , and anti-mainstream forces devalued the plastic flamingo on the lawn as vulgar. This outdated and vulgar taste is probably on the same level as our rural non-mainstream.

In the 1970s, after the hippie movement faded, flamingos returned to the stage of history . You may have heard of the heavy taste of the banned film "Pink Flamingos", in which John Waters played the heroine who had a pink flamingo at the door of her house. Under the joint promotion of the ironic-kitsch trend at the time, it was actually quite cool. If you want to find a more appropriate corresponding word, it is probably "rustic cool". Come and feel the rustic cool movie from 1972:

Image | Pink Flamingos movie poster

Like unicorns, extremely cute and sexy animals are placed at the entrance of gay bars as mascots, and gays also refer to each other as flamingos.

In the middle is a straight flamingo with a confused look on his face | Animated short film "FLAMINGO PRIDE"

In fact, homosexuality does exist among flamingos . In the Atlanta Zoo, a pair of male flamingos who had been in love for their entire lives once hatched a baby flamingo together. Of course, that was from eggs stolen from other birds .

Flamingos have experienced the ups and downs of their lives in the cycle of popularity. In recent years, flamingos have returned to the public eye in the form of swimming rings, and I think you must have seen many photos of them getting wet in the water.

"I am back on the stage of history, of course, as elegant as ever. It's time to pose again!" | AllPosters

BUT, &…%*¥#*@… You’re only handsome for three seconds.

"If you walk along the river, you will slip..." | Tatiana damenko Caters

Finally, some serious stuff

Flamingos often appear in groups of tens of thousands. At present, flamingos are not endangered. They usually live in uninhabited places, such as shallow swamps and salt lakes, and their living environment does not directly conflict with humans. However, human development of salt pans, repair of roads and railways, and mining of minerals have all posed a threat to the living environment of flamingos. Once disturbed by humans and food shortages, flamingos will migrate to other places in groups.

"I'm not only good-looking, but I'm also a great pilot. Please don't take away my entire sky." | flamingos-world.com

There have been some acts of hunting flamingos in history. For example, in ancient Rome, the nobles' gluttonous dinners were filled with all kinds of delicacies, including a dish made from flamingo tongues. In some places, flamingo eggs are eaten, and many young birds are strangled in their eggshells. Flamingos can still be bought on the black market in some places.

Wild animals are being deprived of their homes to varying degrees every day. As humans take over the earth, build cities and roads, I hope we can still have some respect for other animals that are also inhabitants of the earth.

"Give you a heart." | Charles Darwin Foundation

Author: Fish Boss of Dream Book

This article comes from the Species Calendar, welcome to forward

If you need to reprint, please contact [email protected]