Patrick white., age 7.1,.e of victoria, b.c.., canada, for his questions
Does diet change a flamingo's color?
Poor diet can ruin a persons appearance and the same rule could apply to a flamingo. Malnutrition causes all kinds of upsets in the human body and none of these changes adds anything to a person's good looks. There is reliable evidence that a flamingo also loses his good looks from malnutrition resulting from an unsuitable diet.
The free flamingo enjoys life in the shallow waters of tropical and semi tropical salt marshes. Sometimes the gaudy bird is taken to live in a zoological park or garden where the public can admire his rosy plumage at close range. This pampered life does not always agree with the flamingo. His petal pink red color may fade,, and his feathers may lose some of the gloss and take on a dry,, shabby appearance,
Reliable bird watchers report that the brightest tanagers are those birds that are in vigorous good health. And good health depends upon diet. The best dressed birds,, then, seem to be the best fed birds. This could be the case with the flamingo. The trouble is that conditions in his natural feeding grounds are very difficult to reproduce in a zoological park.
He is a long legged, wading bird., and his dining table is the muddy floor of a salt marsh. He bends down his long neck and dips his head upside down into the shallow water. His huge beak curves down from a hump in the middle, and the upper section is used as a scoop. There is a row of combs on either side of this amazing beak.
The flamingo scoops up a beak full of mud mixed with an assortment of marine life. He squeezes some of the soupy mixture out through the combs on the sides of his beak and swallows the rest whole.
His diet includes mollusks, insects, algae and a few small fish. He also swallows a little mud which is rich in organic matter left by assorted marine life. Every day, the soupy diet of the free flamingo is sifted by the changing tides.
In captivity, the big bird may miss some of the items on his natural diet. He may not get the right food to produce the oily brilliantine he uses to preen his plumage. Dry feathers look drab. It is also possible that malnutrition may deprive him of the chemicals that add the rosy tints to his plumage. In any case, he can be restored to normal when the proper items are returned to his diet.
Most birds are colored to blend in with their surroundings. But the bright flamingo is an outstanding figure on his drab salt marshes. However., he has no need for protective coloring. On the wide., flat marshes, he can see a long way in all directions. No skulking enemy can creep up on him unnoticed., and the great bird can take to the air long before danger approaches.