Greater flamingo

Scientific Name: Pheonicopterus roseus Animal Type: Bird Location: South and south-west Africa, southern Europe, Caribbean, Americas, Indian Ocean. Conservation Status: Least Concern

Profile

 

Greater flamingos, a paler shade of pink than their close relatives the Chilean flamingos, range from Europe to Africa, India and the Americas, and are the most widespread members of the flamingo family.

Flocks of wild flamingos tend to live around lakes where there are no fish to compete for their food, which includes tiny molluscs, shrimps, insects and single-celled plants and animals. Their pink colour comes from pigments in their diet, and to maintain it in captivity they are fed specially formulated pellets.

Flamingos build a mud-mound in the breeding season, where they lay a single egg.

Durrell's greater flamingos arrived in Jersey to live in the renovated valley enclosure in 2002, but have not yet bred.

Video

No flash installed

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