ORDUNA,+ROCIO+K

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FLAMINGOS
by: Rocio Orduna



=Table of contents= Page 1 .............................................Habitat and distribution Page 2..............................................Physical Characteristics Page 3..............................................Senses Page 4..............................................Adaptations Page 5..............................................Communication Page 6..............................................Behavior Page 7..............................................Diet and eating habits Page 8..............................................Reproduction Page 9..............................................Hatching and Care of young Page 10............................................Longevity and causes of death Page 11............................................Bibliography

=Page 1= =Habitat and Distribution= [DISTRIBUTION]

All flamingos are found in tropical and subtropical areas.Populations of Chilean flamingos are found in central Peru,both coasts of southern South America (mainly in winter), Argentina,Uruguay,Paraguay,Peru,Bolivia,and southern Brazil.Stagglers have been reported on the Falkland Islands and and Ecuador.



<---CHILEAN FLAMINGOS--->

The smaller flamingo is Primilary an African species.Populations are found in eastern,southwestern,and western Africa.In India the flamingos are a sizable population.Staggelers can be found as far north as southern Spain. The James flamingo has the most restricted of all flamingo species.They are found in southern Peru,northeastern Chile,western Bolivia,and northeastern Argentina. The Andean Flamingos are found in southern Peru,north-center Chile,western Bolivia,and northwestern Argentina. The Caribbean flamingo is found throughout the Caribben [Cuba the Bahamas,the Yucatan,Turks and Caicos] the Galapagos island,and the northern part of coastal South America. The greater flamingo has the most widespread distribution of all flamingo species.Population are found in northwest India,and the MIddles East,the western Mediterranean,and Africa.Limited numbers of species can be found over muchor northern Europe and eastward to Siberia. [HABITAT]

The flamingo's most characteristic habitats are large alkaline or saline lakes or estuarine lagoons that usually lack vegetation. Lakes may be far inland or near the sea.A variety of habitats are used by flamingos: mangrove swamps, tidal flats, and sandy islands in the intertidal zone.The presence or absence is scarce or absent in lakes with fish.The presence or absence of fish may have a great influence on the use of lakes of some flamingos.

=Page 2= =Physical Characteristics= [SIZE] The greater flamingo is the tallest flamingo standing to 120 to 150 cm,and weighing up to 3.5 kg.The smaller flamingo stands to 80 cm and weighing only 2.5 kg.Males reach full size between on-and-a-half and two years.Male flamingos are slightly larger than female flamingos,weighing more and having larger wingspans.The wingspan of flamingos reaches up to 95 to 100 cm. [COLORATION] Feather color varies wit species,ranging from pale pink to crimson or vermilion.Caribbean flamingos have the most brightest coloration:crimson or vermilion.The Chilean flamingo is pale pink.Feather coloration depends on what carotenoid pigments they have their food.Male and female coloration is the same.Newly-hatched eggs are gray or white.

=Page 3= =Senses= [HEARING] Flamingos have very good hearing.Vocalization are important and may be used to keep flocks together and for parent-chick recognition. [EYESIGHT] Vision play an important role in helping flamingos synchronize collective displays of several hundred to several thousand birds.Some biologists believe that a flamingo's night vision is bad, but better than a human's. [TASTE] The sense of taste is poorly developed in birds. [SMELL] Flamingos have either little or no sense of smell. [TACTILE] Tactile organs on the tongue can be used to ensure that only food is ingested.

= = =Page 4= =Adaptions= [SWIMMING AND WADING] Because flamingos have long legs, they can wade into much deeper water than most other birds. Webbed feet support them on soft mud.

When the water is beyond their wading depth,flamingos swim at hte surface while feeding.Webbed feet allow the flamingo to swim quite readily.There is no evidence that flamingos dive.Flamingos are usually seen often is dense packs floating on the surfacer of the water. [RESPERATION] Like other birds, flamingos breathe air with lungs. They hold their breath while they eat under water. [SLEEP] When flamingos are sleeping they may sit down with their legs tcuked beneath them or sleep standing on one leg.While resting, flamingos face into the wind. This stops wind and rain from penetrating their feathers. When resting on one leg, flamingos can be seen swaying back and forth in the wind. [THERMOREGULATION] Flamingos usually stand on one leg. Curling a leg under the body keeps the foot warm and conserves body heat. Flamingos stand on one leg in both cool and warm environments. [FLIGHT] To take off, a flamingo runs several steps, begins flapping its wings, and lifts off into the air. When landing the procedure is reversed: the flamingo touches down and then runs several steps.A flamingo flies with its head and neck stretched out in front and its legs trailing behind.The speed of a flock of flamingos can reach up to 50 to 60 kph.Flamingos have been known to fly 500 to 600 km.

=Page 5= =Communacation= Flamingo vocalizations range from nasal honking to grunting or growling. Flamingos are generally very noisy animals. Variations exist in the voices of different species of flamingos.Vocalizations play an important role in keeping flocks together as well as in ritualized displays. Specific calls are used in conjunction with certain behaviors.Vocalizations are used in parent-chick recognition.Flamingos also communicate with a broad range of visual displays.

= = =Page 6= =Behavior= Flamingos are very social birds. Breeding colonies of a few individual flamingos are rare, while colonies of tens of thousands of birds are common.Flock size ranges from 2 to 340 birds with an average of 71 birdsSeveral hundred to several thousand flamingos are all involved with many poses.Not all flamingos species perform all of the displays.These are some of the displays that a flamigo displays:

-"Marching"-
Flamingos spend most of their day feeding,resting,and bathing.Breeding flamingos eat day or night.Non-breeding flamingos eat at nihgt and spend their day resting.Flamingos spend about 15% to 30% of their time during the day preening. This is a large percentage compared to waterfowl, which preen only about 10% of the time. Flamingos preen with their bills.Flamingos swim and bathe in shallow water,to clean their whole body.

=Page 7= =Diet and eating habits= Blue-green and red algae, diatoms, larval and adult forms of small insects, crustaceans, molluscs, and small fishes is the usuall diet for flamingos.A flamingo's pink or reddish feather, leg, and facial coloration come from a diet high in alpha and beta carotenoid pigments, including //canthaxanthin//. The best sources of carotenoids are found in the algae and lots of invertebrates that make up the bulk of a flamingo's diet.The shape of flamingo's filtering bill depends on what they eat. A flamingo will either have a shallow or a deep-keeled bill.James and Andean flamingos have deep-keeled bills and feed on mostly algae and diatoms.Caribbean nd Chilean flamingos have shallow-keeled bills on isects,aquatic,and small fishes.Carribbean flamingos eat larva and pupal,flies and brine shrimp as their main food.Smaller flamingos eat an estimated 60 g dry weight to fullfill their daily food needs.Standing in shallow water,flamingos lower their necks and tilts their head slightly upside-don,they let their bills to hang upside-down facing backward in the water.Flamingos sweep their heads form side to side just below the surface of the water to collect their food if they have deep-keeled mandible.When flamingos stand in water they may stamp their webbed feet to sti up food form the bottom.Flamingos usually prefer fresh water to drink.

=Page 8= =Reproduction= Flamingos reach sexual maturity several years after hatching and usually begin to breed at about six years of age.Flamingo colonies may breed different times of the year.Breeding success is based on Synchronous nesting of a flamingo flock so that the flamingo chicks colony hatch aroud the same time in any one year.Flock rarly nest more than once a year.Breeding and nest building may depend on rain and it's effect on food supply.Flocks of flamingos have a ritual of stretching preening when courting begins.Males group together and often run with their bills pointed toward the sky and necks straight out.Flamingos interseted in one another call to each other.Flamingos build nest mounds made of mud, small stones, straw, and feathers. These mounds can be as high as 30 cm.

=Page 9 Hatching and care of young= Flamingos mostly often lay one large egg.Eggs range in siz from about 78 by 49 mm.The egg is kinda like a oblong shape,similair the a egg of a chicken only way bigger.The egg is usually a chalky whit color,but may be pale blue immeddiatly after it is laid.Females have been known to lay two eggs,but this is rare.The incubation period is about 27 to 31 days.Both male and female flamingo take turns sitting on top of the egg on top of the nest mound.Eggs that fall from the nesting mound are not picked up.Hatching takes between 24 to 36 hours.The chick calls out a lot while it's cracking out of the shell.Chicks gather in large groups called creaches parents are able to locate their own chicks in the creche at feeding time.

=Page 10 Longetivity and causes of death= [LONGETIVITY] Experts have not yet determined how long flamingos live. [PRETADORS] Most of the flamingos pretadors are other kinds of birds.The Egyptian vulture feeds on mostly flamingo eggs,young flamingos,and dead flamingos.The black kite,a scanvenger,feeds on flamingo carcasses left behind by other birds and land animals.The smaler flamingos are hunted by cheetahs and lions.On Great Inagua Island in the Bahamas feral pigs prey on flamingos.About 5% of flamingos living at lake Magadi in Africa die of predatation.On Great Inagua Island in the Bahamas feral pigs prey on flamingos.People have used flamingos and their eggs as food.



=Page 11= =Bibliography= =My information i got here: http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/flamingo/index.htm The pictures i got at google ^_^..... :D=