Pretty in Pink
by Deana Glenz
Title
Pretty in Pink
Artist
Deana Glenz
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
The Chilean flamingo (Phoenicopterus chilensis) is a large species of flamingo at 43–51 inches closely related to American flamingo and greater flamingo, with which it was sometimes considered conspecific
It breeds in South America from Ecuador and Peru to Chile and Argentina and east to Brazil; it has been introduced into Germany and the Netherlands (colony on the border, Zwilbrockervenn). There is also a small population in Utah and California. Like all flamingos it lays a single chalky white egg on a mud mound.
The plumage is pinker than the slightly larger greater flamingo, but less so than Caribbean flamingo. It can be differentiated from these species by its greyish legs with pink joints (tibio-tarsal articulation), and also by the larger amount of black on the bill (more than half). Young chicks may have no sign of pink coloring whatsoever, but instead remain grey.
The Chilean flamingo's bill is equipped with comb-like structures that enable it to filter food—mainly algae and plankton—from the water of the coastal mudflats, estuaries, lagoons and salt lakes where it lives.
Chilean flamingos live in large flocks in the wild and require crowded conditions to stimulate breeding. During breeding season, males and females display a variety of behaviors to attract mates, including head flagging—swiveling their heads from side-to-side in tandem—and wing salutes, where the wings are repeatedly opened and closed. Males and females cooperate in building a pillar-shaped mud nest, and both incubate the egg laid by the female. Upon birth, the chicks have gray plumage; they don't gain adult coloration for two-three years. Both male and female flamingos can produce a nutritious milk-like substance in their crop gland to feed their young.
The Chilean Flamingo eats a diet high in caratenoids to keep their plumage Pretty in Pink.
Uploaded
December 21st, 2013
Statistics
Viewed 435 Times - Last Visitor from Cambridge, MA on 04/25/2024 at 2:27 PM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet
