Interesting facts about pink flamingos

Rio Lagartos, Yucatan has many attractions that makes it a wonderful place in Mexico to discover the beauty of nature and culture of the country, but one of the most popular and one of the reasons why a lot of tourists come to visit is because of Flamingos.

In Yucatan, there is one of the largest colonies of Caribbean Flamingos in North America, they are usually seen eating in the coasts of some beaches, so if you are staying in Rio Lagartos you could definitely be able to see them!

In honor to this beautiful creatures, in this blog, I will share with you some facts about this species.

Why are flamingos pink?

An interesting fact about flamingos is the reason of its color. Many of us will think that flamingos are born with its iconic pink color, but actually that’s not true. In fact, flamingos become color pink gradually through its life.

When a flamingo is born, the color of its feathers is reddish but this color fades away within the days and turns into a gray one, when the flamingo is growing it starts to be more pink with the past of the years until it reaches the color pink that we know.

This process of the color occurs because of its diet. Flamingos eat a lot of crustaceans, cyanobacteria and diatom algae, this organism lives in salty waters and contain something called carotenoids, a toxic chemical that is harmful to other animals and humans but not for flamingos.

Flamingos process this chemical with normality thanks to their metabolism and turn it into components, generating like this the pigment in their body, painting its feathers, skin, membranes and other parts pink.

Flamingos as parents

When flamingos are in search of a couple, the thing that makes them be together is their dance movements. The more complicated the dance, the more attractive it is to other flamingos, as well as other things like the pink of its feathers.

Once the flamingo has found its perfect partner, the female flamingo is just going to be able to put one egg. This egg has to be incubated by both of the parents, not just the female.

Then, after almost a month, the creature is born and again both of the parents have to take care of it until it reaches a mature age, about 6 years after its birth.

Also, another fact is that the relationships of flamingos have been studied by scientists because of how interesting they are. According to studies, flamingos tend to have formal couples and friendships, even if they are part of a big group, they have their favorite ones!

The amazing body of Flamingos

The physical characteristics of a flamingo are extraordinary, making them one of the most interesting animals in the world that you can easily admire if you know a little more about them.

For example the knees that we see right in the middle of the leg (which is about 125 cm long) of the flamingo are not knees, actually that is its ankle. The knee is located closer to the body and it can be seen.

Another interesting part of them is their neck which is very long and flexible because of the necessity of the animals to live. The neck has 19 bones so they can move and twist as much as they want!

If you are interested in come to Rio Lagartos and visit the flamingos, you should visit our website where you can check our apartments in the region.